Solar Controller for managing and controlling a solar-charged battery-powered light assembly
Controls and manages the charging of a 48-volt Battery Pack from a Solar Array (up to 360 watts), maximizing battery life, light output and illumination time.
The Ringdale Solar Controller is specifically designed to manage and control a Ringdale or compatible solar-charged battery-powered light assembly. It harvests the maximum available solar energy and maximizes the available battery energy to power a nighttime light.
The Ringdale Solar Controller can be used with any compatible Solar Panel Array, Battery Pack and light fixture. The product is micro-processor controlled and provides five major functions:
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Monitor and control the attached solar array, battery pack and light fixture.
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Harvest the maximum available solar energy for recharging the battery pack.
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Maximize the life of the battery pack by preventing over and under-charging.
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Maximize the light output and illumination time by managing the power consumption of the light fixture.
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Protection of battery pack, solar array and electronics when any component is disconnected or when a low-battery condition exists.
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Physical Overview
The Solar Controller consists of a Ringdale designed and manufactured PCBA (Printed Circuit Board Assembly) housed in an aluminum chassis for protection and heat dissipation. The Solar Controller is mounted on a tapered back-plate for easy installation and maintenance.
The back-plate is designed to slide vertically into a simple notched mounting in an appropriate location, for example inside the box housing the battery pack, without the need for separate mounting screws or hardware. The Solar Controller has three external connectors for connecting to the Battery Pack, Solar Array and Light Fixture, for more details refer to "Connectors" in the "Technical Specifications" section to the left of this page.
System Status - LED indicator lights
Visible from the outside of the housing of the solar controller are one red and one green LED indicator. These colored indicators provide up-to-the-minute visual feed back on the status of critical performance paramaters and functionality of the attached Battery Pack and Solar Array, including the following conditions:
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Battery Overvoltage occurs if the charging circuit is active (solar array is generating power) but the batteries are disconnected or when the battery fuse has failed. In this situation the Solar Controller protects system components from damage.
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Low Battery Voltage if the battery voltage drops below 36 volts then charging of the batteries is terminated to protect the system. The cause should be investigated and rectified accordingly (for example, one battery is dead or has been removed from the circuit).
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High Rate of Charge the batteries are being charged at a healthy 101 watts or more. This indicates that there is adequate sunshine on the solar panel array and that the battery level is currently below the target 58.8 volts.
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Medium Rate of Charge the batteries are being charged at a rate of 50 to 100 watts, indicating that either the battery pack is reaching its fully charged state or there is inadequate sunshine.
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Low Rate of Charge the batteries are being charged at a rate of less than 50 watts, indicating that there is either reduced sunshine or the battery pack has reached its fully charged state of 58.8 volts.
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Power On but Batteries Not Charging this indicates that power is available from either the solar array or the battery pack but the battery pack is not being charged. This occurs at night or when the battery voltage is below 36 volts or if the batteries are disconnected.
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Compatibility
The Ringdale Solar Controller is designed to be compatible with most 48-volt DC Battery Packs, which typically consists of four (4) 12 Volt DC batteries connected in series. The Solar Array can be one or two solar panels connected in series, minimum 22 watts to a maximum of 360 watts.
Unique Ringdale System Capabilities
When the Solar Controller is used in combination with any Ringdale ActiveLED Lighting Fixture then additional capabilities and benefits associated with that fixture are avaiable to the total system, including the following:
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Cost savings - by implementing either smaller solar arrays (wattage) or smaller battery packs (wattage), or both, to power any highly efficient Ringdale ActiveLED lighting fixture.
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Extended battery life and extended illumination time of any highly efficient Ringdale ActiveLED lighting fixture from a battery pack.
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Further extend the illumination time of the LED light by deploying the optional Digital Dimmer and/or Motion Sensor.
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Optional availability of Solar Assist - A Ringdale ActiveLED light will be powered from the battery pack until the pack is depleted and will then seamlessly switchover to Line Voltage for mission critical lighting applications.
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Warranties
Ringdale provides mechanically robust outdoor lighting systems; our warranty for the Solar Controller is 5 years on materials and workmanship.
Ringdale is an ISO 9001:2000 company, registered under BSI certificate FM-1880. Ringdale provides products of the highest quality designed and manufactured in Texas, USA and in the United Kingdom.
Solar Controller Part Number: 00-27-1599-0001
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