Have a problem with inverter/charger...I think

I went out and checked on the cat yesterday just to find out the batteries were completely drained of power! I have the cat plugged into shore power and normally the inverter would be on "pass thru" with the charger on and the inverter off to keep the batteries topped off. But for some strange reason, the inverter seems to still be operational but can't draw off the batteries in their present state of discharge. And, the charger light isn't on when it should be, and it isn't charging the battery bank.

Any suggestions on what to be looking for that might cause the charger to suddenly fail?

TC

On your Xantrex have you got an error message? it seems that the Xantrex turns off if there is a problem with over or under charging and displays a error code F9/F10 etc. it might be worth checking this out.
Sean

I was getting a 0 W12 warning, which just means low battery voltage, recharge. I replaced the ANL fuse between the battery bank and the inverter/charger even though it didn't appear to be blown. Didn't make any difference. I'm assuming that since the inverter/charger is all-in-one, that if the inverter is working properly, the charger should be too. Which leaves the battery bank.

I serviced the batteries in July, but have had them on shore power more this year than previous years. When I checked the batteries, they were all basically dry. It took 32 ox of acid and nearly a gallon of distilled water to refill 4 batteries. My fear now, is that they've sulphated, becuase I have no idea how long they've been in that condition. I know already that I've made one mistake in trying to revive them; adding more acid along with more distilled water. According to what I've been reading on the internet, this is a no-no. But, it's done, so I now need to find a sure fire way of reviving what I assume are sulphated batteries, VS spending another $600 to fix what now appears to be human error on battery maintenance.

In my defense, I've never had to service the batteries any more than once a year, so to see them in that condition after only 5 or 6 months was a total surprise and a wake-up call not to assume anything based on previous performance.

Having said all that, does anyone have a sure fire way of bringing dead batteries back to life?

TC

I think that the batteries would have to be charged at a high voltage 14.4 volts for a short time to help desulphate the plates. Will the Xantrex not do this after it has brought the charge level up to 13.6 volts. Some intelligent chargers do this automatically, with luck the Xantrex will recover your batteries automatically.
Sean

Never have lost water that fast in my Cat. Wonder if the charger is working the way it should?

Sean, they won't take a charge, period! The charger is on, but there's no charge indicated on the panel.

Dan, the fact that they ran dry so quickly has me stumped. I've never seen this before. The only thing that might make a difference is that I've been hooked up to shore power more this fall and winter, so there's been more charging current running through the batteries.

The ONLY reason I discovered this problem was that I happened to hear one of the detectors sounding off inside the cat as I walked by, and thought that was unusual.

The charger seems to be operating in that it shows that there is an accumultive voltage in the battery bank of 3.8 volts. But even though the charger is enabled, there isn't any amperage going into the bulk charge, which on my charger is the 1st of 3 stages.

TC

TC wrote:Sean, they won't take a charge, period! The charger is on, but there's no charge indicated on the panel.

Dan, the fact that they ran dry so quickly has me stumped. I've never seen this before. The only thing that might make a difference is that I've been hooked up to shore power more this fall and winter, so there's been more charging current running through the batteries.

TC

Kind of sorta what I mean. I have been hooked up to shore power for a long time also and unless there is a bad charger or short (maybe a battery short) I can not see anyway this should have happened. These new chargers are suppose to prevent battery baking.

TC is there output from the charger? you could test this with a simple multimeter. One of the batteries might have failed and taken the others down with it. have you got a charger that you could charge the batteries separately (one battery at 6volts) and see what ones have survived.
Sean

This last (meaning final) attempt on resetting the inverter/charger, I got the fault code for "dead batteries; reset or replace".

I've since decided to shut down the inverter/charger and disconnect the shore power and focus instead on finding a sure-fire way of resurrecting sulphated batteries. Any ideas?

TC

There is no sure fire way that I'm aware of. I have a high amperage smart charger that will try to bring them back but its usually not successful. All depends on how low and how long your batteries have been down.

I highly recommend you get yourself a cheap digital multimeter and measure the output of your charger before replacing/repairing batteries.

Leaving your charger plugged in 24/7 will shorten the life of your unit. I've replaced several charger/converters for friends/family over the last several years. ALL of them were left plugged in 24/7. Its simple physics/science that any electrical equipment in use 24/7 will wear out sooner rather than later.

The multimeter is a good idea. I'll check into that. Thanks!

I've read various things in the internet about using baking soda to revive batteries. There's also something else you can buy that is supposed to revive dead batteries as well, but I'm leery of trying anything unless I get the green light from someone who works with batteries on a regualr basis.

TC

Well, I finally had a couple of really nice days to work outside, so I put a priority on trying to figure out what was preventing the batteries from taking a charge.

The first thing I noticed was a lot of moisture/condensation sitting on top of the batteries and cables. After a closer inspection, I discovered all four batteries had burst at their corners, and the majority of the acid/water had leaked out into the battery boxes.

At this point, I'll never know exactly what happened. Obviously the batteries failed, but did they burst before or after I turned everything off?

Anyway, the bottom line is...4 new Trojan T-145s for the CAT.

As for the inverter/charger, I'll just have to keep on eye on things once I put it all back together and fire it up. I'm still somewhat concerned with the prospect that maybe the batteries were being overcharged.

TC

TC
I would check for overcharging right away before you damage the new batteries. Jim

Bulk charge for the batteries should be about 14.2 volts on a 3or 4 stage charger.
Sean