Electroquest 45amp Charger.

[captain death]

Okay,

 

After my old shark 26Amp Charger died (see other post). I read around the forum and got myself a an

 

Electroquest 45A charger.

 

Now, I've pluged it in, to a 330AH wich was at about 12.00 volts.

 

Charging voltage is 13.5 and Amp start at around 20. and slowly taper down to 16.

 

I never see more the 20 amps from this charger.

 

I have had two outputs. It has a starter battery connected to one and the 3x330AH connected to the other. (currently the starter battery is not connected)

 

 

No, i'm confused....so my battery had seem to charged up! However, perhaps the batteries arn't asking for more than 20amp? is that usual?

or am i missing something else?

 

 

Also, I tried to run my inverter while charging. Now, my inverter had about 150 watts of load on it. I would expect (probably wrongly) that

my charger would output the extra 150 watts, to the inverter. No. The Charger just sits there at 20amps. no change. rather than increasing by 12amps.

 

 

It came with a manual, however , it's very hard to understand. It doesn't even document to the two button's on the front. So i dare not touch those.

 

Maybe I can scan it so you can have a look see.

 

Shall I just send it back and get something more expensive, like a combined charger/inverter? if so which one? The all seem to cost an arm and a leg. 2 legs in some cases.

 

Can you help me solve the mystery of the missing amp's?

 

darn it double post, how do i erase ? :-(

[Justme]

Do you know what the actual voltage is that is coming from your genny?

 

Those chargers need over 200v & your small charger might not be supplying it.

 

 

Does the genny have an ECO mode? If so try turning it off.

[smileypete]

Why not phone 'em up:

 

http://electroquestuk.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=319

 

cheers, Pete.

[blodger]

Chargers act similar to alternators in that you never see a 70amp alternator outputing 70 amps, they seem to tootle along at half that or less but there are more variables with alts such as rpm and pulleying.

Some chargers are less happy with being genny powered than others so it would be interesting to contrast it's performance on mains power.

The batteries do indeed limit the charging but I would have thought that a 12v, nigh on fully discharged, start would have seen nigh on max output. Also I too, would have expected an inverter load on the batteries being charged to have been reflected in the output of the charger to but to a lesser extent if the batts were up to full charge.

 

I wonder if both output leads should be on the one bank to maximise amps into it?

[nicknorman]

 

I wonder if both output leads should be on the one bank to maximise amps into it?

 

I was wondering the same thing. Maybe it's 45A total, half coming from each of the terminals?

[Richard10002]

My 70A charger produces 70A whilst the voltage rises to 14.8V, then the voltage remains stable, and the Amps fall. My 25A charger produces 25A whilst the voltage rises to 14.4V, then the Amps fall. If I run them together, they provide 95A whilst the voltage rises to 14.4V, then the Amps drop to 70A and remain constant whilst the voltage rises tom14.8V, then the Amps fall etc..

 

I wonder if the Electroquest has a 20A output and a 25A output, to charge 2 banks. Worth checking the manual, or asking them directly - my experience suggests that you can combine chargers to add their output.

[blodger]

My 70A charger produces 70A whilst the voltage rises to 14.8V, then the voltage remains stable, and the Amps fall. My 25A charger produces 25A whilst the voltage rises to 14.4V, then the Amps fall. If I run them together, they provide 95A whilst the voltage rises to 14.4V, then the Amps drop to 70A and remain constant whilst the voltage rises tom14.8V, then the Amps fall etc..

 

I wonder if the Electroquest has a 20A output and a 25A output, to charge 2 banks. Worth checking the manual, or asking them directly - my experience suggests that you can combine chargers to add their output.

I am interested as to the make of your chargers. I have umpteen and have never unless I have shorted them gotten full amps out of them; mobytronic, sterling, amperor, etc

[Richard10002]

I am interested as to the make of your chargers. I have umpteen and have never unless I have shorted them gotten full amps out of them; mobytronic, sterling, amperor, etc

 

70A is a Sterling Pro Combi S inverter charger, and the 25A is a Mobitronic 925, (quite old I think). I measure the Amps with a NASA BM2, and a UNI-T clamp meter.

 

I don't think I do anything special with them - the 70A is connected by 95mm2 cables, and the 25A by 25mm2 cables, and the mains is supplied by a Honda EU20i generator into the shore power supply.

[blodger]

70A is a Sterling Pro Combi S inverter charger, and the 25A is a Mobitronic 925, (quite old I think). I measure the Amps with a NASA BM2, and a UNI-T clamp meter.

 

I don't think I do anything special with them - the 70A is connected by 95mm2 cables, and the 25A by 25mm2 cables, and the mains is supplied by a Honda EU20i generator into the shore power supply.

The Heart EMS inverter/charger used to get close to banging 50 amps in to the batts before iy expired again but those batts were quite had it.

I have generally been unsatisfied with gennies and chargers and prefer direct 12v DC charging with lawnmower driven alternators or dynamos. Mainly on others boats though.

I am going to give an old honda genny and the 45 amp moby a go on a two lorry battery liveaboard setup that is preparing for BSC to see what happens.

[by'eck]

Its normal to leave a load on all the outputs of a multi output charger. This can be achieved by joining any unused output to one that has a battery load on it. Without doing this the charger may be fooled into limiting output voltage and therefore charge current.

[Gibbo]

Its normal to leave a load on all the outputs of a multi output charger. This can be achieved by joining any unused output to one that has a battery load on it. Without doing this the charger may be fooled into limiting output voltage and therefore charge current.

 

This.

 

If you leave an output unconnected the charger drops the charge voltage which will limit the charge current.

 

Chargers act similar to alternators in that you never see a 70amp alternator outputing 70 amps, they seem to tootle along at half that or less but there are more variables with alts such as rpm and pulleying.

 

I've never had a charger or alternator that didn't output its full rated current.

 

I've seen plenty. It's always been the installation at fault rather than the equipment.

[blodger]

This.

 

If you leave an output unconnected the charger drops the charge voltage which will limit the charge current.

 

 

 

I've never had a charger or alternator that didn't output its full rated current.

 

I've seen plenty. It's always been the installation at fault rather than the equipment.

It's probably just that I do not disharge my batteries enough then

[captain death]

Hey,

 

Really useful answers.. I'll try and disconnect my other battery output, and see if i get any change.

 

Output from my genny is 230V , I've tested it with one of AC energy meters.

 

i'll probably find it's 40A per channel. probably makes sense to get 2x20A charges, and use them in parellel :-)

 

Let me try all the suggestions. And we'll see.

 

Would the thickness of my charging wire be effecting anything at all?

[Gibbo]

Really useful answers.. I'll try and disconnect my other battery output, and see if i get any change.

 

Eh? You said it already was...

 

(currently the starter battery is not connected)

 

Would the thickness of my charging wire be effecting anything at all?

 

Absolutely yes, but I don't see that you mentioned what size it is?

[Timleech]

 

 

If you leave an output unconnected the charger drops the charge voltage which will limit the charge current.

 

 

 

Thank you. That has clarified something I was wondering about. I have a Dolphin charger waiting to be installed, it has more outputs than needed, the instructions don't tell you that.

 

Tim

[Keeping Up]

... you never see a 70amp alternator outputing 70 amps ...

 

Here's a picture of my 70 amp alternator giving 70 amps (as near as a 50 amp meter can show it)

 

 

P1030874 by Keeping Up, on Flickr

[blodger]

Here's a picture of my 70 amp alternator giving 70 amps (as near as a 50 amp meter can show it)

 

 

P1030874 by Keeping Up, on Flickr

I have only seen that sort of full scale deflection when running the washing machine from the inverter betweeb locks on the Thames. I am obviously not harsh enough on my batts.

I recently did away with the anologs for digitals to cut down on the wiring and some suspect insulation.

[nicknorman]

I have only seen that sort of full scale deflection when running the washing machine from the inverter betweeb locks on the Thames. I am obviously not harsh enough on my batts.

 

More likely you have too much resistance in the charging circuit. After a modest discharge, say to 80%, our charging system shows 175A (max alternator current) for a minute or two whilst the surface charge is taken. If you are not reaching max current it is likely to be because there is too much voltage drop in the wiring caused by resistance (bad connections, cable too long / thin). It would be interesting for you to check the voltage drop between the alternator +ve terminal and the bat +ve, and just as importantly between the engine and the bat -ve terminal (or alternator -ve if it has a seperate one). I suspect you will find it is significant when the alternator is first applied to discharged batteries. Of course eventually, as the current demand from the bats decreases, so does the voltage drop (V=IR), so ultimately the batteries will become fully charged, it will just take longer than necessary.

[captain death]

******UPDATE******

 

I hooked up my charger to the mains, and lo and behold, i get the 45amps , when the batteries need them.

 

Seems my Generator output is crazy, I got one of the those domestic energy meters, seems at idle rpm my generator was giving out 36V AC? AHAHAHAHAH

 

At full pelt it gives approx 240v AC, however, my battery charger doesn't like it, and i never can get more than 400watts from it.

 

I guess it's just old, and the alternator is a rpm based one, i hear the new stuff has a build in inverter which will give a much more 'main's' like output.

 

Motto of the story. Don't trust you generators AC output, and some chargers don't like whacky AC voltages, but 36V is more like insane than wacky.

 

 

Cheers for all your help and replies...

 

 

[by'eck]

******UPDATE******

 

I hooked up my charger to the mains, and lo and behold, i get the 45amps , when the batteries need them.

 

Seems my Generator output is crazy, I got one of the those domestic energy meters, seems at idle rpm my generator was giving out 36V AC? AHAHAHAHAH

 

At full pelt it gives approx 240v AC, however, my battery charger doesn't like it, and i never can get more than 400watts from it.

 

I guess it's just old, and the alternator is a rpm based one, i hear the new stuff has a build in inverter which will give a much more 'main's' like output.

 

Motto of the story. Don't trust you generators AC output, and some chargers don't like whacky AC voltages, but 36V is more like insane than wacky.

 

 

Cheers for all your help and replies...

 

 

 

A basic engine driven 240v alternator needs to run at 1500 or 3000 rpm depending on model to give 240 volts at 50Hz. They are usually governed to run at this speed. Not surprisingly they will give very few volts if the engine idles.

 

The newer inverter generators usually have an auto (eco) throttle so the engine only revs enough to match the power drain.

[bottle]

So 'Justme' was on the right lines at post #2.

[captain death]

So 'Justme' was on the right lines at post #2.

 

Yep, post number 2 was right. :-)

 

I know never trust to marketing material when it comes to genny's...or in fact the manual.

[nebulae]

My elecroquest charger has gone into meltdown mode after two years.I think the cooling fan may have failed.It worked well when it was working.Back to the drawing board then?

[captain death]

My elecroquest charger has gone into meltdown mode after two years.I think the cooling fan may have failed.It worked well when it was working.Back to the drawing board then?

 

nasty. I guess it's a case of buy cheap buy twice.

 

If you know electronics, it may be worth taking it apart, and seeing what went wrong.

 

If it's a cooling, fan, then a 12v pc fan may just be as good for a drop in replacement.

 

However, if you've run it without a fan, it's likely something has melted.

 

Open it up (with out the power connected) and take some photo's, i'll do a post mortem for you, before you commit to the sea for burial. (please recycle it).

 

also, check you mains input, I always use surge protectors with anything more than a lightbulb. maybe a AC spike blew it up?

 

But , again, you can't expect something cheap, to last be as well built as something expensive. I suppose victron charges are 5 times the price for a reason (they also contain gold bars).

 

 

Buy cheap , and you buy twice.

 

if you are poor, you buy twice

 

if you are rich, you buy once, and save money long term.

 

This one of the ways the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer.

 

 

Show me a company that does this type of stuff with a lifetime warranty.

 

 

I hope you can post some burnt out circuit board photo's soon!

Edited October 22, 2012 by captain death

[Sanddancer]

Okay,

 

After my old shark 26Amp Charger died (see other post). I read around the forum and got myself a an

 

Electroquest 45A charger.

 

Now, I've pluged it in, to a 330AH wich was at about 12.00 volts.

 

Charging voltage is 13.5 and Amp start at around 20. and slowly taper down to 16.

 

I never see more the 20 amps from this charger.

 

I have had two outputs. It has a starter battery connected to one and the 3x330AH connected to the other. (currently the starter battery is not connected)

 

 

No, i'm confused....so my battery had seem to charged up! However, perhaps the batteries arn't asking for more than 20amp? is that usual?

or am i missing something else?

 

 

Also, I tried to run my inverter while charging. Now, my inverter had about 150 watts of load on it. I would expect (probably wrongly) that

my charger would output the extra 150 watts, to the inverter. No. The Charger just sits there at 20amps. no change. rather than increasing by 12amps.

 

 

It came with a manual, however , it's very hard to understand. It doesn't even document to the two button's on the front. So i dare not touch those.

 

Maybe I can scan it so you can have a look see.

 

Shall I just send it back and get something more expensive, like a combined charger/inverter? if so which one? The all seem to cost an arm and a leg. 2 legs in some cases.

 

Can you help me solve the mystery of the missing amp's?

 

darn it double post, how do i erase ? :-(

Did you ever find out what the use of those buttons are for ? i just left them off