generator not charging..a battery of questions..lol

[FloridaSun]

Yes in (098.jpg) that is a Trace Disconnect/Overcurrent Module. It is in the ON position, and it is wired to the batteries below, and to the inverter/charger to the right.

I found the owner manual online, all 51 pages of it. I was most interested in the battery charging section of the manual, and I made some interesting discoveries:

"The inverter automatically becomes a battery charger whenever AC power is supplied to its AC inputs. There is a 40 sec. time delay from the time the inverter senses that AC is present at its input and when the transfer is made"

Also in the "Three stages of battery charging" section:

Stage one being Bulk Charge. It states: " This stage is initiated when AC is applied to the AC input of the inverter, and it terminated when the batteries reach the BULK CHARGE VOLTAGE. During this stage the Charge LED glows steady orange.


The part that stood out to me was the line about the LED glowing steady orange. There are 4 LED's on the front of the inverter. The only LED I have ever seen lit up is the one labeled "Inverter Mode" I have never seen the Charger LED light up except briefly during the self test when I hit the on/off button on the inverter.

So, as it appears to me, the inverter is not going into "charger mode" WTF! Its seems like the inverter/charger is not sensing the AC power that is being applied to it....dunno, I think ill have to get someone who knows about these things to take a look. But in this small town...it will be hard to find someone who knows alot about this kind of stuff.

Make sure you actually have AC power going in. Yes DO clean ALL connections, polish up those battery terminals. 'Minor' white on terminals can be insulative. What's the battery voltage showing now? You need to get that voltage up ASAP in case those batteries are actually good, worth keeping. Even a 10amp car charger will be better than nothing.
If you do have to replace that inverter/charger you might think about going to a higher voltage 24 or 48 ... which would mean switching your charge controller also.... along with more panels.

[piper]

Instead of just watching the voltage you need to look at current into the battery. If no current is flowing, no charging will take place no matter how long you leave it running.
Once again, I ask the question of how the power from the generator is getting to a charger which is then connected to the batteries.
An inverter-charger can only charge from generator power if it is connected in some way to the generator. If your external transfer switch isolates the generator from the inverter-charger and there is no other charger on the load side of the switch there is no way the generator can charge the batteries!

just going over what you were saying inetdog., and when I go out there on tuesday I will try the transfer switch in the "normal" position as opposed to "generator". As you think it is isolating the inverter charger from the AC power from the genny while in the "transfer switch in the "generator" position.

The way the transfer switch is labelled, I figured it had to be in "generator" position to use the generator AC power to charge....confusing..

On a positive note, I still see the panels keeping the batt. voltage up enough to run a radio and lightbulb in the camp. (not long, just as a test to see if there is life in the battery) I take that as a sign they arent dead....

still wondering this: is the battery voltage displayed on my solar boost display the same as the true voltage of the batteries in the bank? if not,. why is that?

[piper]

called Xantrex customer support today. The guy on the line was really good at "dumbing" things down for me. He said the most likely cause is that the generator isnt putting out the proper frequency, and therefore the inverter/charger isnt accepting it, so its like its not receiving any power at all. The guy on the line said to check the output of the generator with multimeter. I should be able to get my Amps and volts output with a multimeter, multiply this and arrive at watts put out by the generator.

apparently if I apply a load to the generator, it could change the frequency put out..that I didnt know, interesting.

[piper]

went out there today...I noticed a small switch on the front of my generator. One way you can select "120 V only Total 20A" the other way you can select "240V+120V Total 10A".

I had never changed this switch until today. I put it on the "240V+120V Total 10A", along with switching the transfer switch to "normal" rather than "generator" and magic....the charging light came on!

The voltage display on the solar booston arrival was 12.5, over the course of two hours it came up to 13.6. I let it run for another hour after that with no further increase. Then I shut off the generator, and the displayed voltage dropped fairly quickly and held at 12.9,

thoughts?

[inetdog]

I had never changed this switch until today. I put it on the "240V+120V Total 10A", along with switching the transfer switch to "normal" rather than "generator" and magic....the charging light came on!

My guess about the transfer switch is that the panel is wired to allow 240 volt input in the form of two 120 volt busses with opposite phase, which is normal for a POCO feed. This is also what the inverter produces. But the inverter is able to, at least to some extent, provide more power to one of the lines than the other in case of unequal demand.
When the generator is used, it does not have quite the same ability, and if you were to turn on loads which were all or mostly on one bus, the overcurrent protection on the generator might trip.

When the transfer switch is in the generator position, I am guessing that it takes only one of the two generator output wires (the one which is fed with the switch in the 120/20Amp position) and connects it to both busses in the breaker panel. When that happens, the generator is also disconnected from the inverter charger. This would allow you to start somewhat larger 120 volt motors as well as allowing for unbalanced loads.

Logical, but not exactly a common way to wire things up, and it should have been documented a lot better by the former owner!

As to the battery voltage dropping from 13.6 to 12.9, that is to be expected with time, and even faster if there is any load, even the idle current of the inverter. For a resting voltage (neither being charged nor discharged for about 4 hours), 12.9 volts corresponds to 100% SOC. If you have the inverter/charger switched off completely and the voltage does not drop below ~12.7 volts after 4 hours, that is the best you should expect. Next step is to make another try to look at the SG of each cell.

[piper]

My guess about the transfer switch is that the panel is wired to allow 240 volt input in the form of two 120 volt busses with opposite phase, which is normal for a POCO feed. This is also what the inverter produces. But the inverter is able to, at least to some extent, provide more power to one of the lines than the other in case of unequal demand.
When the generator is used, it does not have quite the same ability, and if you were to turn on loads which were all or mostly on one bus, the overcurrent protection on the generator might trip.

When the transfer switch is in the generator position, I am guessing that it takes only one of the two generator output wires (the one which is fed with the switch in the 120/20Amp position) and connects it to both busses in the breaker panel. When that happens, the generator is also disconnected from the inverter charger. This would allow you to start somewhat larger 120 volt motors as well as allowing for unbalanced loads.

Logical, but not exactly a common way to wire things up, and it should have been documented a lot better by the former owner!

As to the battery voltage dropping from 13.6 to 12.9, that is to be expected with time, and even faster if there is any load, even the idle current of the inverter. For a resting voltage (neither being charged nor discharged for about 4 hours), 12.9 volts corresponds to 100% SOC. If you have the inverter/charger switched off completely and the voltage does not drop below ~12.7 volts after 4 hours, that is the best you should expect. Next step is to make another try to look at the SG of each cell.

The previous owner is a slacker from what Im starting to see out there. Its not a common way to wire things as you said, and it doesnt surprise me. He did many uncommon things out there.

I will be looking into getting a hydrometer to check out those batteries. Just wondering, at what point on the voltage display should I be engaging the charger. Im thinking 12.4-12.5? I appreaciate everybodys input on this thread, if anyone has more to add feel free...thanks!