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Charge controller won't stay in float


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#21 radarcontact

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Posted 28 September 2018 - 01:14 AM

So I'm camped tonight. Drove about 2.5 hours today, sunny. When I left home battery voltage was around 13.7 and doing its cycling thing from float to absorption. It's almost dark now and my voltage is 12.4. Two lights and my frig are the load. Essentially no PV input now. I started the truck to see if it would do some charging, but from what I'm seeing it isn't. It's been idling now for 10 min, and battery voltage is still 12.4. Is that normal? I have a Sure Power 1314A separator. Don't think it's related to my original problem, but not sure.
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#22 radarcontact

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Posted 28 September 2018 - 01:24 AM

Something weird going on... A minute ago my net battery amperage was -4.5A, meaning that the battery was putting out 4.5A to power a load. Only thing using juice was my two overhead lights.... Frig wasn't running at the time. Engine still idling. I just noticed the net battery amperage has dropped, to -0.5A, which would be about the normal load without the frig running... Now I'm wondering if battery separator is sending camper battery amperage to the truck battery.... I thought the 1314A was uni directional, from truck to camper only. Confused.
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#23 radarcontact

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Posted 28 September 2018 - 01:29 AM

Final update for anyone still reading this ridiculous blog.... Still idling engine, almost 20 min now. Batt voltage has risen, to 12.6. Load is correct, about 0.5A. So it appears the engine battery is charging the camper batteries slowly. Still not sure why the camper battery was giving off almost 5A earlier. Only thing I can think of is that it was charging the truck battery temporarily... I'll never figure this s#i+ out.
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#24 pvstoy

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Posted 28 September 2018 - 01:31 AM

Just this week you mentioned you had a spare separator to try and don't remember the out come. But there is two battery attachments and the truck battery needs to be on the proper post along with the camper side needs to be on the proper lug. There is a ground wire I believe needs to be attached. Check the post and ground wire to see if they went back on the proper lugs.
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#25 pvstoy

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Posted 28 September 2018 - 01:41 AM

12.6 volts is too low to see coming of the truck alternator. When the separator makes connection you will have truck and camper battery connected and you should see what the alternator is putting out for volts. If your truck battery is being charged by the alternator say around 14.5 volts then when the separator connects you should see ~14.5 volts on your camper battery, minus some for loss in length of wire loss.

Remember there is a minimum voltage on the camper battery's that won't allow the separator to connect.
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Patrick

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#26 Vic Harder

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Posted 28 September 2018 - 07:11 AM

All helpful responses, thanks to everyone.  Last time I took my AGM batteries to a local place that said they were the end-all in battery testing they were wrong....they said they were fine, but the batteries were bad.  But, I will test them more thoroughly.  Paul, that's a great idea.  I'll probably take them to our local CC and see what they say.

 

Jax, I was thinking the same thing...still wondering if my IOTA is butting heads with my controller.  I'm going up to Yellowstone tomorrow and will have the camper off landline for a couple days, so I'll see if that makes a difference.

 

Craig, the one part of your post regarding the absorption charge time.....I have a compatible battery monitor that comes from Blue Sky, IPN Pro Remote.  It communicates w/the controller continuously.  One of the settings on the monitor is absorption charge time measured by current vs. time, which is called 'Float Transition Current' on the monitor....once the current drops below 1.5A per 100 Ah of battery capacity (or whatever you set it for, this is adjustable), the controller goes from absorption to float.   I left the setting on factory default (1.5/100Ah), and my Ah capacity is 230Ah, so it transitions when the current drops below 3.45A.  Supposedly it's a better way of transitioning, instead of doing a standard 4 hours of absorption, or whatever the time parameter is.  In theory it makes sense, but have no idea how efficient it is in practice.

 

pv...I couldn't do the swap-out of my 12V truck battery.  My connections from the controller to my 6V batteries are via the screw-on 1/2 in. threaded post....my truck battery only has the fatter terminals.  I don't have any adapters, so I couldn't do it today.

PVSTOY is asking a lot of good questions.  Mine is around this transition current.  On my Victron gear, this is labeled the "tail current" and I have it set at .7% of AH = 1.61Amps for your batteries.  3.45A as a transition into float sounds way to high to me, and I suspect your batteries may actually need to be in absorb mode if they are still accepting that much juice.


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#27 Old Crow

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Posted 28 September 2018 - 07:20 PM

Final update for anyone still reading this ridiculous blog.... Still idling engine, almost 20 min now. Batt voltage has risen, to 12.6. Load is correct, about 0.5A. So it appears the engine battery is charging the camper batteries slowly. Still not sure why the camper battery was giving off almost 5A earlier. Only thing I can think of is that it was charging the truck battery temporarily... I'll never figure this s#i+ out.

 

You may want to take a read through DrJ's experience (if you've not already done so) in replacing the 1314A with a Blue Seas unit in this Automatic Charge Relay thread.   There are a few more photos in this Truck Camper Magazine version of the same info (at mod #5).

 

If it turns out further monitoring of your 1314A satisfies you that it's working properly, fine.   If not, DrJs info may give you a path forward and give you other factors to consider. 

 

.


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#28 craig333

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Posted 28 September 2018 - 10:35 PM

Another reason not to use a seperator. If its wired correctly disconnect it and see what happens. Bypass it and see what happens. 


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#29 radarcontact

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Posted 29 September 2018 - 06:02 PM

Read all the prior responses, thanks to everyone for your time.  Wanted to update you on what's going on....

 

Received the third controller from Blue Sky, installed it.  Initially, it seemed to be functioning the way it's supposed to.  Went into bulk mode for awhile, then absorption, then float.  When it went to float the amps out started around 1.5A, then gradually decreased little by little over the next hour or so to around 0.3-0.4A.  Stayed in float the whole time.   Battery voltage went from 14.0 down to 13.8.  I have my float set point at 13.5V, so I would suspect it would keep decreasing down to just above that point, had I let it.  In any case, everything seemed to be working ok.  I had to put some electrical tape on some rooftop connections which required me to disconnect my rooftop plug for a couple minutes.  Did that and reconnected.  When I did, everything went back to the way it was with the other two controllers...0.0A out in float, won't stay in float, endless cycling back and forth from float to absorption.  My conclusion is that it's not my equipment, because everything seemingly was operating correctly initially.  When PV power was lost, and restored, all the problems started happening.  I think there's something in the programming of this controller that gets out of whack when it loses power and subsequently has it restored.  I recall that the second controller did the same thing, worked fine initially.  Lost power that night bec. of no sunlight.  Next morning, not staying in float.  Any additional thoughts you all might have would be appreciated.  I'm ready to blow up my system, sick of this whole mess.

 

**Vic, I will set the parameter as you suggest, report back.

 

Also wanted to add....when I sent the original controller back to Blue Sky and they bench-tested it, they said it was fine.  Nothing blown or out of whack.  


Edited by radarcontact, 29 September 2018 - 06:35 PM.

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#30 radarcontact

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Posted 29 September 2018 - 06:21 PM

Vic, did as you suggested....the controller stayed in absorption longer, but as soon as it switched to float mode the amps out dropped rapidly to 0.0A, just like before.  I even lowered the transition current parameter further, from 1.61 to 1.0A for my batteries....only change was that it stayed in absorption mode longer.  Still wouldn't float.  I can't understand for the life of me why this controller won't send out any amperage in float mode.  No amperage out causes it to fall back to absorption mode every time.  Maybe I need a different brand controller.....but others have been happy w/this brand.  Lost cause.


Edited by radarcontact, 29 September 2018 - 06:21 PM.

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