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ulf-gyhlenius avatar image
ulf-gyhlenius asked

Blue Smart IP65 12/7 not charging battery

Hi,

I have a new charger (Blue smart IP65 12/15) and have tried several times to charge different type of batteries but the charger won't charge any of them. It rapidly passes throw "test" and "bulk" and then stops at "abs" for a couple of hours and after that it stops at "storage". The charger is not configured manually otherwise than with the preset mode (Normal, High, Li-ion). The batteries that I tried are almost empty, half empty or almost full and the charger works the same on all my batteries. I have also tried normal, gel, agm and lifePo4 with the same results - it won't charge the battery!
There is no problem with Bluetooth connection. The charger has no problem to deliver power when I connect it to any kind of equipment. My only problem is that it does not charge any of my batteries!
Please help me out...

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2 Answers
Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) avatar image
Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) answered ·

Hi @ulf-gyhlenius

What you are describing is normal and expected behaviour for a battery that is in a poor condition and does not want to accept any charging.

A good test to confirm the reality is to get a multimeter and then test the voltage direct on the battery terminals.

With no charger connected, you would expect to see between 9V and 13V for a lead acid battery.

When you connect the battery charger, you would then expect this voltage to rise slowly (bulk) to ~14.2-14.4V, once it reaches 14.4V then the voltage should stabilise (abs). The charger will then reduce the current to maintain that voltage.

If the battery is in poor condition, the voltage will rise very quickly to 14.4V, without absorbing much current, nor will it require much current to keep it there.

Then after the absorption time, 1 hour or so, the charger will go to float or storage ~13.5V.

Then is the time to test the battery.

Remove the charger, and put on a large load (20A per 100Ah). If the battery voltage then drops after a few minutes to below 12.2V - the battery is no longer holding any energy and is near the end of its useful life. The charger has done the best it can by holding the battery voltage at 14.4V - but if the battery does not want to absorb any current there, then that is chemical or connection problem with the battery and not so much the charger can do about it.

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ulf-gyhlenius avatar image ulf-gyhlenius commented ·

Thanks a lot for your rapid answer!

I will try to do the test the way you recommend. Its just hard to find a 20A load... I do think that some of my batteries (lead acid) are in a quite good condition but I will do the test anyway. They are all showing 12.5-12.8V with a multimeter (unloaded).

Is it the same procedure with LifePO4 batteries? I have one that has worked quite well. It´s an unbranded (sorry...) 12V 100Ah battery and I have used it for a couple of weeks. I started with it fully charged and I´ve tried to charge it during this period with the Victron charger, but it has not been working. Some day ago the Victron Battery protection (12V 65 Ah) cut the power of and I cant charge with this charger. I have another charger (CTEK) and it charge the same LifePO4 right now. Both chargers connected directly to the battery, not to any other equipment during charging.

Once again - Thank you for your help!

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ulf-gyhlenius avatar image
ulf-gyhlenius answered ·

Hi @Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager)

Thanks a lot for your rapid answer!

I will try to do the test the way you recommend. Its just hard to find a 20A load... I do think that some of my batteries (lead acid) are in a quite good condition but I will do the test anyway. They are all showing 12.5-12.8V with a multimeter (unloaded).

Is it the same procedure with LifePO4 batteries? I have one that has worked quite well. It´s an unbranded (sorry...) 12V 100Ah battery and I have used it for a couple of weeks. I started with it fully charged and I´ve tried to charge it during this period with the Victron charger, but it has not been working. Some day ago the Victron Battery protection (12V 65 Ah) cut the power of and I cant charge with this charger. I have another charger (CTEK) and it charge the same LifePO4 right now. Both chargers connected directly to the battery, not to any other equipment during charging.

Once again - Thank you for your help!

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