A question about the van battery charger. I have a Electro BC 1230 charger and at the moment it doesent seem to be charging the batteries properly. The solar panel ,130W, seems to be doing it as its suppose to be. the last couple of days we are in a very shady site and last night the batteries were only at 12.8 at start of night when usually at 13.1. Looking at the manual it can be set at battery charger or power supply mode. currently on charger mode.
it says it can be used in either. Manual says by having it on power supply it will still charge battery and supply power to 12v system bypassing the batteries. Float voltage is set on 13.5v. should it be either 13.2 or 13.8 or leave it on 13.5.
Should be 13.8v float. The lower float settings are for using the charger in maintain mode when not being used but the charger plugged into a power point to keep the batteries from going flat and destroying themselves.
The difference between power supply mode and charger mode is the charger in power supply mode will supply a constant 13.8v where in charger mode it will go to boost voltage, then absorption voltage/stage, then drop into float mode/voltage. We generally recommend customers with a power supply mode on their charger to select that when using lithium batteries so the battery does not get over charged when plugged in at a caravan park etc if they are parked up under a shade tree. If they have good sun on the panels I recommend they turn the charger off to allow the battery to cycle using the solar to recharge it each day.
T1 Terry
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Thanks Terry, I forgot to put question on and it was is it fine to use charger on power supply and does that mean the 12V system draws power straight from the charger and not the batteries on this setting.
The system will draw from which ever source has the higher voltage. If the system draws less than the maximum output of the charger in power supply mode, ( I believe you mentioned it was 30 amp unit) then anything still available will go towards charging or maintaining the battery state of charge. If the system draw is greater than the charger can supply, then the battery will make up the difference until the high demand drops, then the charger will top the battery back up again with what ever output it has spare.
T1 Terry
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You can lead a head to knowledge but you can't make it think. One day I'll know it all, but till then, I'll keep learning.
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I have an electro 1220, pretty much the same gear and a very well made piece of kit. Set it to charge, not power supply, float as Terry said at 13.8V and battery to gel or flooded. If you have an AGM battery set it to Gel which will give an adsorption voltage of 14.6 V.
Alan
-- Edited by Brenda and Alan on Tuesday 22nd of October 2019 08:13:16 PM
I have an electro 1220, pretty much the same gear and a very well made piece of kit. Set it to charge, not power supply, float as Terry said at 12.8V and battery to gel or flooded. If you have an AGM battery set it to Gel which will give an adsorption voltage of 14.6 V.
Alan
Float should be 13.8v for an active system, 12.8v will just result in stratified electrolyte where nothing but water is at the top and very concentrated acid mix is at the bottom. The electrolyte needs to be stirred by the lightly bubbling action of the electrolysis to keep it mixed. Genuine Gel electrolyte batteries are the exception and in all honesty, are not suitable for RV cyclic use where solar recharging is the go to option rather than all mains charging that can be at a much slower charge rate over a long period.
T1 Terry
__________________
You can lead a head to knowledge but you can't make it think. One day I'll know it all, but till then, I'll keep learning.
Any links to any sites or products is not an endorsement by me or do I gain any financial reward for such links
Hi, Thanks for the replies. Im pretty sure I have fixed the problem, just had to slide a switch over on the wall mounted remote control.
In the attached photo, right hand side where it says ,output I had the switch on 'off' that way it showed the power left in the batteries, but it seems that it wont charge when in that mode and for the last who knows how long it was the solar that was charging the batteries and not the charger. After reading the instructions 6-7 times I learnt abit about the Bulk, Absorption and float on the charger and what they do. Then I moved the switch over to on and it went to bulk then absorption then by morning it was on Float mode. So far all has been good. Thanks for the replies.
