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Victron IP22 Charger Owners


Morris

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I recently bought one of these chargers and would just like to ask others who have them if the way mine is behaving is normal.

 

1.  I just noticed that the manual claims that the unit is "totally silent" when the fan is off.  Mine seems to emit an electrical buzzing whenever it is on but that noise doesn't sound like a fan and it still makes the sound in night mode.  It is not distractingly loud but is also not totally silent as claimed.

2.  It does not stay in 'bulk charge' for longer than a few seconds before it goes to the 'absorption' phase.  I haven't been letting my batteries get too discharged (getting down to about 12.35V) so that could be the reason for that.

3.  Going by the history in the app the absorption phase always lasts 29m 59s which seems odd.  I've not timed it to see if the history is accurate.

4.  The output voltage is a bit higher than the stated 14.4V of the normal programme, anywhere from 14.48V to 14.56V.

 

Does that sound normal or could it be a faulty unit?

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I've got a victron phoenix smart charger  so take what I say with a pinch of salt! Mine is completely silent, no noise what's so ever... as for the charging profile, make sure you have the correct profile for you batteries...

 

Edit

Do you have any solar that may be charging at the same time??

Edited by Quattrodave
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12 minutes ago, Quattrodave said:

I've got a victron phoenix smart charger  so take what I say with a pinch of salt! Mine is completely silent, no noise what's so ever... as for the charging profile, make sure you have the correct profile for you batteries...

 

Edit

Do you have any solar that may be charging at the same time??

 

Thanks for the reply dave, that suggests to me that the buzzing isn't normal then. I've got FLAs so just using the normal charging profile. No solar or anything else getting involved in the charging whilst it is on.

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13 minutes ago, Morris said:

 

Thanks for the reply dave, that suggests to me that the buzzing isn't normal then. I've got FLAs so just using the normal charging profile. No solar or anything else getting involved in the charging whilst it is on.

There's a transformer inside so a quiet buzz, a bit louder when first switched on or under heavy load is not unexpected. Indeed my own Victron IP22 Bluesmart 30 amp version does it. It's not intrusive though, in fact barely noticeable. I've never heard the fan cut in.

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Thanks for the replies, tbh I didn't think there was an issue with the slight buzz untiI read the manual today and saw it uses the phrase totally silent. 

 

Another thing I've noticed (that I've just remembered as it has just started doing it) is that it seems to pulse when the current is low, so on the app it goes up and down from about 1.5A up to around maybe 2.3A and the read out jumps about between the two. The very slight buzzing then sounds like guitar amp tremolo on its lowest speed setting

 

It is running off shore power, I don't have an inverter connected atm

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Is your shorepower ok?

 

I run mine off the travelpower and deduce that its quite sensitive to supply voltage...

washing machine heater kicks in--travelpower voltage drops,--- charge current drops signoficantly.

 

The buzz is a worry. I only run mine when the engine is on so can't comment, last time we were on shorepower was Liverpool about 4 years ago but I don't think I heard anything.

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As for the times you mention, can you turn adaptive charging off. I think they "calculate" the absorption time from the voltage rise during bulk charging. So if the batteries are well charged so you have quick voltage rise during bulk the absorption charge will also be short. I think, so may be incorrect.

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14 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

On your point 4. The charger has temperature compensation which means the voltage will be a bit higher when the temperature is low. This is a good thing as lead acid batteries need a higher charge voltage when they are cold.

It does, but its measured in the charger not at the batteries, and it does not do remote voltage sensing. If it sorted these two minor limitations it might be the perfect small charger ??

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For what it's worth, we have one, and with no fan running I believe it is pretty silent.

 

Caveat:  I have impaired hearing, assisted by hearing aids - my definition of "silent" may not align totally with other people with less hearing loss.

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Thanks again for the replies. 

 

14 hours ago, dmr said:

Is your shorepower ok?

 

I haven't done anything to test it but I haven't noticed any problems with anything else we have been using.

 

14 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

As for the times you mention, can you turn adaptive charging off. I think they "calculate" the absorption time from the voltage rise during bulk charging. So if the batteries are well charged so you have quick voltage rise during bulk the absorption charge will also be short. I think, so may be incorrect.

 

That makes sense as I have just looked at the manual again and seen that the minimum absorption time is 30 minutes which tallies with the history on the app and the 4 seconds of bulk charging.

 

13 hours ago, nicknorman said:

On your point 4. The charger has temperature compensation which means the voltage will be a bit higher when the temperature is low. This is a good thing as lead acid batteries need a higher charge voltage when they are cold.

 

The charger is in quite a cold corner, probably not as cold as the batteries are though.  Good to know that is a feature not a fault. 

 

So basically from my list of 'issues' it seems like the buzz/humming is the only one that may be a problem.  Might see if I can contact someone at Victron to ask about it.

 

4 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

For what it's worth, we have one, and with no fan running I believe it is pretty silent.

 

Caveat:  I have impaired hearing, assisted by hearing aids - my definition of "silent" may not align totally with other people with less hearing loss.

 

That's another point for silent then.  I'm the opposite and have the hearing of a bat so my definition may not fit others' either! Tbh if the manual had said virtually silent I would have dismissed it as marketing speak and thought no more of it, but totally silent is different imho.

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4 hours ago, Morris said:

Thanks again for the replies. 

 

 

I haven't done anything to test it but I haven't noticed any problems with anything else we have been using.

 

 

That makes sense as I have just looked at the manual again and seen that the minimum absorption time is 30 minutes which tallies with the history on the app and the 4 seconds of bulk charging.

 

 

The charger is in quite a cold corner, probably not as cold as the batteries are though.  Good to know that is a feature not a fault. 

 

So basically from my list of 'issues' it seems like the buzz/humming is the only one that may be a problem.  Might see if I can contact someone at Victron to ask about it.

 

 

That's another point for silent then.  I'm the opposite and have the hearing of a bat so my definition may not fit others' either! Tbh if the manual had said virtually silent I would have dismissed it as marketing speak and thought no more of it, but totally silent is different imho.

Going by the amount of noise a ‘silent’ generator makes, this gives manufacturer plenty of wriggle room if you complain it buzzes a bit.

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5 hours ago, Morris said:

Might see if I can contact someone at Victron to ask about it.

There's a sort of tech support forum / messaging system on their website. Easy to find... if you go in the right way. I've used it before when setting up a Bluesmart solar controller and the help was both quick and effective.  Their manuals are not as good as Mastervolt, but they are streets ahead on tech help. 

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Regarding point 2 ie the charger not staying in bulk charge; I have a single output charger connected to the domestic batteries and linked to the starter battery via a VSR.  Could it be that when the VSR connects the fully charged starter battery to the partially discharged leisure batteries the averaging of the state of charge of the two allows the charging voltage to rise enough to make the charger go into the absorption stage?  Would it be worth adding a switch into the negative wire of the VSR to allow it to be disabled if charging when the starter battery is fully charged?

 

I have a fairly small domestic bank at 220Ah and a 90Ah starter battery.

 

 

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56 minutes ago, Morris said:

Regarding point 2 ie the charger not staying in bulk charge; I have a single output charger connected to the domestic batteries and linked to the starter battery via a VSR.  Could it be that when the VSR connects the fully charged starter battery to the partially discharged leisure batteries the averaging of the state of charge of the two allows the charging voltage to rise enough to make the charger go into the absorption stage?  Would it be worth adding a switch into the negative wire of the VSR to allow it to be disabled if charging when the starter battery is fully charged?

 

I have a fairly small domestic bank at 220Ah and a 90Ah starter battery.

 


No I don’t think your thinking is correct. The charger doesn’t know the capacity of the battery(s) nor their state of charge. It only know how much current it is supplying. Connecting a fully charged battery across one under charge is only going to have a very small effect on the charge current, probably undetectable to the charger, might actually increase it slightly, and certainly not a decrease significant enough to make it switch to float early. Fully charged battery sits at 12.7v, battery under charge will be well over 13v before the VSR operates.

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30 minutes ago, nicknorman said:


No I don’t think your thinking is correct. The charger doesn’t know the capacity of the battery(s) nor their state of charge. It only know how much current it is supplying. Connecting a fully charged battery across one under charge is only going to have a very small effect on the charge current, probably undetectable to the charger, might actually increase it slightly, and certainly not a decrease significant enough to make it switch to float early. Fully charged battery sits at 12.7v, battery under charge will be well over 13v before the VSR operates.

 

Thanks Nick, that makes sense.  Are there any advantages or disadvantages to the VSR connecting a fully charged starter battery across the domestic bank during charging or does it not matter either way?

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