charles_reed
Well-Known Member
After 11 days on shore-power my switch mode charger still wasn't keeping the batteries up to scratch - in fact under load system volts would go down to 11.8.
Individually all 3 batteries checked out as being OK, the charger was putting out 13.3 amps on the terminals, but still refused to move into bulk charge, but supported a 5.5 amp drain with no batteries in circuit.
I cleaned and re-made all the connections, all to no avail. The charger still wouldn't move into bulk charge.
Suddenly at 03:00 this morning (in the middle of an electric storm which I'm sure had no relevance) the charger started humming away to itself and brought system volts up to 13.3 and has held them there, in fact with a little sun and the input from the solar panels it's at 13.6 right now.
The charger is a 20 amp switch mode Zetagi, with dual feeds, one into the two aft batteries and the other into the domestic circuit. It and its identical predecessor (stolen in Malta) have given 8 years of trouble-free service.
Batteries are one conventional 105ah wet battery 1 year-old and 2 x 95 ah sealed batteries (3-4 years old) and on shore-power and charger they are all in circuit. At all times the sealed battery's indicators showed green and the SG of the wet battery was 1.24-1.25. I couldn't test Open Circuit Volts.
Right now, if I put an 8 amp load on the circuit, system volts drop to 13.2 and soon recover to 13.3 (the volts at which the switch-mode charger is set).
Anyone care to venture a theory to account for this anomalous behaviour?
I'm still puzzled.
Individually all 3 batteries checked out as being OK, the charger was putting out 13.3 amps on the terminals, but still refused to move into bulk charge, but supported a 5.5 amp drain with no batteries in circuit.
I cleaned and re-made all the connections, all to no avail. The charger still wouldn't move into bulk charge.
Suddenly at 03:00 this morning (in the middle of an electric storm which I'm sure had no relevance) the charger started humming away to itself and brought system volts up to 13.3 and has held them there, in fact with a little sun and the input from the solar panels it's at 13.6 right now.
The charger is a 20 amp switch mode Zetagi, with dual feeds, one into the two aft batteries and the other into the domestic circuit. It and its identical predecessor (stolen in Malta) have given 8 years of trouble-free service.
Batteries are one conventional 105ah wet battery 1 year-old and 2 x 95 ah sealed batteries (3-4 years old) and on shore-power and charger they are all in circuit. At all times the sealed battery's indicators showed green and the SG of the wet battery was 1.24-1.25. I couldn't test Open Circuit Volts.
Right now, if I put an 8 amp load on the circuit, system volts drop to 13.2 and soon recover to 13.3 (the volts at which the switch-mode charger is set).
Anyone care to venture a theory to account for this anomalous behaviour?
I'm still puzzled.