Help with tempermental battery charger

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by Rohan

And that's my problem - I'm pretty much on my own and I have only half a clue. ugh.

It's not all that difficult to find a qualified marine electrician here in the Chesapeake area... even if they might not be able to arrive at your boat today. Travel time is part of the deal, if not already located where you are... but it's usually no huge amount (in the grand scheme of things) and safer than doing work yourself if you haven't a clue.

ProNautic 1230 (or Sterling equivalent) or Victron whatever, easy to come by. Buy the unit yourself, or have the electrician provide it as part of the job.

A used ProTech-4 today would be only as good as it was 20-25 years ago -- at best. Not nearly as good as modern alternatives.

-Chris

[Rohan]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

So I am an electronics engineer and can repair it… but I would simply replace it with a Victron too because repair is likely more expensive and the chances of it failing again are substantial.

I agree that you should install an outlet to power the charger, which you then simply plug in to the outlet.

I have outlets. But then the charger would draw through my outlets, probably tripping the GFCI buttons or the breaker at times. Plus I prefer having a battery charger switch on my panel because I don't want it always on when I'm plugged into shore power. Ugh.

Anyway I'm venting out loud. I'll probably hire someone to do it, but where I'm located, it could take weeks.

[Cheechako]

"....this time voltage was a little low after some cloudy days so I plugged into shore power and flipped on the battery charger."

I have an old school charger that does not show much output on the meter when a battery is not very low. I thought it was just 'nature of the beast' in it's sensing circuit because it's not reading low voltage, much demand.?

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by Rohan

I have outlets. But then the charger would draw through my outlets, probably tripping the GFCI buttons or the breaker at times. Plus I prefer having a battery charger switch on my panel because I don't want it always on when I'm plugged into shore power. Ugh.

Anyway I'm venting out loud. I'll probably hire someone to do it, but where I'm located, it could take weeks.

If you re-terminate your existing wiring from panel (to charger) to an outlet (instead of direct to the charger)... plugging the charger into that new outlet will mean it'll be controlled by the same panel breaker you started with.

-Chris

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Rohan

I have outlets. But then the charger would draw through my outlets, probably tripping the GFCI buttons or the breaker at times. Plus I prefer having a battery charger switch on my panel because I don't want it always on when I'm plugged into shore power. Ugh.

Anyway I'm venting out loud. I'll probably hire someone to do it, but where I'm located, it could take weeks.

If the charger trips a breaker then something is wrong with it.

Okay, here is the way: you have a breaker and a cable to your charger. When you remove that cable from the charger, you can connect it to a new outlet that you mount there. Now the breaker switches/feeds that outlet and you can plug any charger into it.

[boatpoker]

To the OP ... don't touch anything electrical.
Google - "Annapolis ABYC Certified Marine Electrician"
There is no shortage of them on the bay.

[Rohan]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

To the OP ... don't touch anything electrical.
Google - "Annapolis ABYC Certified Marine Electrician"
There is no shortage of them on the bay.

I'm actually on the Potomac, only occasionally go down to the bay and in a "dead zone" where there are no services for miles. And even those I have to book well in advance. But I'll figure something out.

Good thing is I have time. Solar handles my needs 90% of the time, and if I am really desperate, I could run the engines and use the alternator for charging.

[senormechanico]

Three wires, a box from a hardware store.
Maybe a boat is too much for you?


Oh, wait. FIVE wires. I forgot the output + and -.
Maybe it IS complicated...

[Rohan]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Okay, here is the way: you have a breaker and a cable to your charger. When you remove that cable from the charger, you can connect it to a new outlet that you mount there. Now the breaker switches/feeds that outlet and you can plug any charger into it.

Not a bad idea, or cut the 110 plug off the cable and splice the wires together. hmmm

[JoeRobertJr]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

If the charger trips a breaker then something is wrong with it.

Okay, here is the way: you have a breaker and a cable to your charger. When you remove that cable from the charger, you can connect it to a new outlet that you mount there. Now the breaker switches/feeds that outlet and you can plug any charger into it.

+1. Installing a new outlet would be pretty easy given that your wires are already there.
This is the way my charger is wired, and I really like it. That outlet, labeled "battery charger" on the AC breaker panel, is very handy when I want to power something else in that space, like a soldering iron or heat gun. Unplug the charger, plug in the tool, and turn the outlet back on.

[sailingharry]

I'm not terribly convinced your charger is bad. You say you usually get a bump in voltage when you turn it on -- but with LFP in the mix, I'm not sure that actually happens (and even AGM would have a strong resistance to changing voltage). Might be worth disconnecting your solar or doing this at night (to remove solar from the equation). Bring the battery down a fair bit -- run an inverter to power a heat gun, or some other load. Then hook up shore power and wait several hours. Also, if possible, disconnect the LFP from the charger -- the problem with multi-bank chargers is they aren't really "multi-bank" -- they have one output that is sent through three diodes, so the output is set by the bank with the lowest voltage.



As far as "totally incompatible with LFP," I'm not sure about that either. The only real issue with a charger and LFP is if the charger puts out more than the HVC setpoint of the LFP, and most don't. It may not do a good job of getting you to 100%, it may not do a good job of cycling it properly, etc. But it may do a super job of getting you up to 80% on days when the solar isn't up to it. In other words, it may be less than perfect, but far from horrible.

[Dave Lochner]

What is the battery temperature?

My ProNautic 1250 worked fine when the battery temps were in the 60°-70° F range. Summer came and the battery temps went up and the charge rate went down and stopped completely when the battery temp reached 92°. My assumption is the BMS was doing its job to preserve the battery.

A Friend on the Chesapeake is having similar problems with Victron batteries. As you know the temps on the Chesapeake have been pretty high.

[sinnerman]

I have the ProMariner charger.

It clearly states NOT to mix battery types on the same charger.

All my batts, therefore are AGM.

The boat had a previous model ProMariner Sport installed when I bought the boat.

One day I started the boat without switching it off an it got fried. I noticed later that it was "cooking" my batteries.

Aparently the previous owner had wired it incorrectly. There is a specific cable for the "starter" battery. The "house battery" cable was wired to the starter batt and when I started the engine the charger took the brunt of the load.

My two cents

cheers

MY two cents

[Turtle Blues]

If you cut the plug off a charger you void the warranty.
If you are willing to cut wires not understanding why you won't make the proper connection to an outlet housed in a surface mounted electrical box.
If you have a problem, even unrelated, that reaches the level of an insurance survey you can't correct something after the fact.
Also don't buy the shortage of qualified ABYC certified electricians on the Potomac. Every marina that does work has them and there are several mobile technicians. Yes, at this time of year they are booked a ways out but not unobtainable. Well worth the comfort of knowing it is done right.

[Icarus]

Switch on the charger and test the amps flowing to the batteries on the charger input cable going to the batteries
I use a clamp type metre...
Your batteries might be low and it will take some time for the voltage to increase.