Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Ive recently purchased a small caravan which has fitted a 100ah deep cycle battery, a solar panel on the roof, and also a Smart Charge battery charger/power supply.

The battery charger has 3 terminals on it, 1 negative and 2 positives (-++)

Originally When i picked up the caravan the charger was connected to the battery by the negative, and the middle positive terminal and i checked with a multi meter (and while not connected to a battery) that the middle positive terminal only produces 0.4v while the right positive terminal produces 13.6V. I come to the conclusion that the middle terminal must be damaged, so connected the battery to the terminal with 13.6V.

Anyway after having the charger connected for a couple days unattended, my battery has exploded, literally, it pumped up like a baloon and cracked open on the top, when i checked it out i could hear the battery boiling inside and immediately turned off the charger (which obviously stopped the boiling!).


Here is the charger smart charge bc-012-15a http://www.peninsulasolar.com.au/files/ ... -Specs.pdf
I cannot seem to find the info i am looking for so i will try here, so questions are:

Should i have left the battery connected to the terminal only showing 0.4v? (ie. is it meant to show only 0.4v and only increase when its connected to a battery which needs charging?)

Does it sound like i connected it to the wrong terminal, or does it sound like the charger is stuffed?

Is a charger different to a power supply? the smart charge is a charger/power supply, would one terminal be for power supply and one for charging?


After the battery exploded i removed the battery, and just connected all the wiring in the caravan to the smart charge and used it as a power supply which it worked fine, ran a fridge and lights, water pump etc. So to me it sounds like it works as a power supply, but not charger.

SO, is the charger faulty, or did i use it wrong?

Mike

Its definitely a battery charger.

IT says it has 2 DC outputs to charge two batteries isolated from eachother.

So going from one DC terminal to the other should not have been a problem.

All i can think, is that you got the wires crossed? IE, POS of charger to NEG of battery?

or, your battery is a GEL battery and you had it in Flooded mode, which would overcharge the battery and kill it.

or, your charger is dead and over-charged your battery.

That's what I was thinking, charger no good. Terminals were right way round and it was on correct setting.

If I replaced the charger with a ctek (not sure which model) but can the charger be left connected to the battery when plugged in at a powered camp site (even if battery is full) will this damage the battery or will it be fine?

maybe this should be in auto electic section.
yes most Ctec go into maintance mode when battery full but if you have pannel and regulator why not use them for maintance while van not in use.

When the van is in my front yard not in use I don't/won't have the charger running, only the solar panel which is constantly connected. The only time the battery will be on charge is if im at a van park at a powered site, or for 24hrs before I go away when I connect up the 240v lead to cool down the 3 way fridge.

I know the solar panel is not to blame, because it wasn't till I turned on the charger on that the battery self destructed within 48hrs.

The solar panel pumps out around 14.5v at full sun, does this sound excessive?

When I replace the battery does it have to be a sealed battery if used inside a caravan or is vented ok?

Ok,

Are the Solar Panel and the Charger connected together...ie in Parallel ?
Does the solar panel have a regulator in line with it.

I am thinking this.....
The middle terminal that you DID have connected...... the one with the 0.4 output was damaged by the output of the solar panel as is the regulator in the charger if the panel is not regulated.
Unregulated solar panel can put out up to 1000 volts with no or little loading and are very capable of doing all sorts of damage.
With the AC Charger providing a certain amount of current and voltage, it may have pushed the solar panel into a no load and "runaway" situation, similar to what it would be, as if it was almost open circuit.....
Is it possible that the charger was never working ? and just the panel has been charging the battery ?
What sort of voltage is across the battery when it is charging ?
To do it properly, you need a regulator that has the ability to have a solar and a mains power charger routed through it so it just picks whichever is the active one, with solar taking priority.

This is the solar charger that is fitted: http://www.photonage.com.au/solar-charg ... 10185.html

In my opinion it is working correctly.

I'm going to try without the 240 charger for now and just get a decent deep cycle battery which charges only via the solar panel. The battery will only ever be used for 4-5 days max at a time to run a 35l waeco, some lights and a water pump. It should recharge between trips away (3-4 weeks) plus it's charging while away as well. So should be all good.

Those "smart charge battery chargers" are renowned for doing that, they fail and then don't go to float. Especially the blue ones "soubds dumb but the blue ones are the worst for doing." I've replaced at least 15 of them that have done exactly what yours has done.