ProMariner ProNauticP Charger Settings

[dlochner]

The battery bank is 4 Dekka GC15s with a ProNauticP 1250 charger.

Dekka recommends the following charger settings:

Bulk 14.6 volts
Absorption 14.4 volts
Float 13.5 volts
This does not match one of the charger's preprogramed settings.

In the custom mode, the charger has 2 options: Conditioning and Auto Maintain.

This afternoon I set the Conditioning voltage to 14.6 and the Auto Maintain to 14.4

The charger ran at 13.6v at ~40 amps for about 2 hours and then shut off. The batteries were not at 100% SOC last fall and had not been connected to a charger since then.

Somehow this doesn't seem right. I expected an initial charge voltage of 14.6 and decreasing to 14.4 and didn't expect the charger to stop charging after 2 hours.

Am I missing something here? If so, where did I screw up?

As always, thank you for your insights.

 

[MSter]

Dave, what did you find out? Did you change the charging profile again?
I also have 4 gc 2, with the Pro-nautical 1230 and use chaging profile # 2.
Mike

 

[Maine Sail]

The battery bank is 4 Dekka GC15s with a ProNauticP 1250 charger.

Dekka recommends the following charger settings:

Bulk 14.6 volts
Absorption 14.4 volts
Float 13.5 volts
This does not match one of the charger's preprogramed settings.

In the custom mode, the charger has 2 options: Conditioning and Auto Maintain.

This afternoon I set the Conditioning voltage to 14.6 and the Auto Maintain to 14.4

The charger ran at 13.6v at ~40 amps for about 2 hours and then shut off. The batteries were not at 100% SOC last fall and had not been connected to a charger since then.

Somehow this doesn't seem right. I expected an initial charge voltage of 14.6 and decreasing to 14.4 and didn't expect the charger to stop charging after 2 hours.

Am I missing something here? If so, where did I screw up?

As always, thank you for your insights.

Sorry I missed this.

#1 There is no such thing as a "bulk charging voltage" bulk is constant current with voltage always rising. You can have a bulk transition voltage then a lower absorption voltage but this only applies to certain regulators and solar controllers and other chargers that allow for this. For the Pronautic you'll ideally want 14.7V Absorption & 13.6V Float..

#2 The recommendations from East Penn, for that battery, in a cycling / off-grid application are. (Note: floats are higher in off-grid than typical golf cart use).

At 12V:

Max Charge Current = 30% or less of Ah capacity (20 hour)

Absorption Voltage = 14.4V - 14.7V (you'll want to be at the 14.7V end for your application)
Absorption End Point = Current change over 1 hour period of less than 0.1A
Max Absorption Time = 12 Hours (you have no control over this the charger decides)
Float Voltage = 13.8V - 14.1V (off-grid daily cycling)
Float End Time = No Limit
Equalization = 15.0V to 15.3V
Equalization End Point = Current change over 1 hour period of less than 0.1A
Max Equalization Time = 12 Hours

Temp Compensation = -.018V for every degree °C rise above 25C

Note: For continual dock charging, without daily cycling, you will likely want to compensate float down to 13.4V to 13.7V. I generally use 13.6V. The guidance above is for off-grid or deep cycling applications where the batteries are cycled daily. You will however want to be at the 14.7V end for absorption. If you stick to the 14.7V end of the absorption range and the batteries will do much better in regards to sulfation.

#3 Can't comment on what you mean by "shut down"... What was the amperage flowing out just before it shut down? What was voltage at charger end? Voltage at battery end? Is the temp sensor connected? What temp were the batts? What was the resting open circuit voltage before you started charging?

 

[dlochner]

Maine,

Thanks for the response. "Bulk" was a direct quote from East Penn as were the other terms and voltages.

Shut down meant that the Charger Monitor indicated 0 volts and 0 amps being put into the battery. I wasn't watching close enough to get the other information that you asked about.

I sent the East Penn recommended charge profile to ProMariner and their response was either AGM Preset 1 or Sealed Preset 1. Here's the profile table.

Without getting into the custom mode, it seems that Flooded Preset 2 would be appropriate for my current use of the boat (mostly a dockside condo with some day sailing and a longer vacation trip) and when we set sail out the St. Lawrence shift to Flooded #1 to get the higher float charge when we have access to shore power.

We will be adding a smart regulated 80 amp alternator, either the stock alternator converted or a Compass Marine alternator and some solar.

 

[joker460]

Could be that your charger is in energy saver mode which will shut down the charger to conserve energy. There was a thread where Maine Sail mentioned switching from bc to ps mode. This takes it out of energy saving mode. I tried it and it works.
Just my 2 cents.