Does this look normal to you?

DArcy

DArcy

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Feb 11, 2017
1,770
Islander Freeport 36 Ottawa
My Sterling Pro Charge Ultra 30 is acting strange. When I came to the boat just now I heard the charger fan on full. I opened the compartment and the charger shows 0 Bolts 0 Amps and the standby light is on. The battery is at 12.7V but it was a sunny day so the solar panels would easily keep ahead of the fridge which is the only thing on. It does not feel at all warm. I've seen this a few times before and when I cycle the power everything seems normal and the fan runs on low.

All the multi speed fan lights are on.
The OK light is on.
The Fault light is off.

Why would the fan be running on full when it is not charging?

The attached image shows the status lights.
 

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dlochner

.
Jan 11, 2014
13,039
Sabre 362 113 Fair Haven, NY
How long did the fan run after you noticed it? Is it possible the charger had just stopped charging and the fan was still running to cool the charger?
 
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DArcy

DArcy

.
Feb 11, 2017
1,770
Islander Freeport 36 Ottawa
It just runs continuously, I watched it for about 10 minutes. I've seen it run at 30 Amps and the fan only gets to the second level.

I cycled the power and it goes through a high current stage for a few minutes, seems like it is trying to determine the state of the battery, the voltage goes to about 14.5V. Then it settles in to a lower current state although I was not really watching it, then after about 45 minutes it went back to the full fan, 0V, 0A state.
 
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dlochner

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Jan 11, 2014
13,039
Sabre 362 113 Fair Haven, NY
The Sterling/ProNautic chargers do start with the max current. if the battery is close to fully charged the voltage will climb quickly to the absorption voltage, at which point the current will start to drop until it reaches the float level. It will stay at float for a while (I forget the criteria) and then shut off. That's normal.

The fan should run until the charger is cool. Could be the temp sensor for the fan is busted.
 
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DArcy

DArcy

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Feb 11, 2017
1,770
Islander Freeport 36 Ottawa
NYSail said:
Just curious….. what solar charger do you have?
Click to expand
It is a ProStar 30. It was dark when I was on the boat this evening so it would not have been providing any charge current.
 
jssailem

jssailem

SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
Oct 22, 2014
23,335
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
It is curious. Rather than guessing, it feels like a good time to call support and ask the question.
 
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SoSound

SoSound

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Nov 21, 2007
673
Beneteau Oceanis 34 Kingston, WA
I'm curious, how old is your Pro Charge? I have a “Lite” model which recently stopped providing any charging current at all. Its replacement is an Ultra unit with a warranty credit applied for the Lite. It has just been shipped.
I had the fridge on, and unfortunately, did not notice that it wasn't charging until it had drawn the house batteries down to 9.7V.
Part of my troubleshooting was to confirm (after reinstalling my solar panels) that the solar charger was at least providing the appropriate float voltage and current. The Lite charger doesn't have a volt or amp display, but everything else on it looked normal, it just wasn't providing any current. It would be quite a coincidence, but you might want to monitor it closely until you know that it is actually providing some charge.
 
SoSound

SoSound

.
Nov 21, 2007
673
Beneteau Oceanis 34 Kingston, WA
jssailem said:
It is curious. Rather than guessing, it feels like a good time to call support and ask the question.
Click to expand
My documentation includes a notation that it is a good idea to do a reset to factory default settings if the charger is "behaving bizarrely".

Support was very easy to reach and very responsive to my questions.
 
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