Ring smartcharge error

[Doubleh]

Hi,

 

I've just moved onto our NB, in a marina with shore power hookup. It came with a shore lead and mains installation, but no sort of battery charging provision. I don't want to invest in an expensive marine charger setup at the moment until I have a better understanding of what our use patterns will be like - how much will we actually cruise away from the mooring, will we get solar or a genny, do I want an inverter combi setup etc?

 

For the meantime then I bought a Ring Smartcharge+ 12 from Halfords, this seems to be a "fit & forget" automatic 3 stage charger which can deliver up to 12a of charge, so I figured should be plenty for whilst we are on shorepower.

 

It had charged the batteries perfectly for the last week, but the problem is that it cuts out approximately one per 24 hours with an error code either of F03 (too high current) or F05 (batteries dead). Reading the manual the definition of this latter error is that the batteries don't enter float charging within 24 hours, but I do not find this too surprising as I am charging a bank of two batteries (assumed at 110Ah each but hard to confirm without removing them) and there are loads on the batteries, primarily an isotherm 12v fridge plus lights in the evening. I know that the batteries are probably not tip top condition, but appeared to be holding their charge ok before we took possession of the boat, so I think ought to be OK for the usage we are asking of them currently. They charge up to 13.4v and show as 90% charged according to the charger.

 

Does anyone have experience of this charger and can suggest any way around these problems? I have tried increasing or decreasing the max current, but this just seems to alternate between the F03 or F05 errors. At the moment I am having to restart the unit and disconnect the terminals from the battery in order to reset it, after which it charges fine for another 24 hours.

 

Alternatively can anyone recommend a better cheap & easily available charger, ideally from Halfords as I will try to exchange? Has anyone used either of these and would they be likely to be any better?

 

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_270511_categoryId_255205_langId_-1?cm_sp=Intelligent_Offer-_-Product_Details_Zone_1-_-Blank&iozone=PDPz1#tab1

 

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_210939_categoryId_255205_langId_-1?cm_sp=Intelligent_Offer-_-Product_Details_Zone_1-_-Blank&iozone=PDPz1

 

Thanks!

[Theo]

Hi,

 

I've just moved onto our NB, in a marina with shore power hookup. It came with a shore lead and mains installation, but no sort of battery charging provision. I don't want to invest in an expensive marine charger setup at the moment until I have a better understanding of what our use patterns will be like - how much will we actually cruise away from the mooring, will we get solar or a genny, do I want an inverter combi setup etc?

 

For the meantime then I bought a Ring Smartcharge+ 12 from Halfords, this seems to be a "fit & forget" automatic 3 stage charger which can deliver up to 12a of charge, so I figured should be plenty for whilst we are on shorepower.

 

It had charged the batteries perfectly for the last week, but the problem is that it cuts out approximately one per 24 hours with an error code either of F03 (too high current) or F05 (batteries dead). Reading the manual the definition of this latter error is that the batteries don't enter float charging within 24 hours, but I do not find this too surprising as I am charging a bank of two batteries (assumed at 110Ah each but hard to confirm without removing them) and there are loads on the batteries, primarily an isotherm 12v fridge plus lights in the evening. I know that the batteries are probably not tip top condition, but appeared to be holding their charge ok before we took possession of the boat, so I think ought to be OK for the usage we are asking of them currently. They charge up to 13.4v and show as 90% charged according to the charger.

 

Does anyone have experience of this charger and can suggest any way around these problems? I have tried increasing or decreasing the max current, but this just seems to alternate between the F03 or F05 errors. At the moment I am having to restart the unit and disconnect the terminals from the battery in order to reset it, after which it charges fine for another 24 hours.

 

Alternatively can anyone recommend a better cheap & easily available charger, ideally from Halfords as I will try to exchange? Has anyone used either of these and would they be likely to be any better?

 

http://www.halfords....zone=PDPz1#tab1

 

http://www.halfords....nk&iozone=PDPz1

 

Thanks!

 

It occurs to me that the problem may be caused by the much larger battery bank than the charger is designed for. Input resistance with be very low and the battery voltage will take an unexpectedly long time to build. I also wonder if the charger is designed to be used when large loads, like the starting current for the fridge, are drawn. Since the weather is cool could you switch off the fridge and see if the charger still shows the same behaviour?

 

Nick

 

PS I am moving this to Equipment where I think that it will sit more comfortably.

[rjasmith]

Hi,

 

I've just moved onto our NB, in a marina with shore power hookup. It came with a shore lead and mains installation, but no sort of battery charging provision. I don't want to invest in an expensive marine charger setup at the moment until I have a better understanding of what our use patterns will be like - how much will we actually cruise away from the mooring, will we get solar or a genny, do I want an inverter combi setup etc?

 

For the meantime then I bought a Ring Smartcharge+ 12 from Halfords, this seems to be a "fit & forget" automatic 3 stage charger which can deliver up to 12a of charge, so I figured should be plenty for whilst we are on shorepower.

 

It had charged the batteries perfectly for the last week, but the problem is that it cuts out approximately one per 24 hours with an error code either of F03 (too high current) or F05 (batteries dead). Reading the manual the definition of this latter error is that the batteries don't enter float charging within 24 hours, but I do not find this too surprising as I am charging a bank of two batteries (assumed at 110Ah each but hard to confirm without removing them) and there are loads on the batteries, primarily an isotherm 12v fridge plus lights in the evening. I know that the batteries are probably not tip top condition, but appeared to be holding their charge ok before we took possession of the boat, so I think ought to be OK for the usage we are asking of them currently. They charge up to 13.4v and show as 90% charged according to the charger.

 

Does anyone have experience of this charger and can suggest any way around these problems? I have tried increasing or decreasing the max current, but this just seems to alternate between the F03 or F05 errors. At the moment I am having to restart the unit and disconnect the terminals from the battery in order to reset it, after which it charges fine for another 24 hours.

 

Alternatively can anyone recommend a better cheap & easily available charger, ideally from Halfords as I will try to exchange? Has anyone used either of these and would they be likely to be any better?

 

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_270511_categoryId_255205_langId_-1?cm_sp=Intelligent_Offer-_-Product_Details_Zone_1-_-Blank&iozone=PDPz1#tab1

 

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_210939_categoryId_255205_langId_-1?cm_sp=Intelligent_Offer-_-Product_Details_Zone_1-_-Blank&iozone=PDPz1

 

Thanks!

 

 

Not sure I can help much but I also have a Ring Smartcharge (the 16A version). However I only use this to recharge relatively small batteries. eg 60Ah leisure batteries used for running electric fencing units. Our neighbours have several fencers for their ponies and I got fed up with them complaining about ruining their batteries by forgetting to charge them regularly enough! Now I seem to have taken over as a sort of local fencer battery support service.

 

After I got the Smartcharge I tried having a meaningful discussion with a "technical support" person at Ring because I didn't find the manual was detailed enough about the precise meaning of the F01 and F05 "faulty battery" codes. Perhaps not surprisingly the technical support person seemed to be less knowledgeable than I was!

 

It would be great if we could get to talk to whoever actually designed this charger (could it have been Gibbo perhaps???!) to get a better understanding of these things!

 

Generally it seems to be a good little charger and works a bit like Gibbo's Smargauge in that it roughly assesses battery SoC by measuring o/c terminal voltage before it starts. I bought it after reading a review of similar chargers in Canal Boat Mag about 2 years ago.

 

However I'm sure your problem is down to the fact that it gets confused by trying to charge a boat's leisure bank that is way bigger in Ah than it was designed for. There should be a table on the back of it that suggests the range of Ah sizes it would normally expect to cope with. My 16A Smartcharge is designed to cope with batteries no bigger than 200Ah. I suspect it will also be confused by trying to charge while your boat system has significant loads connected.

 

I don't think I can help with a charger recommendation other than to say that our boat (not yet finished!) will have a Victron Phoenix combi (24v 70A charger) to cater for the domestic battery charging when on a shoreline.

 

Richard

[wonderdust]

Can you remove one of the batteries so you are only charging one? Then if it runs happily you know your bank is to big for that charger.

[Taslim]

I've used/abused a Halfords fully auto charger of the type you flagged (181750-0) for six years or so & it still delivers, touch wood.... That said my domestic bat bank & average load is rather smaller than yours & , as other posters suggest, the load may be to much or to complex (inductance and such) for the 'intelligent' one you bought to deal with.

 

taslim.

[jelunga]

Clever chargeds often do not work when used for things they are not sesigned for. Yr charger will be designed to charge vehicle abd naybe caravan batteries of up to around 100 ah capacity. A boat battery bank is way bigger than its design programming can cope with abd ao it goes inti failsafe and shuts down. It certainly isnt designed to provide power to a load and charge simultaneisly.

If you di not want to buy a proper boat power supply/ charger you could consider going to a caravan scrapyard abd buying a caravan psy/charger.

The one in my van was capable of charging batteries up to 200ah odd whilst also supplying 12v power to the van.

[cereal tiller]

Hi,

 

I've just moved onto our NB, in a marina with shore power hookup. It came with a shore lead and mains installation, but no sort of battery charging provision. I don't want to invest in an expensive marine charger setup at the moment until I have a better understanding of what our use patterns will be like - how much will we actually cruise away from the mooring, will we get solar or a genny, do I want an inverter combi setup etc?

 

For the meantime then I bought a Ring Smartcharge+ 12 from Halfords, this seems to be a "fit & forget" automatic 3 stage charger which can deliver up to 12a of charge, so I figured should be plenty for whilst we are on shorepower.

 

It had charged the batteries perfectly for the last week, but the problem is that it cuts out approximately one per 24 hours with an error code either of F03 (too high current) or F05 (batteries dead). Reading the manual the definition of this latter error is that the batteries don't enter float charging within 24 hours, but I do not find this too surprising as I am charging a bank of two batteries (assumed at 110Ah each but hard to confirm without removing them) and there are loads on the batteries, primarily an isotherm 12v fridge plus lights in the evening. I know that the batteries are probably not tip top condition, but appeared to be holding their charge ok before we took possession of the boat, so I think ought to be OK for the usage we are asking of them currently. They charge up to 13.4v and show as 90% charged according to the charger.

 

Does anyone have experience of this charger and can suggest any way around these problems? I have tried increasing or decreasing the max current, but this just seems to alternate between the F03 or F05 errors. At the moment I am having to restart the unit and disconnect the terminals from the battery in order to reset it, after which it charges fine for another 24 hours.

 

Alternatively can anyone recommend a better cheap & easily available charger, ideally from Halfords as I will try to exchange? Has anyone used either of these and would they be likely to be any better?

 

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_270511_categoryId_255205_langId_-1?cm_sp=Intelligent_Offer-_-Product_Details_Zone_1-_-Blank&iozone=PDPz1#tab1

 

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_210939_categoryId_255205_langId_-1?cm_sp=Intelligent_Offer-_-Product_Details_Zone_1-_-Blank&iozone=PDPz1

 

Thanks!

i have got a ring 16a charger,i recall 250 AH as the limit for charging.

 

when our boat is hooked up to shorepower i use a plug-in timer which switches the charger off for half an hour in every 24.

 

when it switches on after the half hour rest, it charges at the default 2 amp rate

[Ynot]

I also have the 16amp version which I leave permanently connected whilst in the marina.

 

The boat is only used for leisure purposes so no load when connected and, so far, it seems to have worked fine after about 2 years of similar use.

 

I hadn't considered that there may be a benefit in putting a timer on it CT, and as I've not had any issues thus far, don't know if it would be beneficial.

[boots]

I also have the 16amp version which I leave permanently connected whilst in the marina.

 

The boat is only used for leisure purposes so no load when connected and, so far, it seems to have worked fine after about 2 years of similar use.

 

I hadn't considered that there may be a benefit in putting a timer on it CT, and as I've not had any issues thus far, don't know if it would be beneficial.

 

 

How big is your battery bank?

[1066]

....... <> ... with an error code either of F03 (too high current) or F05 (batteries dead).

 

Thanks!

 

I have had two of these chargers. The first one showed an error of FO5 after approx 24 hours, so thinking that the battery might in fact be faulty, I bought a new battery, but I had the same problem.

 

Needless to say, I took the charger back and got a replacement ..... with exactly the same result.

 

i can only assume that they are a piece of overpriced rubbish. They certainly don't do what they say on the box, because it appears to be impossible to leave them connected to a battery as a "float" charger.

 

It has been relegated to the shed ever since, never to see daylight again.

 

edit to say: I have a single 90Ah battery

Edited March 8, 2012 by 1066

[ditchcrawler]

I am not surprised you don't reach float in the allotted time with a combination of a larger bank than it expects and a fridge .pumps etc drawing them down again all the time.

[Ynot]

How big is your battery bank?

4 x 110 amp leisure

[boots]

ta,

 

we have 5 x 110A and was just about to buy the 16A version, then I noticed this thread. I do see, though,in the manual that it states the charger should only be used for a single battery

[Doubleh]

Thanks for the input guys, I appreciate it. I completely understand that a charger designed primarily for maintenance charging may struggle when there is also a load on the batteries, but to be fair the specification says that it is suitable for battery banks up to 300Ah and it does say it is suitable for boats.

 

In fact the actual charging performance I have no complaints with, it is keeping the bank topped up nicely; the battery reaches 13.4v and the charger stops putting any more amps in for a period which I would (perhaps naively) consider to be a float state, but the display never shows more than 90% state of charge.

 

Definitely I think the problem here is that the kit is too clever for its own good! I'll try the timer trick though, that sounds like it could well be the way to go.

 

Cheers

Neil