I have a motorhome with a 12v battery bank.I have just bought a new "wizzi"' 30 amp charger, only to find that it will not do the job.The problem is that the charger in it's wisdom decides that if the battery voltage is below 12.4 volts it is "dead" and will not charge. I was under the impression that you could run batteries down to 10.5 volts before damage was severe.Can anyone help me!
pete_iam,
Feb 11, 1:26am
wont charge if its below 12.4! what a crap charger
elect70,
Feb 11, 1:29am
Try leavingit onsome are like that , hi initial charge amps causes it to cut out .After a while itactually starts charging ,.afterseveralstarts .
gammelvind,
Feb 11, 2:50am
Your battery wouldn't last very long if you drop it to 10.5 very often, I have a 24v system and things start faulting below 22v .
cassandra13,
Feb 11, 3:55am
best option mate is to talk to a sparky. experts in this field and no second guessing. if you tell me your location i can reccomend someone
owene,
Feb 11, 3:58am
What brand/model is the charger! is it a multi-stage unit!
papamoabeachfr,
Feb 12, 2:54am
Charger is 30 amp multi stage. I reside in TePukeBay Of Plenty. Charger wont charge regardless of how long you leave it.
pdc1,
Feb 12, 3:19am
What sort of batteries are you using! I'm sure that you will be damaging them going down to 10.5 volts - that is really flat. 12 volts is flat with most batteries. With normal lead acid battery I would think that not going below 12.2 volts would be a good idea. Maybe your battery is crook.
owene,
Feb 12, 3:34am
Even if the battery has been dicharged to below the safe point of 10.8v, there is no reason why the charger shouldn't figure that out and ramp the charge up in organised steps. I'd strongly suspect that either it's not properly connecting to the battery or the charger is stuffed.
Have you tried putting the charger onto your regular car battery! Will it charge! If not, then turn onthe headlamps (engine off) and see if that makes it start outputting. If not then the charger is a dud. What brand/model is it!
studio1,
Feb 12, 2:06pm
Sparky here. You can run a 12 v battery down to 10.5 volts but it's not good for it, and anything below that can cause permanent damage. Standard figures are: Charging voltage - 13.2 - 14.4 Fully discharged - 11.8 Float - 12.6
As per the other questions, what brand of charger is it! Hopefully not one designed and made in china.
kazbanz,
Feb 12, 2:30pm
actually guys I've found that the best charger for kicking batteries back to life is the cheapie from the red shed. maybee because its brainless and just keeps kicking the charge through.
tonyrockyhorror,
Feb 12, 4:49pm
Sure is.
papamoabeachfr,
Feb 12, 8:53pm
Hi all, Charger is probably Chinese,Modern Techniques,Power Train. The instructions say 12.4 volts, and that is what you get. It is ideal for keeping batteries charged whilst on power, but will not recover from any less then 12.4
tuttyclan,
Feb 12, 10:45pm
If your charger is one of those charge and maintain type chargers is there anyway you can charge the battery with the engine running off the alturnator for about 10 minutes.Then switch off and plug charger back on.This works for me on flat car batteries after jump starting in my case.
owene,
Feb 12, 11:43pm
Put in onto your regular car battery and turn on the headlamps without the motor running. Does it charge! Come back here and tell us the answer.
pup2,
Feb 12, 11:52pm
Powertrain are alright. Well most of them. The one you have isn't. Take it back if it is still under warranty
owene,
Feb 13, 12:31am
Let's first confirm that the charger is a dud. OP: do as per #15 and let us know what it does.
papamoabeachfr,
Feb 13, 1:42pm
Hi Owene, thanks for your interest. Provided the charger is switched off, ie the batteries fully charged before the test, then it will not take long for the charger to start charging after the load comes on.I hope this is the test you are looking for.Roger
goraz,
Feb 13, 2:15pm
CTEK 8 stage charger.I am doing battery banks on a 12V farm property when we have the gene going think it is a xa15000 or something
elect70,
Feb 13, 7:00pm
I have a" smart " chargerex supercheap6 12 ,24 voltthe sealed batteries in my kontiki & wincharedead flatafter days fishingbut it still chargesthem up . at 15 ampto startHad 4 seasons out of them & still good ,
owene,
Feb 13, 10:40pm
So you hooked it to your car battery and turned on the headlights without the motor running. Did the charger start charging when you turned on the headlamps!If it did then does it have any indicators on the front to tell you how many amps it was producing!
papamoabeachfr,
Feb 14, 4:23am
No just a row of lights and the fan running.
owene,
Feb 14, 1:51pm
You're obviously a wind-up as your answers are so devoid of substance. I can't help you - take the charger back to the supplier and tell them you want a refund as you're too stupid to use it.
bellky,
Feb 14, 3:12pm
don't think he's the one who's stoopid
owene,
Feb 14, 3:14pm
"Just a row of lights and the fan running" does NOT answer my question about whether or not it was charging when on the car battery. Impossible to offer further advice.
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