Electrics

[TheOldDuffer]

I left the battery charging overnight with the installed battery charger, but the solar charger panel says the battery is only putting out 8V and the battery symbol is empty and flashing. Unfortunately, I've mislaid the manuals for the charger panel and and battery charger, but it seems that the battery is dead - maybe discharged too long over the winter?

Can anyone tell me the make and model No.s of the charger panel and battery charger so that I might download the manuals? Also, if the battery needs to be replaced, anyone know the make and model of the battery?

Edit: I think the charge controller is a MPPT Epever Tracer1206A. The flashing empty battery icon says the battery is discharged. Unless I'm not using the 220V mains charger correctly....

Edit2: I think the charger is a CTEK MXS 5.0. Downloaded the manual, heading back to the boat yard!

[TheOldDuffer]

Put a meter on the battery and got 14.7V. Not sure why the charge controller is saying the battery is empty

[Graham W]

You can download a manual from the Epever website here https://www.epever.com/product/tracer-an-10-40a-mppt-charge-controller/.  It has a troubleshooting section.

I think that I would trust the reading from a multimeter over that from the MPPT controller, especially if you get the same reading from someone else's multimeter, if you manage to borrow one.

[TheOldDuffer]

Found the manuals. The charger is a CTEK mxs 3.8

[Andy Stobbart]

I am not sure if you are having the same issue as me with a 12v battery not charging?
I recently handed in for recycling what was in all likelihood a perfectly good (refurbished) deep cycle battery and bought a brand new one at great expense because the original wouldn't charge, only to find, when the new one also wouldn't charge, that what I actually had was a broken $20 trickle charger!
I think I must have knackered its electronics by either connecting the charger to the wrong terminals or failing to switch it to the correct mode (LiFePo4/Lead Acid) but either way I was very peeved and wasted a lot of money.
To add insult to injury I then had another charger failure with the replacement $20 trickle charger I bought - probably for the same reason - so I ended up buying a more sophisticated charger that should not crap out if I screw up again 🤞.
...we live and some of us learn quickly while others learn more slowly! 😬

[Sea Simon]

I'm  absolutely  not expert on this topic. However, I  seem to have spent a lifetime at sea/offshore finding workarounds for various tech "improvements "   

Chargers.
Modern electronic Chargers like the Ctek etc are very capable, and v useful, however they do have some issues/limitations...imho...

I have several newish chargers, including a very whizzy Victron 15A IP565 (£100 ish, even has blue tooth connx to my phone display, data logger etc...), an poor man's Ctek 5A Aldi ripoff £15ish, and an AA branded mini 2A version for small batteries £15ish.
They all share what to me is a very similar issue. They seem to use charging algorithms  that cannot cope with a " dead flat" battery. When initially connected they test for battery residual  voltages, and without seeing this they register an error and will not move forward into proper charge mode. (Perhaps this is somewhat akin to "waking" a sleeping LifePO4 battery? My fancy Victron has a mode for this too!).

The Victron manual explains this algorithm, and the ctek too (desulphation/soft start) to a lesser degree.
This can fool you/me into thinking the battery, or perhaps the charger, is "faulty". It definitely  fooled me the first time encountered.

My solution is to use my old school 11A heavy copper wound transformer charger (nil electronics, so don't  leave it too long, especially  on a smallish battery) to get the battery up to 11/12v or so. The fancy electronic Chargers will, then "see" the battery and go through the appropriate modes,  including desulphation if necessary.

Of course, I don't claim to have invented this method, I've worked alongside very skilled heavy-power electricians who have also used another "known good" 12 V battery to temporarily trick the electronics under similar circumstances, as many industrial chargers are too big to use, indeed too big to move!

Works for me. AT YOUR OWN RISK! Let me know how/if it goes for you.

I've only this week had to use this technique to enable recharge of the battery in my old Ford Focus estate "crapmobile" (mobile shed/toolbox) that had inadvertently been left standing for 9 days with consumers plugged into the always-live cigarette lighter
socket. The Aldi-CTek showed a fault error code initially.
1. Copper 11A charger for 2hrs. A lower rate would be preferable,  but none available....
2. Victron on reconditioning mode.
Car now fine.


Solar charge controller.
Perhaps similar? I don't know!
My MPPT solar controller, and seperate battery "contents monitor " (both now Renogy, original 10 yo Victron couldn't do my new Lithium batteries) both display the same V as my multimeter.

I agree with GW re multi meter readings. Borrow another, or even buy one, they are cheap as chips nowadays,  while reasonably accurate,  and perfectly safe to use on LV. I keep my second one on the boat.

O duffer. Has the controller perhaps "fixed itself" now the battery is charged?

Many MPPT controllers, even Victron quality ones, don't have digital displays.

[TheOldDuffer]

I've not had a look for a while, I'll pop down this week. However, the ctek charger was only showing two LEDs and didn't seem to progress. I do have an old-school trickle charger that I can put to see what's what.

[TheOldDuffer]

I took the battery out and used my old trickle charger. It brought the voltage up to 12.4V. After a week, it's down to 12.18V. No sure if this is good or bad!

[Sea Simon]

Having trickled up to 12.7 V, did you not then try the CTek immediately afterwards?

Does the CTek not have a reconditioning/de-sulphation mode?

[TheOldDuffer]

Having trickled up to 12.7 V, did you not then try the CTek immediately afterwards?

Does the CTek not have a reconditioning/de-sulphation mode?

I didn't, but will trickle again and then take it back down to the boat and see if the CTek does the reconditioning/de-sulphation. At €150 to replace and after only 2yr, I'd hope it might recover.

[Sea Simon]

Hope it works for you, Good luck!

[TheOldDuffer]

Good news! left the battery on the CTek for 24 hr and all 7 lights are on, lights 6 & 7 green. This in contrast to the last time when, 24hr later, I came back to a red error light and a discharged battery

[Sea Simon]

Good.
Charger  and battery seems to be sorted?

Now, how's the mppt solar controller doing?

Ps. My "crapmobile" battery has been aok since it was last woken from the dead on 25th February.....

[TheOldDuffer]

The battery icon on the solar charge controller is fully black! So I'm good to go. After I wire in the bilge pump...