fault flashing on zantex tru charge 20

woodster · Apr 9, 2015

boblin said:
Finally got possession of the boat (1988 C-34) Looking around inside and notice fault blinking on charger, also LED for charging is lit at 20. I know PO set it up 3 days pryer to closing. Got a little nervous ,grabbed the multi meter and started checking voltages, all batteries were over 15 v I shut off charger and went to look for help.
My boat neighbor looked at the set up and and made these observations:

The chargers three legs all went to different batteries which is good but there's a West Marine 70/2 combiner also hooked up. He showed me his and all three leads go the house bank and the combiner charges the reserve. advised me to disconnect the combiner for starters and if charger works correctly to switch to a system like his an see. PO clames he ran all last year with no trouble?

Any ideas?
Thanks
Bob Also on a different note where is best place to buy gaskets for Lewmar ports?

lewmar gaskets .... get your lewmar gaskets here in SBO store...

Maine Sail · Apr 9, 2015

boblin said:
Finally got possession of the boat (1988 C-34) Looking around inside and notice fault blinking on charger, also LED for charging is lit at 20. I know PO set it up 3 days pryer to closing. Got a little nervous ,grabbed the multi meter and started checking voltages, all batteries were over 15 v I shut off charger and went to look for help.
My boat neighbor looked at the set up and and made these observations:

The chargers three legs all went to different batteries which is good but there's a West Marine 70/2 combiner also hooked up. He showed me his and all three leads go the house bank and the combiner charges the reserve. advised me to disconnect the combiner for starters and if charger works correctly to switch to a system like his an see. PO clames he ran all last year with no trouble?

Any ideas?
Thanks
Bob Also on a different note where is best place to buy gaskets for Lewmar ports?

Assuming the wiring is correct and good it sounds like a dead Xantrex charger, improper programming or possibly a bad temp sensor. If it has a temp sensor installed, unplug to test.. The combiner has nothing to do with the charger putting out 15V.....

Stu Jackson · Apr 9, 2015

Bob, Xantrex is most likely not going to be of any help. Unfortunately, but that's how it works in the electronics industry, except for a few, uhm, exceptions.

Maine Sail, who you'll learn is our resident electrical and electronics expert, is right. You need to learn what you should be seeing, what a combiner is, and how to tell if what your neighbor is telling you is correct or not.

If you don't have a manual for the charger, you can download one. The combiner manual is also available online (Google "Yandina" who made them for West Marine).

You may also want to become familiar with our C34 website and forum, which contains a lot of specific to C34s information, to help you avoid reinventing the wheel. http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/board,11.0.html

Congratulations on your new boat.

mz4wheeler · Apr 9, 2015

My guess is the fault is the "over charging" alert, most likely caused by worn batteries.

In theory, as the batteries reach > 14.5, the charging current should taper off to almost zero. If the xantrex senses high voltage with still a high load, it might trigger the fault.

Is one battery hot/warm? If one battery has a dead cell, it might cause this. Maybe disconnect one battery at a time? Also, you can set the xantrex to default charging, which I think is 14.3 volts.

My 2 cents [grin].

Stu Jackson · Apr 9, 2015

Xantrex

The default charging mentioned is usually 13.5V, check the manual, there's a term for it, but I forget what it is.

Bob, this may help you out, also read the rest of the topic:

http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,5977.msg43150.html#msg43150

Donnybrook · Apr 9, 2015

Sounds like it is stuck in equalize mode. Usually, removing AC power for a few seconds will make it go out of equalize. If not, there should be a push button switch that will take it out of equalize mode. On my TC 40, the switch is on the front panel and takes a nail or sharp object to push it.

mz4wheeler · Apr 9, 2015

Donnybrook said:
Sounds like it is stuck in equalize mode. Usually, removing AC power for a few seconds will make it go out of equalize. If not, there should be a push button switch that will take it out of equalize mode. On my TC 40, the switch is on the front panel and takes a nail or sharp object to push it.

Xantrex manual: http://www.xantrex.com/documents/Inverter-Chargers/Freedom-458/Freedom458(445-0193-01-01_rev-2).pdf

Says that equalize mode (in theory) is timed for 8 hours, or can be interrupted by removing AC power.

mz4wheeler · Apr 9, 2015

Looking at the manual more (I'm also learning stuff here) it says that if you don't have a temperature sensor on your battery (like me), then the default setting is 70F:

voltages: accept, float
Type0 (wet): 70F 14.4, 13.5
Type1 (gel1): 70F 14.1, 13.6
Type2 (gel2): 70F 14.4, 13.8
Type3 (agm): 70F 14.3, 13.3

However, if you do have a temp sensor, the numbers are different, and the magic 15V shows up:

Type0 (wet): 40F 15.0, 14.1 **** HERE ****
Type1 (gel1): 40F 14.6, 14.1
Type2 (gel2): 40F 14.7, 14.1
Type3 (agm): 40F 14.6, 13.6

Is it possible that he has a malfunctioning temperature sensor, which is stuck thinking that the batteries are COLD (40F), so it is charging at 15V? What if the temperature sensor is on a good battery, where another battery is hot due to a dead cell?

Maybe try to unplug the temperature probe?

woodster · Apr 13, 2015

let the combiner do the work and run all your charger leads to the house bank ...thats the one that you use the most power from so put back as much power as you can in that bank and the combiner will take care of the reserve bank if it needs anything