erratic charging rate

The charger on my 10 year old Freedom 30 inverter/charger is showing an erratic charging rate. The Link 1000 will show rapidly changing amp rates of roughly 100 to even 140 amps. This appears to be happening with any charging source. I understand the issues of dealing with Xantrex and am prepared to purchase a new inverter/charger (Magnum?) if it has to be. Has anybody else experienced this or have an idea of a cause or fix?

How old are your batteries? Do they have water in them? Do you use a temp probe and is it tightly fastened? Have you checked the integrity of the cables and their connections?

That's all I can think of before my second coffee.

Xsbank said:

How old are your batteries? Do they have water in them? Do you use a temp probe and is it tightly fastened? Have you checked the integrity of the cables and their connections?

That's all I can think of before my second coffee.

Click to expand...

What he said. But without the coffee thing.

If all that checks out, as do any other variables, then I recommend Magnum inverters.

As others have said, you probably have a bad connection between the Xantrex inverter/charger and your batteries, or a bad connection from the Link to the shunt so it is reading erratically.


David

I had this on an old one I had. I cleared it by removing power completely from the link and then reaplying. Seems like there was a reset in the manual too.

IF there is a combined high load , say the FW pump, the DC fridge both turn on, with a couple cabin fans operating,
the charger can see a low short time voltage and decide its bulk charge time again.

As long as there is no long term over or undercharge ,its no big deal.

Bank is 2 years old. I checked all connections today and all were solid with no corrosion. I don't have the problem when charging from my alternators, so I assume it is in the charger or that part of the Link that controls the charger.

I did notice that the Link 1000 power wire and the voltage sensing wire were running between a 2/0 cable that goes to the inverter and the bank. Not sure if it might be causing a an induction problem, but I rerouted it. I take off Wed. for an 8 day cruise. I'll also try disabling the temp. sensor next time I am bulk charging and see if that makes a difference. Thanks for the input.

Adjusted the speed of the genset as it was too high. Brought the frequency down to 61hz at no load which gave me a voltage of 120v. This seems to have cleared up the problem although I can't rule out the re-positioning of the voltage sensing line.

Tator said:

Adjusted the speed of the genset as it was too high. Brought the frequency down to 61hz at no load which gave me a voltage of 120v. This seems to have cleared up the problem although I can't rule out the re-positioning of the voltage sensing line.

Click to expand...

The early models of the Xantrex smart chargers, weren't frequency/voltage tolerant. My first one didn't like my 76' vintage Onan at all and would switch to standby sometimes. The problem was the governor on the Onan allowed the rpm to wander around like a lost dog, as different loads cycled on an off.
I retired the old charger to home garage duty and replaced it with a new Xantrex model two years ago, which has a very wide window for both input cycles and voltage and tolerates the indiscretions of the old Onan.