possible dumbest question ever about vanner equalizers...

[bevans6]

seriously, this is a pretty dumb question.  Vanner equalizers are supposed to keep the voltage of two batteries in a 24 volt string equal.  If you are discharging one battery at a higher rate than the other battery.  What if you are charging?  If you charge one battery, does the Vanner equalize that and charge the other battery?

I said it was a dumb question.  If it wasn't raining out, I would probably go hook up a charger and measure.  I'd also like to know exactly what was inside a Vanner.  How do they do what they do?

Brian

[akroyaleagle]

A quick google of Vanner equalizer yielded this:

http://www.vanner.com/client/images/manual_Battery_Equalizer_70M.pdf

Or you can do your own wearch at vanner.com and follow the leads to learn about nearly everything related.

Good thing to do when it's raining.

Or you can come over and help me install my water tanks and propane.

[junkman42]

Brian, Your comment about how do they do what they do brought this to mind.  At a college lecture on the benefits of science to Man a professor gave a dissertation on the Thermos.  He explained that it was able to keep hot things hot and cold things cold.  He explained radiant heat, thermal conductivity and many other technical things.  At the end of the lecture He asked if there were any questions.  A response from the back of the room obviously annoyed Him but He said ask Your question!  A lady responded I know what it do, I want to know how do it know!  Sorry I couldn't resist.  Regards john

[Sean]

..  What if you are charging?  If you charge one battery, does the Vanner equalize that and charge the other battery?

If what you mean is to apply a 12v charger to one or the other of the batteries in a 24-volt system, the answer is yes, but only if the charger is connected to the upper battery -- the equalizer can only move charge from the upper battery to the lower one, not the other way around..  In order for this to work, the charger must be the fully isolated type -- if the negative charge lead is internally connected to the AC ground, you will short out the lower battery.

...  I'd also like to know exactly what was inside a Vanner.  How do they do what they do?

The answer is highly technical.  Have a read through this patent application, from Ventron:

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5528122.html

Other brands work similarly.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

[bevans6]

Excellent.  I will presume the Vanner is 'prior art', hence only the "lower" battery is used to parallel 12 volt loads.  Thanks very much for that link.

Brian

[boogiethecat]

As Sean said, it's highly technical.

Basically there's a lot of fancy electronics inside that can either take power from the upper bank and stuff it into the lower bank, or vs-versa depending on which one is more or less charged than the other, until both banks have the same charge.  And it can also take power from one bank and stuff it into the other one to make up for load differences.  And all of this doesn't care about the overall charge of the pair... it'll keep them balanced regardless of their bottom-line charge state.

[Sean]

Excellent.  I will presume the Vanner is 'prior art', hence only the "lower" battery is used to parallel 12 volt loads.

Yes, exactly, the Vanner is the "prior art" and I should have mentioned that explicitly.  The patent I referenced is for a device that can send the power the other way, too.  Perhaps Vanner now makes a model like that, but I know mine only works in the one direction.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com