CTEK Multi XS 25000 - faulty?

Hi all. I have the same charger with slightly different problems. Even when turned on with near fully charged batteries it starts off OK but takes 6-7 hours to get the batteries from 13v to 13.6v. When charging batteries from 12.8v it takes > 10hrs to get to 13.6v during which time the unit gets very, very warm, in fact hot enough that I am not game to leave it on unattended in the M/h. I sent a query re excessive heat to the Ctek techo bods and got back a non helpful reply stating that the charger has inbuilt temperature compensation which slows down the charge rate as temp increases. As the unit is mounted in a free airflow position and the ambient air temp is only high 20's I can only assume that the unit is defective and I suspect it is the cooling fan. I have 360 ah batteries so the charging times seem slow to me. I guess my next job will be to fill out an online warranty claim and then go through all the crap to get a replacement as we are currently 1500 k from place of purchase. The joys of being on the road full time can be somewhat lessened when this happens. Cheers.

Dingojim,

The fan operation should be easily determined by feeling for an air flow from the charger. If the fan has failed then it certainly could cause problems such as you describe.

Sounds pretty normal - they do get very hot when charging. Read the instructions about which modes it is in. They don't just go straight into bulk charging - hence the long charge time. 2 x 360 ah is a fair bit to recharge though.

DingoJim,
It is possible that this is normal, based on the limited information you have provided. Specially if it is a large battery or more than one battery in parallel. The smart charger still goes through its different stages; some stages may be quicker with batteries that have more charge already, but some stages take as long as it takes.
The above depends on the Amp of your charger (not stated) and the size of battery(ies) (not stated.

Hi gbc and CSeaJay and thanks for your replies. The charger is rated at 25 amps and charges 3 x 120 ah batteries in parallel. The charger is 6 mths old. the batteries are brand new and all associated wiring is spot on. I would expect the charger to get fairly warm initially when operating near max output but not after 5-6 hrs charging when output is much less. The fan is operating but seems a little noisier than when first installed so that is still top of the suspect list. I have read and reread the instructions and unit seems to be operating ok but hot electrical devices bear close watching. Cheers.

I have just read the OP comment re the manual and although the English is much better than most Asian imports it does leave a bit to be desired in "understandability" .

It will go all night pulse charging until it is happy. Hot as buggery, making weird sounds, fan on and off. The batteries will get hot too. I've given up worrying about mine but it is definitely strange.

Hi Gents, thanks for the follow up.

The batteries are just 5 years old but are maintaining their charge via the solar panels & when I initially switch on the CTek the voltage reading on the regulator goes from 13.6v to 14.4v but tried the charger again yesterday & it registered a fault after the 4 hour period.

I'll try to eliminate the other possibilities one by one while I'm on the road for the next few weeks & will see how I go.

Thanks again.

John

John, how are the batteries performing? Can they run a fridge for a few days or take some other sort of heavy load?

Hi Gents, I've put on a load on the batteries (only 4 lights) left them on for an hour & then switched on the Ctek & it has made it through to the 3rd phase at this point in time.

The batteries were showing 13.7v on the regulator before I put the lights on but in the past I've switched the Ctek on even when it appeared the batteries were at full quota & it still went through the full phase of the charge process.

I'll monitor it while I'm away. Thanks again to all, John

Just a further update, the Ctek has completed all functions & the "green" light is illuminated.

I'm at a loss as to why it didn't want to function properly however I'll monitor it over the next few weeks.

Thanks all again for the input.John