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hsteinhaus asked

BlueSmart IP65 12/10 not charging according to settings

I have BSC IP65 in my RV, that worked well for a year or two. From one day to the next one, it is not following it's settings anymore. No changes in wiring in between.

Just after connecting mains power, it starts to bulk charge, but with very low currents only (below 1A usually), while the battery voltage is clearly below all thresholds. After a minute or two, it is changing to absorption, with battery voltage still more than one Volt below the configured value.

Any ideas what went wrong here? I already tried a factory reset, followed by choosing a pre-configured battery type, but I did not see an obvious change in behavior.


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charger
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Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented ·
Hi @hsteinhaus we think you unit has a defect, I'll email you directly for an exchange.
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2 Answers
flywheelz avatar image
flywheelz answered ·

Did you have the battery tested? Perhaps it is low on water, has high resistance, and can not take the charge at higher current.

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hsteinhaus avatar image
hsteinhaus answered ·

The battery a sealed AGM type and charging/discharging fine with the alternator when the engine is running.

However, at 12.7V it is completely reasonable that there is no charging current. The problem is, that I did not request 12.7V with my settings (see screenshots above).

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Justin Cook avatar image Justin Cook ♦♦ commented ·
The charger is reporting its measured voltage, which is being dragged down by the load of the battery. That's why at 1708 it's reporting measured voltage at 12.62, while 2 minutes later at 1710 it's reporting measured voltage at 12.71; that measured voltage will continue rising until it meets your target (set) voltage.

...as to why the current is so low, however, that's another matter; I'd expect higher current output if the batteries are healthy and the connections are good.

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flywheelz avatar image flywheelz commented ·


I wish all AGM batteries were refillable because they all dry up within few years in hot temperatures. You can check the current weight of the battery vs whats on the label. Recently, I refilled my 8 year old Odyssey PC1500 with distilled water by drilling into each bank. One bank took 350ml, another 125ml, the rest around 60ml. Now the battery can recharge at 15a. Before it would stay under 2a. Capacity is now is 55ah and was at 15ah.

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There is something wrong with your situation. The 12/10 charger should be charging at 10a until the voltage reaches to about 14.4v at which point the current ramps down. So either your battery is bad or the charger is bad.


Here a graph of my charger. Blue is voltage and current is Yellow. Battery was discharged to 12v. On start of charge the current is 15a and 12.72v then voltage climbs to 14.4v when current ramps down.


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screenshot-3.jpg (32.2 KiB)
flywheelz avatar image flywheelz flywheelz commented ·

Every cell was very dry.screenshot-2.jpg

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screenshot-2.jpg (105.1 KiB)
flywheelz avatar image flywheelz flywheelz commented ·

After first refill the gravity test result.

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addwater2.png (1.1 MiB)
flywheelz avatar image flywheelz flywheelz commented ·

Here is discharge at 3a until 12v then rechargescreenshot-5.jpg

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screenshot-5.jpg (95.9 KiB)

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