Xantrex Link 10 Peculiar Problem

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Spicemariner

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I bought a boat which was fitted with a Link 10 battery monitor and a Sterling Pro-digital battery charger. Link 10 displayed voltage OK but only displayed amperage when connected to shore power and the battery charger switched on and then only as a positive. The positive reading increases as more draw is taken, although the battery charger hasn't increased its input. We have rewired and had the wiring checked by a marine electrician it but all to no avail does anyone have any ideas. Xantrex haven't replied to emails. Put simply

1 All the wiring from the shunt to the Link 10 is correct and has been checked by a marine electrician.

2 Volts are displayed correctly, whether charger is on or not.

3 Amps are only displayed as a positive when the charger is on but increased draw, shows an increased amps positive.

4 Amp hours only increase and there is no countdown when the battery charger is switched off.
 
Is there any other negative cable not going through the Link connected to the battery?
Probably engine earth - try disconnecting that and turning some lights on
 
Have you got the correct parameters entered in terms of the battery capacity and type, also clear down the system and start from a discharged state. From memory when I last set up a link 2000 system getting the parameters correct was intergral to getting the system to work.
 
Yes we tried disconnecting engine earth, even though all the negative connections are on the service side of the shunt. but made no difference. thanks
 
We have tried the factory settings without success. We are going back to the boat now and we will reset the battery perameters but without too much hope. We liveaboard so no replies from us for a bit but we would appreciate any more ideas. Thanks.
 
I have one as well and gave up on it. I use it as voltmeter and gauge to check the charging current. Anything else is not working and gives confusing readings. i.e mine shows an empty battery after a few days even though the batts are full.
 
Thanks JFKAL, that is more or less what ours is doing, we think we might be coming to the end of the road. Unfortunately ours doesn't even show charging current when the engine is running, only from the battery charger. Because we are going cruising again we think we will have to find another but it wont be a Xantrex product!
 
But if...

But if it shows charging current when the battery charger's on, there's no reason why it shouldn't also show a charge when the engine's on. The Link 10 doesn't know where the charge is coming from! So it really points to a wiring problem.

I've had a Link 10 for about 8 years, and find it both accurate and useful.
 
I agree with PVB, if it measures current from the battery charger then it is most unlikely to be the instrument but more likely the electrical position of the shunt. Somehow the current from the Alternator is not passing through the shunt. After all, the Xantrex is just a highly sensitive voltmeter reading voltage drop across the shunt and converts that to a current display. There must be an alternative current path from the alternator to the -ve of the battery bank. Remember the -ve terminal of the battery bank being measured must be the ONLY cable to the low side of the shunt and no other connection to the -ve terminal other than the cables which may go to the -ve terminal of batteries in parallel for the battery bank being measured. All others go to high side of the shunt. It sounds to me like there is some other connection from the ground/block of the engine to the -ve of the battery being measured which electrically bypasses the shunt for alternator charging purposes.

I have a Link 10 system which I installed myself 4 years ago and apart from small tweaks to special set-up parameters to better match my batteries for calculation of the %charge display, I have found it to be the best thing since sliced bread. I always know what is going into or out of my batteries.

My engine start battery is cabled separately to the Alternator so its -ve goes to the engine block (my alternator -ve is not isolated) but the "house battery" bank which is being monitored by the Link 10 goes from the engine block to the shunt then to the -ve.
I know it can be very confusing following someone else's wiring around and even more difficult in a boat. I suggest you need to bring it back to the basics. Disconnect the existing connections of the battery bank to the alternator and the engine block then wire up the alternator to the battery through the shunt with temporary cables so that you can see it operate. This exercise may also help you understand the wiring better.
Don't throw out the Xantrex, my bet is that it really does work.
Ray
 
It does not end there. Just today after being away from the boat it showed that I used 150 Ah (from an 80 Ah battery). Voltage was 13.4 V (solar panel charging). I think I will just bin the darn thing.
 
Thanks for your detailed reply. I will give your ideas a go. When we bought the boat the owner told us he had had 4 Link 10s and could get none to work, so we assumed that it had to be a wiring problem but it does really look OK. However we will go back to basics and do a rewire.
 
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