It would be nice that be able to set the charge rate like you can do with the Multiplus through the DVCC in the settings of the Cerbo I have a 180A alternator which is charging a 1120Ah LiFePO4 battery bank and if we have to do a lot of motoring it would be nice to be able to restrict the charge rate to 40-60A......
If it could be programmed by the Cerbo that would be great......
Otherwise I have to bring the laptop out unless you have any better ideas???
Or is there a cable that I could connect my I-phone to the WS500 and run an app to achieve the same thing????
@Michael There is an "feature inn" cable on the WS500 for this, its all in the manual.
"The Feature-in port allows a wide range of optional capabilities in the WS500 to be selected in real time. Throughout this configuration guide there are a number of places where the Feature-In port may be enabled to be looked at to select a given capability. There are also options to modify the behavior of the Feature-In port from its normal behavior. Care should be exercised when configuring the WS500 to assure that the desired behavior of the Feature-in port is selected, and that some other expected use has not inadvertently been disabled. Example, by utilizing the Feature-In port to allow to selection of an alternative DC-DC converter set point, the default behaviors of forcing the regulator mode to Float with CPE #8 will be overridden; this could cause unexpected behaviors if the system design expects to use the Feature-in port for a legacy BMS integration.
Feature-In can be used as 4. Force regulator power (setting dHalf 0 in SCA)."
Then you can define what ever you want the max power setting to be, for example 40%.
Forced float does not work when using REC BMS to controll the WS500.
@Trond
Thank you Trond
I had totally forgotten about this "Feature-in" cable I will certainly be reading up on this, it will probably be all I need.
I will have a play the next time I am on-board.
Thanks again for your help.
I have the same setup in my boat.
60% field max at normal drive (about 230A).
Then 90% when "I need to charge quick mode" (about 400A).
Could probably change it to 40%/90%.
@Trond
Thanks Trond
What engine are you using to drive the 400A alternator????
My alternator is water cooled so is happy sitting at 100% more or less full time, and it's running at about 35Deg C, but it does load the engine and when we are running at 1800rpm, it does knock off around 100-150RPM between having the alternator on or off. I am a sailing boat with a Ford 90hp 4Ltr 4 cylinder engine, the boat is over powered and I guess we are pulling 6-8hp with the alternator, but I wouldn't expect that to cause too many problems.
I ran last year without any charging from the engine, but it would be nice to get something from the engine.
@Michael We have the 4JH4 54 HK motor with dual 200A alternators.
Having one on each side of the motor helps with the side-load issues.
Been working great for many years now but we do not use the "400A mode" when motoring up against heavy wind for example.
@Trond
Thanks Trond, your setup sounds very simpler to ours, apart from the the fact that you are running dual alternators, nice.
I have kept the the original alternator and are using this to charge the lead acid batteries for the bow thruster and the engine start battery.
I have added a switch to turn off the alternator so I have some control over the alternator, but to be able to switch the output to 30-40% would be good.
Thanks again for your help
