Charger in caravan not charging batteries

[yowie Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close yowie]

Getting ready to head off in the van for a few days, and the C-Tek charger in the caravan will not charge the batteries. The lights on the charger illuminate, but nothing is happening. Checked fuses around the van and all appear OK.

C-Tek model is a Multi XS 25000, fitted new to the van which is just on 2 years old.

Connected one of the batteries to an external battery charger, and the battery started charging immediately.

Does the C-Tek charger have an internal fuse, and are they known to stop working after only 2 years old?

Thank you,

Dave.

[pinko351 Member Find all posts View Profile Close pinko351]

Hi Dave

How flat are the batteries?

Most smart charges wont charge if the battery voltage is below a set figure. So the trick is, to jump start the charger using a charged battery.

Method:

1. Connect charger to flat battery and turn on.
2. Using jumper leads connect a charged battery to the flat battery.
3. Once the charger senses 12 volts it should start and you can remove the jumper leads.

If this works my advise is to leave the charger on all the time. The fact that its is a smart charger means it will sense when the battery is charged and just maintain a float charge. This ensures you get maximum life from your expansive batteries.

Good luck

[yowie Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close yowie]

The batteries were both 11.7 volts, sealed deep cycle types so I cannot examine individual cells, and I left the charger on all night. This morning the charger indicated the batteries were fully charged, checked the reading at 12 volts each.

Removed the charger, and reconnected the C-Tek charger through the system. The C-Tek again does not show any response, other than a light to indicate it is connected to 240 volt power, so it may not be functioning properly.

[pinko351 Member Find all posts View Profile Close pinko351]

Dave

My only thought is that after being on charge over night the batteries should be more then 12 volts. So maybe one or both of your batteries has a dead cell and the C-Tek is sensing this and not charging.

Can you connect another battery to the C-Tec and see if it functions correctly. If it does the same thing then its time to see if C-Tec will honor the life time warranty. If it works, time for anew battery.

[Guest Close Guest]

Shouldn't a fully charged battery be closer to 12.7V? Mine is 13.4V after letting it rest for a few hours.

Maybe there is an issue with the battery and the charger won't charge due to high internal resistance.

[LeighW Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close LeighW]

Ok the charger has power, how is the charger connected to the van batteries?

If the charger is "wired in" try connecting the charger directly to one of the batteries
and see if it charges.

Also check charger settings are correct for the type of battery.

Cheers
Leigh

[rhs58 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close rhs58]

My CTek is wired into the the van and had
this same problem. Turned out that the batteries had not been reconnected correctly after having work done on the van. Check and double check all your connections.

[yowie Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close yowie]

Thank you for your replies.

The one fuse I did not find, I found this afternoon and it has melted, not just fused, but the fuse and internal part of the holder had MELTED with the heat. 30 amps, and the C-Tek unit appears to have cooked inside, it was running very hot when I re-connected it. That fuse is on a wire that runs from the unit to the batteries. That is a worry! The 240 volt power to the van is protected by a cut out switch, and that has not tripped, so it may be a dud charger unit.

Would not be happy being miles from anywhere to have the charger break down. I take spares of different things with me on longer trips, but there is only so much room for spares.

Though I bought the van new in Victoria, I visited a Batteryworld store in southern Sydney, and the salesman told me to drop the unit in tomorrow and it will be sent away for examination, and maybe a warranty claim.

Purchased a new C-Tek unit ($429 with a discount!) connected it with new fuses and it is charging away. See how it pans out.

[brett004 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close brett004]

Sounds like too much load on the charger and it has cooked, how many batterys are you charging and how flat were they, be interested to know how much current is flowing in the circuit, a DC clamp meter would be handy to measure the current draw. Also at a cost of over $500 I would presume the charger would have some form over current protection. They say that this charger is rated to 25 amps although the leads look a little light on for a continuos 25 amps. It wouldnt have tripped the van circuit breaker because the 240 volt side wasnt in an overload situation and the RCD wouldnt have tripped as it wasnt a fault to earth on the 240 v side. Keep an eye on the temp of the new charger as it may do the same thing.

[yowie Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close yowie]

2 deep cycle batteries in series, both at 11.7 volts before charging.

The new C-Tek charger is a model M300, marine grade which can handle a few more bumps when off road. The volt meter across the batteries indicated from 13.4 to 13.7 volts during the charging process. Now finished charging, the volt meter is reading 13.1.

Have reloaded with another 30 amp fuse on the line from the charger to the battery, wondering if I should drop the fuse to 25 amps.

[yowie Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close yowie]

Batteryworld tested the old charger and could not find anything wrong with it. Tested 4 different batteries over a week, and all charged perfectly.

That could mean a problem in the wiring through the van, though no other fuses have blown.

Could also mean there was a power spike to cook the fuse, though the van's circuit breaker did not trip, and the surge arrestor unit out from 240 mains did not trip either.

My brother-in-law (electrician) suggested a power spike that was not enough to trip the circuit breaker.

Either way, I will leave the new one in place, and use keep the old one as a spare.

The Batteryworld salesman suggested using a fuse no more than 25 amps (the van builder used 30, which cooked) and the C-Tek chargers do have an internal fuse, however, once you open the casing, you lose any warranty claim. All C-Tek chargers are Swiss made and have a serial number which is recorded at the factory to prevent cheap copies made in China being passed off as the real deal.