battery charger

Submitted: Saturday, Jul 07, 2018 at 15:46
ThreadID: 136952 Views:2651 Replies:3 FollowUps:3
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have a projecta 7 stage 15 amp charger over 5 years old,when using the power light is on,charging light is on,and the fully charged light is flashing, charging at 14.7 volts, after a while the charging rate jumps to 15.6 volts and the charging light and the fully charged light are both flashing,whats going on? turn the power of for an hour and the battery reads 12.8 volts,is the charger on the way out,do not want to cook the battery,thanks for future answers barry
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Reply By: HKB Electronics - Saturday, Jul 07, 2018 at 16:14

Saturday, Jul 07, 2018 at 16:14
Sounds like it thinks your battery is faulty and trying to recondition it.

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Follow Up By: RMD - Saturday, Jul 07, 2018 at 17:04

Saturday, Jul 07, 2018 at 17:04
Could it be the cabling to the bttery isn't well connected and the charger is unable to read the true state of the battery?
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Follow Up By: HKB Electronics - Saturday, Jul 07, 2018 at 17:51

Saturday, Jul 07, 2018 at 17:51
Could be, depends how its connected.

Multistage smart chargers can be to smart. My projecta often thinks the battery needs to be equalized or reconditioned, this happens because I have a lot of devices in the car drawing backup current, this causes the battery voltage to decay quickly when the charger goes into its monitoring mode after completing charging. The charger sees this as a battery that either requires equalizing or reconditioning.
If I isolate the battery the problem goes away. Projecta are also aware of this idiosyncrasy.

I know the batteries ok so I just turn it off when it happens.

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Follow Up By: Zippo - Sunday, Jul 08, 2018 at 11:18

Sunday, Jul 08, 2018 at 11:18
I'm in the same boat as HKB above. I have five 100Ah AGM/gel batteries with known history that all pass normal charge/rest/measured-discharge cycles. My 15A Projecta consistently claims three of them require reconditioning due to the voltage dropping to/below 13v3 during the 90 second (?) end-of-boost rest/test period. It has got to the point where I charge those ones using it as a regulated 13v8 power supply.

I have the Projecta accessory digital readout "remote head" which displays current/voltage so I can see what is going on. Whether the Projecta test is actually a reasonable one is open to debate, and I have discussed this at some length with a (now former) Projecta engineer..

The other issue with their 15A units is the provided leads. They are a bit lean. I understand the 25A units use four-wire connection (*) to eliminate volt drop entering the equation. Those factory 15A leads should NOT be extended, if you want more length a larger gauge cable is really necessary.

(*) four-wire connection uses a second pair of conductors to measure the voltage at the load independent of voltage drop in the leads under load.
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Reply By: Member - Barry P (VIC) - Sunday, Jul 08, 2018 at 08:08

Sunday, Jul 08, 2018 at 08:08
if i need to buy a new charger,any suggestions what to buy,somewhere in the 15 amp range,thanks for future answers
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Reply By: Member - Jim S1 - Sunday, Jul 08, 2018 at 15:30

Sunday, Jul 08, 2018 at 15:30
CTEK are very good. Had one for years and no problems.

Cheers
Jim
"Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits." A fisherman.

"No road is long with good company." Traditional

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