Power Integrator

What is the Power Integrator?

The Power Integrator is an advanced 25A Leisure Battery Charger, which can be employed on motorhomes, caravans, narrow boats or anything that uses an automobile battery. While the recreational vehicle is on the move, the power integrator can work as a battery-to-battery charger and convert the alternator output to the proper charging sequence. While the vehicle is parked at the campsite, the power integrator can grant the MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) function to the installed solar panels, boost the charging efficiency, and drastically reduce the charging time. It can also be used to top off the starter battery while camping.

Why do You need a Power Integrator?

When your Motorhome is idle, you are relying on the leisure battery to provide electricity to the appliances. The capacity of your leisure battery determines the frequency to turn on that noisy generator. You might think that by installing enough battery bank, regularly moving the automobile around, plugging the motor home into the AC outlets at the campsite, or utilizing the solar panel will help keep the leisure battery fully charged. This is not true! You need to understand the following FACTs to uncover the secrets of better motor homing:

• Your Leisure battery is never Fully Charged:

No matter what type of battery - Flooded, Gel or AGM that you install, it needs a multi-stage charging sequence to completely replenish the juice. Unfortunately, the alternator in the motorhome is not designed to fulfill that sequence. To make the situation worse, the leisure battery is often located away from the alternator. The voltage drop over the wires can become significant. By constantly facing the under-voltage and out-of-sequence charging condition, your leisure battery in the motorhome is simply never fully charged.

• The solar panel installed on your narrow boat can never produce the full rated power output:

You install a 70W solar panel on your narrow boat. You think it can generate 70W power to charge your leisure battery. But, that is not always going to happen! Not mention, the solar panel needs to be de-rated on an overcast, cloudy day, or even on a sunny afternoon, and without the proper control of the charging voltage and current, the 70W solar panel cannot send its full output into the leisure battery. The result is: your solar panel will never perform to its full potential. You will need to wait extra time for your leisure battery to get fully charged.

• Your Starter Battery will get Depleted during the winter:

If you don't perform a maintenance charge during the winter, after a long idle time, there is a high chance that the starter battery in your motorhome will be depleted. You will have trouble starting the vehicle when you are ready to go out and have fun.

The power integrator is designed to solve all the above issues.

How does the Power Integrator work?

After being installed, the power integrator uses the ignition ON / OFF signal to trigger the switch between the battery-to-battery charger mode, and the solar panel MPPT charging controller mode.
While the ignition is on, the vehicle alternator is tricked to stay at its maximum output. The starter battery and other devices in the motorhome will get the regular share of the power to perform necessary routines, just like the power they receive without having the power integrator installed. The excessive power generated by the alternator will be assigned to charge the leisure battery. The voltage and current applied to the leisure battery will be optimized so that the battery can be brought up to the full capacity quicker, yet safely. The leisure battery can now finally be fully charged.
Below is the working diagram when the ignition is on:



While the ignition is off, the power integrator can take inputs from either (or both) the solar panel or wind turbine channel, and convert it to the proper voltage and current to charge the leisure battery. The fast-response MPPT controller function is performed to increase the solar panel's charging efficiency. Your solar panel will now finally work to its full potential.
The power integrator can also generate top off (less than 1A) charging current for the starter battery to combat the drain loss during camping or winter storage. Below is the working diagram when the ignition is off:

The Installation:

The installation of the power integrator is straight-forward, and simple. Just use the right gauge wiring (to minimize the voltage drop) specified in the user manual, connect the power integrator to the batteries / alternator / ignition / solar panel / wind turbine following the below setup diagram, insert the correct fuses, and it will be up and running immediately. One thing to note is the location of where to mount the power integrator in the motor home: it is recommended to place it as close to the leisure battery as possible.

What Type of Battery can the Power Integrator Charge?

The power integrator can output the required multi-stage charging sequence to the battery. Below is a typical 4-stage charging sequence voltage and current chart:


The power integrator can work with all three major types of automobile batteries: Flooded, Gel and AGM. The user needs to specify the battery type by pushing the switches on the back of the power integrator. The equalization charge stage is designed for the Flooded battery only. It is recommended not to use Flooded mode to charge Gel and AGM battery, or it might cause damage to the battery.

A closer look at the Interface:

Below is the interface on the front panel. From left to right are the connection terminals for: Wind Turbine Input, Solar Panel Input, Ignition signal, Starter Battery, Leisure Battery and the main return. On the top are the three fuses for the Wind Turbine input channel, Solar Panel input channel, and the output channel to the leisure battery.


Below is the interface on the back panel. The user can connect a digital display panel to the "Control Panel" port to read the battery and the Power Integrator's vital signals. The reset button is to reset the power integrator just in case it sees a fault on the input / output channels and latches itself . The "Fault" and the "Mode" LED indicator can use different color and flashing frequency to indicate the status of the power integrator. (See the user manual on how to read the signals). The SW1 and SW2 switches are used to specified the type of the battery connected to the power integrator.

Protection, Protection, Protection:

The power integrator can protect the batteries and itself from many different fault conditions, such as vehicle battery being lower than 10.5V, over current, short circuitry, reverse polarity, no battery installed, over temperature and over voltage presented on the input / output channels. The fault LED indicator on the back panel will use different colors and flash to inform users about the fault. (See the user manual on how to read the signals).

Available Accessories:

Currently, there is only one accessory available for the power integrator. This is the digital control panel which is used to display the vital signals of the battery and the power integrator. This is now supplied "Free Of Charge" with every PI4/25C.