I just got the Zivan NG1 back from being updated, installed it, double checked all connections, plugged it in and all I get on the BDI is a couple of beeps and a fast blinking green light. The contactor doesn’t engage and charger doesn’t hum. The only explanation of a blinking green LED is that it’s a “Timeout” “Phase 1 and/or Phase 2 have a duration in excess of the maximal allowed” whatever the he** that means.
Here’s my set up:
6 T-1275 flooded Trojans, two read 12.6V the rest read between 11.3-11.8V. I just put a auto charger on the 11.3 to see if I can bring it up.
Also, the temperature sensor is corroded away, gone, nothing on the end of the wire. Is this absolutely needed to charge the batteries or is it just a kind of safety element?
I’m going to continue charging individual batteries until they’re all within a couple of tenths of each other and see if that helps.
The Zivan charger has good output, I can read 74V on the output. When I unplug it I can hear two relays falling. The tool icon on the BDI has a red light under it, what does that mean and what should I look for?
When I plug the Zivan in, the contactor operates and releases then I get the 4 beeps and blinking green LED.
All battery connections are clean with no corrosion, the BDI now indicates 65% charge up from 45% but that is from the individual battery charging I’ve been doing this morning.
I think the red LED under the tool icon has a bearing on my problem but I have no idea where to look.
The fully charged voltage of 6 flooded batteries should be 75.6 VDC. A “12 volt” battery is really 12.6 volts, regardless of scale. If your charger is only putting out 74, either your battery(ies) are bad, or the charger has a problem. Our chargers usually top out at about 81 volts, which gives 13.5 per battery at the end of the charge cycle.
An update on the never ending Zivan Charger saga:violin:
First, I had the update performed at El Con in Sacramento at a cost of $145.00 inc. tax/shipping.
While troubleshooting I noticed the temperature sensor was gone from the end of the wire coming from the DIN connector, bare wires were showing. While pulling the wire from the battery compartment I saw an arc, either the wire shorted against the frame or a positive battery terminal. That’s when I called the “Uh-Oh squad”:eek: After that, the LED went blank, I could here only one relay operate when I plugged the charger in, normally I hear two, and after charging for 4 hours, the battery voltage never moved from 72.4V.
I suspect I fried the Control Logic and it shut down the charger. I e-mailed El Con explained my problem and he said ship it back. It’s on the way now back to Sacramento.
As I understand it the charger will not operate if the battery voltage is below 68V and the temp sensor shuts down the charger if it hits 120F. I gotta believe the arc I saw exceeded 120F for an instant.
I’m now in the process of individually charging the batteries at a 10A rate using a 3 stage charger. I’m on the 3rd battery now and the first two are at 12.4V. I’ve only charged them for an hour each, but once they’re all up to 12.4V I’ll go back and let them go until the charger shuts down.
A brief history of the batteries. I just bought the GEM last month and the batteries have set for a couple of years with very little use. The previous owner charged them to 60% according to the BDI but I’m not sure how accurate that BDI is. Once I get everything up and running I think I’ll add a digital volt meter and state of charge meter.
So, that’s where I am now, I should get the charger back by the end of next week and the batteries should be at a solid 12.6V level by then.
I thank everyone for their response and patients in dealing with this new guy.:o
