Charging at 14.3v!

eianm

.
Jul 7, 2010
517
Hunter 42 Sydney
I noticed yesterday when i ran the gen set top charge the batteries that my victron gauge told me i was charging at well over 14v- i am thinking this indicates my freedom 2000 might be having a melt down- Any thoughts please- based on experience.
If i am correct and the Xantrex Freedom is faulty- has anyone successfully repaired or had repaired?
Thanks
Eian
 
Sep 25, 2008
7,077
Alden 50 Sarasota, Florida
Nothing wrong with that if the batteries are not fully charged. What kind of batteries and what is their SOC at the time you observed this?
 

eianm

.
Jul 7, 2010
517
Hunter 42 Sydney
2 x 8D's in good condition but been off shore power for 2 weeks but with everything turned off- so voltage had dropped to 12.5v so i was simply running the onan to charge them back up, but panicked at 14.3v, so turned jen off until i could do some research.
 
Dec 25, 2000
5,704
Hunter Passage 42 Shelter Bay, WA
2 x 8D's in good condition but been off shore power for 2 weeks but with everything turned off- so voltage had dropped to 12.5v so i was simply running the onan to charge them back up, but panicked at 14.3v, so turned jen off until i could do some research.
Hi Eian, 14.3 charging voltage pretty normal for bulk and accept on our boat then drops to 13.5 float volts. Very pleased with our Xantrex Freedom 25 and Link-1000. AGM 8Ds here.
 
May 24, 2004
7,129
CC 30 South Florida
The normal rate of self discharge for a good, fully charged wet cell battery is 5% over a month. You indicate your batteries were down to 12.5V which corresponds to 80% state of charge. If this is correct it might mean you lost 20% of charge in just two weeks which would yield an eight fold over normal rate of self discharge over a month. Check and see if you have a hardwired draw on your batteries like perhaps a bilge pump or any parasitic draws. It may be worth your time investigation why the seemingly excessive rate of self discharge. A very common cause is when the batteries are not fully charged to start with. They require 5 to 7 hours to charge depending on state of discharge and there are no shortcuts. Many cruisers when charging with a genset or engine alternator may skip the last 10% to save a couple of hours. The practice is a tradeoff between engine wear or battery longevity.
 
  • Helpful
Likes: ggrizzard
Jun 14, 2010
2,082
Robertson & Caine 2017 Leopard 40 CT
Just to add to what others said - if your charger is temperature compensated the charge voltage will be higher as the weather gets colder.
 
Feb 26, 2004
22,760
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
If i am correct and the Xantrex Freedom is faulty
There is nothing wrong with your Freedom. Do you have the manual? If not, Xantrex has files for discontinued products. Go find it and download it.
The manual (I have a Freedom 15) includes a good description of how battery chargers work. Something you should learn about, it seems.
Happy reading.
 
Feb 10, 2017
305
Hunter 41 Progreso
when i left everything connected i have similar 10% drop in one week. when i turn off everything my drop is very little