Statpower TC-10hw charger - problems?

[Fred]

My boat came with this charger permanently installed. I thought that I would try it out.

1) battery voltage was approximately 12vdc, I connected the AC voltage. The charger seemed to go through a power up cycle and then the "ready-float" and the "bulk" LEDs started flashing simultaneously.

According to the manual this is indicative of the battery voltage being too high, possibly connected to another charging source. It was connected to my outboard motor but the motor was not running

2) the next day I dismounted the charger, checked all the wiring ( it seems to be ok) checked the gell/flooded switch ( it was in the flooded position which shoulder ok since my battery is a normal wet cell marine battery). I checked the output fuses. One fuse was blown. Since I didn't have spare fuse I moved the other fuse over. I suspect that these are on the output lines to two separate battery outputs (I only have one battery in the boat).

Now, without the AC connected the "bulk" LED is flashing. According to the manual this means that the charger has shutdown due to overheating. (Definitely wasn't too warm in the boat)

I did not have AC available so could not try that out.

According to the manual, if a fuse is blown the charger would be "continuously resetting". I've never seen it do this.

Next steps....
1) buy and install replacement fuse
2) retry and then connect to AC

I'm hoping the charger is functional. According to PO it was fairly recently installed.

Any further advice would be welcome.

 

[mitiempo]

While it may have "been recently installed", Statpower is one of the first companies bought by Xantrex - before 2000 I think.

It is likely also that both fuses are required for it to function properly.

 

[Fred]

Here is an update..... Installed the new fuse and applied AC voltage. Under all conditions AC only, DC only and AC & DC the "bulk" LED" continues to flash. Since I only have one battery attached, I changed the connection to the other output. Same result.

I dismounted the unit and opened it up and it appears that a large 25v 2200uf electrolytic capacitor is "bulging". Usually this is a sign that it is defective. I guess that will be my next target. For the rest everything else looks clean, no signs of moisture or oxidation. Hopefully I will be able to recover the unit by replacing the cap.

 

[Fred]

No luck with simply replacing the capacitor. It hard to do more debugging without a schematic.

 

[Ron20324]

If it really is a 2000 or older, electronics can die from non-use. I've had it happen to my stuff. Quicker, I think, than if you used them. IIRC, the capacitors in any device need to be "exercised", meaning used once in a while. That's why the power supplies are the first to give out.