Xantrex panel charging amps

[JLMunsil]

When charging batteries, my Xantrex panel only shows 10 amps. I think it should show 80 to 100 amps. Power share is on 30 amps, charge rate is set to 100%, AH is at 720, and batteries are 12.4 volts. What could be wrong if I am right? Bad panel? Bad batteries? Bad charger?

[MonacoMama]

WOW..This seems to be right up Engineer Mike's alley! I wonder if this got lost in the shuffle - or if Mike is not around...

(I guess it is possible that maybe EMike does not know?

[Old Scout]

Long thread here on the forum--root caused seems to be unknown--Temporarily reset yr Xantrex to 440AHRS and the factory defaults on the control panel. Go to "main menu," then "RS2000," then "view systems info", then Reset defaults," when asked to "continue", select "yes". A reload of the Xantrex firm/software may be the fix here but some Xantrexs dont seem to like anything other than the factory default of 440 AHRS. Regardless of number of bats, setting AMHRS to 440 doesnt seem to impact on charge time.

[JLMunsil]

Old Scout, Thanks for the reply. My batteries don't seem to be holding a charge. They go from 13.6 volts with charger in float at 2 amps. to 12.3 volts over night. It then switches to bulk charge and goes to 10 amps. then through the cycle again. (Coach disconnect is off) So I am going to replace the batteries and see what happens. Then I'll try your idea.

[EngineerMike]

JL- I had the same battery results after about a year (i.e. volts dropped overnight to a number I thought was low) and I had the charger trouble you describe except Batt Size was set to 660AH. @ 720AH mine would show 80A charge if the batteries were down where yours are. In the beginning it took about 2+ days to run the batt's down to 12.4 or so. I'm thinking that the 10A max charge rate is not a problem w/the batteries, as the charger (if working properly & set properly) should allow more amps. I have Load Sense OFF and Force Charge ON (don't know what those mean) if that helps.

I assume you've rebooted the Xantrex, then rechecked the output.

My charger always boiled the lead acid batteries regardless of changes to settings. I think the EM parameter was set to MAX GAS, assuming since I'm full of gas my batteries should be also.

[Old Scout]

Just to clarify--you are pushing just 10 DC amps to the bats in bulk? Should be upwards of 120 DC charging amps at the beginning with the AC amp pull at about 10, plus whatever else is being pulled thru the inverter via the AC by-pass.
PS--pushing the manual reset button[s] does not reset the factory defaults. You must use the control panel menu commands.

[JLMunsil]

I am going by the xantrex control panel. I think it shows DC amps not AC amps. It shows 10 amps max during bulk charge. If it shows AC amps than everything would be fine. I pulled the batteries to see if any or all are bad. I'll check actual amp's when I am hooked up again.

[EngineerMike]

The LCD panel should show DC amps if you keep hitting Exit. There will be the status (bulk, absorb or float), DC charge amps on top line & a small bar graph on the second. If you hit Enter, Enter you should see the Battery charge status on upper line and AC input to charger on the second line.

[dgerstel]

Jim,

While I have never had this problem with my Xantrex, I have seen it. While charging, the charger should start at 120 amps and maybe 13 volts +/-. As it charges, the amps should stay at 120 while the voltage raises to 14.5. It should then go into the absorption phase where the voltage will stay at 14.5 and the amps will drop slowly until it goes into the float mode.

I know of more than one Xantrex that will not charge properly while the AH is set to match the battery bank. When the AH is set back to default, 440, the Xantrex starts working properly.

If you follow Old Scout's suggestion, it will probably cure your problem. If not, you may need a firmware update, have a bad battery or inverter.

[wa8yxm]

I have a Prosine 2.0, it is set for quite a few (300 or more) amp hours of battery

If I run 'em down, way down, it will pump 90 amps into the batteries even when paralleled with the main house system (which is a PDI INtella-power 9180 with wizard and a pair of GC-2 batteries, the Xantres has a pair of G-31 AGM's along with some other misc batteries it takes care of normally)

However as the batteries charge the current goes down

Suggestion: Clean all connections and check state of charge on the batteries.


NOTE: as battteries age.. their ability to accept a fast charge goes down and the current on the display will as well

[JLMunsil]

Update, I replaced my wet cell batteries with six AGM's the same size. The old batteries would only charge to 12.5 volts and would drop to 12.2 very quickly. The bad batteries caused the charger to reset and go through the 3 stage charge cycle every 3 to 4 hours. It should do this when it gets to 12.5 volts but with the charger on the batteries shouldn't get that low. The new batteries were still at 12.8 volts after three days so I had to turn on the inverter to get down to 12.5 volts to give the charger a good test. I changed the charger setting to AGM and 660 AH and cleared all faults. It still would only show 8 to 9 amps. I changed AH to 650 and now it goes to 123 amps and operates just like Dale explained in his post above. I tried several settings above and below the 660 AH. All above 660 showed 9 amps all below showed at least 120 amps.
(Reading the owners manual it say's that bulk and absorb charge are at 20% of AH rating of battery bank. If the RS2000 is only a 100 amp charger it seems that setting the AH at anything above 500 would not make any difference in charge rates.)
Looks like all is good. Thanks for all the responses.

[wa8yxm]

Well... Per Trojan.. 12.4 volts is 75% charge.. The Xantrex should be tapering down

At 720 amp hours, with 30 amp shareing and little AC load, and most battery profiles (OTHER THAN GEL or LIFELINE AGM) your top charge rate should be the lesser of 100 or 72 Times 3 (720*0.4) or 100 amps

Things that will reduce that are failing batteries, bad battery connections, and of course state of charge.

High AC loads (Microwave) may taper it off due to load share.

Wrong battery profile can too but it appears you have taken care of that.

[John Neff]

The Alpine forum is the best place to research a problem and get a solution.

I installed six Lifeline house batteries and set the charger settings to AGM battery type at 660ah. The charge rate was only 10 amps, changed the setting to 650ah and everything is working properly.

Thanks to Jim's and Dale's posts #11 and #9

[wa8yxm]

As batteries age, internal resistance increases due to sulfacation. And charging amps GO DOWN as a result of the higher internal resistance.

Could this be your problem?