Battery wiring at fault? 12v socket reading jumping.

[Tony Brooks]

3 hours ago, WotEver said:

Nope. The Pro Charge D is an old Sterling mains battery charger. 30A by the looks of it, so OP’s generator might just power it, but probably not with flat batteries. 

This is a split charge relay to enable charging of both battery banks with one alternator. We don’t need to worry about it at this stage. If Tony B visits on Saturday he may well suggest replacing it but right now it’s irrelevant to your problems. 

Only in the long term when money allows - as long as its working OK.No point in fitting a Voltage Sensitive Relay (VSR) unless you have lost of solar to allow it to charge both batteries instead of just the domestic bank.

[Tony Brooks]

3 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

It's the type that is actually 3 x 10A, and you can interlink 2 or 3 of the outputs to get 1 x 30A or 1 x 10A + 1 x 20A.

 

This does suggest that Tony could drop it to a 20A charger to allow it to run off the small genny. 

Only if there are instructions on it or a manual, could not see  a manual on the Sterling site.

 

 

 

 

I must say the whole thing looks in much better order than I had feared so maybe it is all down to meter batteries and undercharging but we will see.

[WotEver]

19 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

could not see  a manual on the Sterling site.

How’s your French?

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0658/7343/files/NEW_INSTRUCTIONS_low.pdf?922

[Stilllearning]

9 minutes ago, WotEver said:

How’s your French?

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0658/7343/files/NEW_INSTRUCTIONS_low.pdf?922

It’s in English first, French comes next, then German...

[Tony Brooks]

11 minutes ago, WotEver said:

How’s your French?

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0658/7343/files/NEW_INSTRUCTIONS_low.pdf?922

Thanks Mike

 

That document is silent on the subject of educing the maximum charger outpuit so may be its fixed.

[Stilllearning]

I think the amps output depends on the model? The 1230CED is 30 amps, 1240CED is 40, etc.

[WotEver]

39 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

Thanks Mike

 

That document is silent on the subject of educing the maximum charger outpuit so may be its fixed.

Who’s Mike?

 

No mention of PF either so I guess we can deduce that it’s poor. 

[TheBiscuits]

31 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

That document is silent on the subject of [reducing] the maximum charger [output] so may be its fixed.

It has a warning that you need to connect all three outputs;  "Failure to do this will reduce the charging performance."  That is exactly what we are trying to do in this case so it can run off a 700W genny.

 

Charles used to get a little* cross at people who only connected one output to the batteries then complained the charger was only delivering 1/3 of it's badged power rating.

 

* Well, perhaps a little more than a little cross 

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

27 minutes ago, WotEver said:

No mention of PF either so I guess we can deduce that it’s poor. 

Its a Stirling.

 

Hence why I suggested 100s of posts ago that whilst in theory a 700w genny should work with a 40-50 amp charger some chargers have a PF as low as 0.6 hence my suggestion that 20 amp would possibly be approaching the maximum.

30 amps may work OK with the genny on 'full-chat'

 

The OP could run the engine for an hour to get the charge current down, then switch over to the Genny for the last 4 or 5 hours.

Edited November 13, 2018 by Alan de Enfield

[WotEver]

6 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

... then switch over to the Genny for the last 4 or 5 8 or so hours.

Fixed that for you

 

[Tony Brooks]

50 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Who’s Mike?

 

No mention of PF either so I guess we can deduce that it’s poor. 

Sorry Tony, was a bit muzzy having just driven back from Calcutt.

46 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

It has a warning that you need to connect all three outputs;  "Failure to do this will reduce the charging performance."  That is exactly what we are trying to do in this case so it can run off a 700W genny.

 

Charles used to get a little* cross at people who only connected one output to the batteries then complained the charger was only delivering 1/3 of it's badged power rating.

 

* Well, perhaps a little more than a little cross 

 

 

Thanks, that's good info.

[WotEver]

1 hour ago, TheBiscuits said:

Charles used to get a little* cross at people who only connected one output to the batteries then complained the charger was only delivering 1/3 of it's badged power rating.

 

* Well, perhaps a little more than a little cross 

I came across an old post on the ybw forum a while back where someone was advised to phone Sterling support for advice. The poster wrote “dont talk to the Irish chap, he can be rather abrupt if you a come over as a bit of a numpty...”

 

 

Edited November 13, 2018 by WotEver
Correct the quote

[Boater Sam]

I've always had polite and good advice from Charles everytime we have spoken. I find him to be a well informed gentleman.

[WotEver]

Gibbo thinks he’s great

 

[MtB]

1 minute ago, Boater Sam said:

I've always had polite and good advice from Charles everytime we have spoken. I find him to be a well informed gentleman.

 

I've never spoken to him but I know quite a few people with a similar reputation. All of them I get on with really well and find the same as you. 

 

I suspect this type of person struggles to be civil to people asking strings of stoopid damfool questions, but they actually enjoy interacting with people who understand the subject they are calling about. 

[WotEver]

1 minute ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

I've never spoken to him but I know quite a few people with a similar reputation. All of them I get on with really well and find the same as you. 

 

I suspect this type of person struggles to be civil to people asking strings of stoopid damfool questions, but they actually enjoy interacting with people who understand the subject they are calling about. 

My favourite Charles quote was when someone phoned and said that their Sterling MSW inverter had killed their electric toothbrush, to which he replied “Well yes, it would.”

[MtB]

Just now, WotEver said:

My favourite Charles quote was when someone phoned and said that their Sterling MSW inverter had killed their electric toothbrush, to which he replied “Well yes, it would.”

 

I've never met anyone with electric teeth.

 

 

[WotEver]

2 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

I've never met anyone with electric teeth.

You mix in the wrong circles. 

[Chewbacka]

Back to topic ??

An interesting test would be to take a new 9v battery and measure it’s voltage.  It may not be exactly 9v depending on it’s age but it’s output will be stable. So if your meter jumps about I would be very suspicious over your meter.  Note if you use a rechargeable 9v battery it is only 8.4v

if ok at 9v and if you have a second 9v battery you can put them in series to give you 18v and check again on the 20v range.

 

The sort of 9v battery I’m talking about is a pp3

 

Edited November 13, 2018 by Chewbacka

[Sir Nibble]

There is probably a break in one of the meter leads

[MtB]

47 minutes ago, Sir Nibble said:

There is probably a break in one of the meter leads

 

Goog point and I agree.

 

Meter leads, especially those on cheap meters, are fragile and terribly prone to failure, high resistance and generally being troublesome.  Even though I find cheap meters accurate and reliable, I use expensive leads with gold plated probes for reliability. 

 

 

 

Edited November 14, 2018 by Mike the Boilerman
Spelling!

[Lady_Why]

I can't keep up! Just now back at the cafe and trying to read through it all. 

Firstly: I woke up feeling a little broken this morning, so I just want to say thank you again for helping me tread water.  On my own I would clearly have sunk at this point.  

But I think the mystery deepens....

The alternator performed even worse yesterday according to my multi-meter (13.15-13.30), causing me considerable stress. Ran it until the evening with the tiny solar panel also clamped on daytime, waited an hour, took my measures and then disconnected them from each other. My heart sank as the ratings were very low (starter: 12.00, leisures all: 11.76-11.80). 

Here is where I am surprised. This morning all the leisures were the same and had not dropped at all. The starter only had dropped to 11.70. On top of which I am fairly certain that the starter was making noises yesterday indicating it is near fizzing. 

*I did check the multi meter on the presumed old battery (it's a pp3) I had pulled out of it, and it read 8.70 (roughly from recall; it was close though) so this indicates that the meter isn't far off. Don't have two lying around but I guess I could buy another one. Unless there's any other check I can do. 


 

Edited November 14, 2018 by Lady_Why

[WotEver]

I think your best bet now is to just sit tight until Tony visits on Saturday. There’ll be no more guessing then and he’ll let you know if it’s your meter, batteries, alternator, wiring or whatever that’s at fault. If the batteries are truly at 11.7V then they’ve had it, so hopefully you have a metering problem. 

[Lady_Why]

I am just wondering what to do meanwhile. I am thinking of deserting engine-charging completely and move on to the genny  - but I'm not sure whether to clamp the genny onto the starter or a leisure given that the starter is making noises. 

I was hoping that the leisures holding their charge would indicate that they're still alive... but then I would hope that.  ?  

Edited November 14, 2018 by Lady_Why

[MtB]

6 minutes ago, WotEver said:

I think your best bet now is to just sit tight until Tony visits on Saturday. There’ll be no more guessing then and he’ll let you know if it’s your meter, batteries, alternator, wiring or whatever that’s at fault. If the batteries are truly at 11.7V then they’ve had it, so hopefully you have a metering problem. 

 

Not necessarily. They may be heavily sulphated and down to perhaps to 50% of original capacity, but possibly still perfectly serviceable.  My own set of Trojanoids are down to 35% of badge capacity now but as my power needs are relatively low too, I still only charge them every alternate day and they still do the job fine. .