Sterling charger problem

Slow_boat

Slow_boat

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I have a problem with my 'ced' Sterling charger; it is bypassing phase one, boost charge' and is going straight to phase two, absorbsion, then to phase three, float, when the batteries have 12.5 volts (it's supposed to boost charge until they reach 14.5 volts) The charge is only 2 amps. The alternator charger seems fine.

Does anyone know if this may be fixable by a marine electrician?

Sterling have suggested I send it to them and they will try to fix it, but as I am in Lorient halfway through a six month cruise, that ian't really an option.
 
I don't know if the Sterling chargerhas a separate voltage sense lead from the battery or measures the goltage at the charger.
If the latter you could have a slightly high resistance connection somewhere between the charger and the battery. A small current would then raise the voltage at the charger, making it think that it needs to change to absorption. The poor connection could also be inside the charger.
If it has a separate sense lead the above is less likely but you could still have a poor connection if the charger lead and sense lead are all connected together.
 
Slow_boat said:
I have a problem with my 'ced' Sterling charger; it is bypassing phase one, boost charge' and is going straight to phase two, absorbsion, then to phase three, float, when the batteries have 12.5 volts (it's supposed to boost charge until they reach 14.5 volts) The charge is only 2 amps. The alternator charger seems fine.

Does anyone know if this may be fixable by a marine electrician?

Sterling have suggested I send it to them and they will try to fix it, but as I am in Lorient halfway through a six month cruise, that ian't really an option.
Click to expand...


Mine does exactly the same - which I've put down to the fact that the batteries never need any bulk charge because of 330 watts of PV panels.
I cannot find any reference to a CED charger on the Sterling site, so will base an answer on available info.
Mine is the ProCharge and has a series of dip switches allowing you to set the maximum charge voltage - as I don't agree with some of Charles Sterling's hypotheses, I set my cut-off volts at "AGM" which I believe is 14.4v as opposed to the 14.8 for open or the 14.2v for gel. On absorption it's set to continue @ 14.4v for 4 hours @ 1.08 amps to each of 3 batteries.
As none of these agree with your 14.5v, I wonder if yours might not be a storm in a teacup.
Incidentally right now system volts are 13.1 and the PV panels are putting in 4.8 amps @ 13.8v through the MPPT controller. The charger is on float. Unterminated volts are 11.2v
I have a number of different points on the system at which I can take voltage readings.

Here's the ProCharge info http://www.sterling-power.com/images/downloads/Pro charge C instructions.pdf

To answer your question - no I don't think a marine electrician will be able to fix it any better than you, I'd check connections for resistance and that the dip-switches are correctly set.
To answer Chalker - on mine the voltage is sensed at the charger on 3 separate outputs, there is a battery-sensed temperature compensator which would, of course, massively reduce the input volts @ 30C the current temperature in my boat. This could also be affecting the OP's charger performance
 
Slow_boat said:
I have a problem with my 'ced' Sterling charger; it is bypassing phase one, boost charge' and is going straight to phase two, absorbsion, then to phase three, float, when the batteries have 12.5 volts (it's supposed to boost charge until they reach 14.5 volts) The charge is only 2 amps. The alternator charger seems fine.
Click to expand...
Like Charles said, are you sure the batts aren't charged already? A charger can't skip the bulk (boost) phase if the batteries aren't full, it can't control how many amps go into the battery, well only indirectly by controlling the voltage. What size is the bank & alternator?
 
GHA said:
Like Charles said, are you sure the batts aren't charged already? A charger can't skip the bulk (boost) phase if the batteries aren't full, it can't control how many amps go into the battery, well only indirectly by controlling the voltage. What size is the bank & alternator?
Click to expand...

I think the OP is seeing no light on for bulk charge and has no handle on what the actual system volts might be.
He has therefore plumped for what is probably an erroneous assumption - "the Sterling charger is broken".
Without knowing what the actual system volts are we're all guessing in the dark.
So I'd suggest to him;-
Get a digital voltmeter and check volts @ the battery a) with the charger off and b) with charger on.

There are a couple of electronics shops in Lorient town, probably shut Dimanche, but if he hasn't got one, get a digital voltmeter and do the simple checks so as not to confuse the rest of us as well as himself.
 
I have checked the charge; yesterday I charged with the alternator to 13.8 volts. Now, 24hrs later, they are down to 10.38 volts. The mains has been on all day. I have three 100 a/hr sealed lead acid domestic batteries and one e 80 a/hr engine start, which is, thankfully, isolated from the domestics and still reading 12.93 volts. The only constant draw I have is a fridge, rated at 5 amps, and a gas alarm which can't be drawing much.

Could one battery going down have dragged the others with it?

I'm really at loss.

Swmbo's in hospital in Lorient at the moment having cracked a vertabrae in her back (L6) during the ex-Bertha winds, so maybe batteries are the least of my problems!
 
Slow_boat said:
I have checked the charge; yesterday I charged with the alternator to 13.8 volts. Now, 24hrs later, they are down to 10.38 volts. The mains has been on all day. I have three 100 a/hr sealed lead acid domestic batteries and one e 80 a/hr engine start, which is, thankfully, isolated from the domestics and still reading 12.93 volts. The only constant draw I have is a fridge, rated at 5 amps, and a gas alarm which can't be drawing much.........
Click to expand...

I think I too have a similar problem with my Sterling ProDigital 1240 charger.

My fridge runs off the domestic batteries but the Sterling does not compensate for the extra current demand so the battery voltage continues to fall with a net drain on the batteries. Only when I turn off the fridge does the charger then start pushing a lot of current back into the batteries. I have never left the fridge on a long time to see how low the battery voltage can go (as this may damage the batteries) and to see if there is a point at which the sterling will "cut in"

I thought that the sterling was capable of maintaining the battery voltage as well a supplying services up to the charger rating - in my case 40 amps.

Is my Sterling also faulty?
 
Hoolie said:

I think it might be. I also have ProDigital 1240 and it copes perfectly well with the fridge running maintaining a float voltage of 13.45 on my 3-battery domestic bank
Click to expand...


Many thanks for your response. Do you think I should return it to Sterling for repair or is it worth buying a new unit ?
 
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