Coleman Air Charge Controller Question

[Windmill1]

I have the charge controller kit with no encloseure,Coleman Air with 1 Relay rated at 40 amps, Manuel said to add another 40 amp relay and its good for 80 amps. Will 2 relays work well with the 24 volt 10Ft otherpower turbine. This controller seems to work really well so far. Also are the Coleman controllers durable and do they work well, anyone have anyone have any input on this.

[Watt]

I have the charge controller kit with no encloseure,Coleman Air with 1 Relay rated at 40 amps, Manuel said to add another 40 amp relay and its good for 80 amps. Will 2 relays work well with the 24 volt 10Ft otherpower turbine. This controller seems to work really well so far. Also are the Coleman controllers durable and do they work well, anyone have anyone have any input on this.

You aught to contact those guys for any technical questions.

[Windmill1]

Thanks Watt
Have a good evening

[Watt]

Thanks Watt
Have a good evening

Now that that's out of the way.

What is the specific one you have?  By the way, those relays are good till you need them.  They are automotive duty and when they fail, you pull over and get another.  In a wind applications, specifically a storm, you can't press pause till you can replace your relay.  That turbine is going to spin outta control.  Good luck with it.  Better plan on a back up system.

[Windmill1]

 I will be offline a few days, I have family  that are sick, get back with you when I can.
Thanks

[Windmill1]

Thanks Watt
I have decided to go with a 48 volt system, so this controller would not work anyway.

[synovialbasher]

I have used this controller before, and I can tell you from personal experience that it's crap. It has no sense of 3 stage charging, more or less PWM. The design is really not that great, and it's not reliable. I had one managing a small bunch of 20w panels and this thing just clicked on, then off, then on, then off, constantly. Who knows how long the relay will last. Plus, since batteries have a surface charge phenomanon (when the battery voltage is high, yet the actual charge level of the battery is lower. So the voltage usually would rise under charge, trip the controller, and then dump power when the battery's not fully charge. Then it began malfunctioning and saying my battery was fully charged at guess what? 12.0 volts. Really? I asked the company, Coleman air, which isn't affiliated with Coleman, the common camping company, and they wanted $30 to take a look at it. I would just get rid of it.

[Windmill1]

Thanks synovialbasher
I never got to use the controller very much, going to get me a new Xantrex 40 amp for my otherpower 10ft turbine,they seem to be highly recommended.

[gww]

windmill 1
There is a morningstar ts 60 listed in the classified section of this forum.  It will do 48 volts.
gww

[ghurd]

I have used this controller before, and I can tell you from personal experience that it's crap...
Then it began malfunctioning and saying my battery was fully charged at guess what? 12.0 volts.

Similar story.
Recently a guy in north east Europe with a big sail boat, having a BIG expensive SLA bank, and one of those coleman things, emailed me.
Contacts or electronics failed, contacts stuck/stayed closed, ruined the BIG expensive SLAs.
G-

[XeonPony]

I have heard nothing but bad about them, useles as tits on a bull!

[dgd]

Thanks synovialbasher
I never got to use the controller very much, going to get me a new Xantrex 40 amp for my otherpower 10ft turbine,they seem to be highly recommended.

The Coleman Air controller is a simple  'diversion regulator' type device and does work. At least the electonics do  BUT the relays supplied with it are auto types that soon die. If these switch dump load resistors between battery + and - then a bung relay = dead battery
I used just the controller board (they sell under $60) to control a Crydom 3phase SSR that shorts the turbines AC outputs via dump resistors. There is never a dump load placed on the DC side so no risk to battery if controller fails.
dgd

[zvizdic]

If you're any good at soldering I recommend GHurd 48v dump load controller.
I had it running for 2 years and no problems so far.
My setup is GHurd controller modified for 48v running 4 IRFP150P paralleled with 56R on gate.
Dump load of 2.5 ohms

[ChrisOlson]

The Coleman Air controller is a simple  'diversion regulator' type device and does work.

Yes, it's not a charge controller.  It's a diversion controller.  And it does work fine.

Our Trace/Xantrex GSM (Generator Start Module) will handle three-wire start generators.  But I needed an extra controller to switch the auto-throttle on and off so the generator will run at rated speed while the inverter syncs with it, but will idle down for it's cool-down period before the inverter shuts it off.  I used a Coleman Air diversion controller board for that and tied it into the GSM.  It works positively beautiful.

The Coleman Air board monitors the genset starting battery voltage.  When the generator starts the voltage is below 13.5.  But after it runs for awhile it charges the battery up and the voltage gets up to 14.0.  When it goes above 13.5 volts it activates the auto-throttle on the genset so when the inverter disconnects the load the genset idles down.






--
Chris