question

awood avatar image
awood asked

Smart IP65 skipping Bulk, straight to Absorption

I recently purchased a Blue Smart IP65 Charger to charge my 2 100ah lithium iron phosphate batteries. The first few charge cycles worked fine but now even if the batteries are depleted, it skips the bulk charge stage and goes straight to absorption with a 1 amp charge. No matter what I do, resetting the history, resetting the whole thing to factory defaults, it behaves the same. I have tried using the default lithium ion settings, custom settings, the normal settings, the high settings, always the same result. I tried connecting the charger directly to the batteries instead of my bus bar and the result is the same. 1 amp max charging in absorption stage at whatever the current battery voltage is e.g. 13.5, 13.2 etc. My BMV-712 verifies that it's only 1 amp as well.


I've tried searching these forums and there are other similar threads but never a resolution. Is this a defective unit? I am reaching out here hoping there is a solution before I return the charger for a refund. Was hoping to stick with Victron for compatibility with my other components but 1 amp isn't going to work for me.

battery charging
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10 Answers
kevgermany avatar image
kevgermany answered ·

Worth checking the connections for tightness.

Does the output increase if you put a load on the batteries while charging?

It could also be the BMS limiting the charge. Can you try the charger on a different battery?

Otherwise get the dealer to test it.

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awood avatar image
awood answered ·

Thanks for the reply; Connections are good, I tried multiple including directly connecting to a single battery with same result. I don't think the BMS is blocking anything since I can use a conventional charger and it works without issue.

I tried the IP65 on two different batteries with same result. I bought this charger online so I guess I'll have to send it back to them to test.

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awood avatar image
awood answered ·

Update: I've found a way to reliably get it to drop out of absorption mode and go back to bulk.


  1. Plug in your charger and connect to batteries.
  2. Observe it will skip bulk and immediately go to absorption (regardless of state of charge)
    1. If I do nothing it will stay in absorption at 1 amp indefinitely.
  3. Unplug the quick connector on the battery cables
  4. Observe the voltage goes to 14.2 on the charger and wait 30 seconds
  5. Plug the quick connector back in.
  6. Observe the charger goes immediately into Bulk mode and chargers as normal.


So I got it to work, a bit annoying because I wanted this charger to left connected and turn on automatically when the generator or shore power was plugged in. Now, whenever I charge I have the extra steps above. At least it's giving me the full 15 amps now!


Hope that helps someone else. Cheers.


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chalkstorm avatar image chalkstorm commented ·
I've just experienced exactly the same issue and the solution above worked for me. Assume there's still no fix for this (not that anyone on this thread would know)?
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mk-13 avatar image
mk-13 answered ·

I have a similar situation, but your advice doesn't work for me. I'm trying to charge a VW Touareg NF with a VARTA Silver Dynamic AGM 95Ah battery.


The voltage at the battery terminals is 12.55 volts, which indicates a 50% charge. When I connect the "victron energy blue smart ip65 charger 12/15", the bulk mode raises the voltage to 14.4/14.7 (depending on the selected mode), while the charging current does not go above 1-2 amps, and then switches to absorption mode with a current of 0.2 amps. This happens for about 5 minutes. If I apply a load to the battery during bulk/absorption, the current briefly rises up to 15 amps, but then returns to 0.2 amps after disconnecting the load. Changing to expert mode with 4/15 amps does not make any difference.

Question to the Victron Energy. How can I charge the battery? There are many similar cases on the forum, and I hope the manufacturer will fix this in the next firmware update.testing.jpgcharging-agm.jpg


testing.jpg (29.7 KiB)
charging-agm.jpg (39.1 KiB)
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benna avatar image
benna answered ·

Frustrating that this issue is still with us after so many years.
I have the same & tried everything mentioned.

The only thing that works sometimes is to switch on and off and eventually it decides to do Bulk charging (even on a low voltage, fully balance battery, with load, with good connectors, etc etc.) But this defeats the objective of a backup energy system...

My suspicion is that it remains a charger firmware issue (on the lithium setting?)
Hopefully Victron updates the software...

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james-saunders avatar image
james-saunders answered ·

same issue here. What worked for me was to briefly switch the Mode from “charger” to “power supply” and switch it back immediately in the app. In my case, after switching it back, it stays in bulk.

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thisisanewusername avatar image
thisisanewusername answered ·

I have the same problem as described above.

I tried very briefly changing charger modes, including going to power supply mode as suggested.

I've tried connecting and disconnecting the charging cable using the quick disconnected.

I've tried unplugging the charger, giving it several seconds, then plugging it back in.

None of these have worked. :(


I've tried 3 different new LiFePo4 12v 100 AH batteries from 3 different manufactures. I've tried various states of charge, including after a capacity test. I have only the charger connected to the battery using Victron battery charging cables using screw terminals (I've tried three of them). I've verified the current shown in the VictronConnect app with a clamp on meter, hall effect style shunt and in one case, a battery's bluetooth app. In all cases my Blue Smart IP65 12|15 won't charge faster than about an amp. Also, in all cases, my Blue Smart 12|5 and my cheap Chinese 12v 20amp charger work as expected, charging at 5 and 20 amps respectively, with zero issues on the same batteries.


Also, since I can use the same battery charging cable with the 12|15 and 12|5 chargers, I know it isn't a battery connection issue.


I've had the 12|15 for two or three years. It worked when I first got it. I suspect that I at some point, I updated the charger's firmware (now 3.21) to the version that as others have reported has this issue.

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craig-m avatar image
craig-m answered ·

Good Morning,


I have a customer who has this exact same fault. They sent the charger back to me and i have started looking at. Tried the above of unplugging the quick connection and worked straight away....gone into bulk mode.


Is this a software issue that will addressed in the next software update or is there a permanent fix please?

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detex avatar image detex commented ·

Ive had mine start doing precisely this issue with a 3-5 second bulk mode since the last update too... Gone right through the repair manual that the techs do before an RMA is lodged and can't fault the unit. I suspect it's a firmware issue, too. Tried different leads (Alligator VS Anderson, etc) and 4 different batteries. It's a shame @victron aren't getting on top of this, as it's obviously not a random issue and has been noted for a couple of years now. About to send it back for a replacement.

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joshj avatar image
joshj answered ·

Hi, I've recently fitted a Blue Smart IP65 to my campervan along with a new 100Ah gel battery. The first few times I've used the charger it seemed to work fine. But this weekend, having used the van off-grid for a day or so, I thought I would recharge the battery while I had a mains supply available. The voltage was down at 12.3v and I'd used about 50Ah according to the meter.

The charger did exactly what is described in the other posts: bulk for 4s and then switched to absorption. And whilst in absorption it was saying 12.3v at 0.8amp. Clearly it won't recharge like that!

When I got home I tried several things

  • Checked battery voltage with a multimeter, 12.3v
  • Checked all connections were tight
  • Restarted the charger several times, still no bulk
  • Switched mode to power supply and back, still no bulk
  • Connected charger directly to battery, all other connections removed, still no bulk
  • Tried a different battery, still no bulk

At this point I'd pretty much given up and concluded it was faulty. I restarted it one more time as I thought I should at least try and get a little bit of charge back into the battery and this time it went into bulk charger as expected, running for about 2hs followed by 8hr absorption, 56.Ah delivered!

So I've no idea what is wrong with it and why it suddenly decided to charge properly!

If anyone has found a solution I'd be glad to try it out!


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Mark Maritz avatar image
Mark Maritz answered ·

I am having the same issue and wonder if Victron has any updates. @Matthias Lange - DE

I can't charge from 20% @ 0.8 amps - it takes way to long...

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joshj avatar image joshj commented ·
Hi Mark,

I've sent mine back to the vendor to have it tested. I'll let you know the outcome. But it would be good if someone from Victron could actually comment on the topic!

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