Plugged in my onboard charger last night to top off the batteries for a trip up north. I was greeted with this weird flashing light that I’ve never seen before. It flashes from standby to charging and then repeats the cycle every few seconds. I checked the battery and it reads 12.61V so it shouldn’t be a battery issue. Any idea what is going on here?
I don’t see that sequence in their manuals… so I would lean towards a bad connection between the charger and the battery.
May be time to test their customer service.
I don’t see that sequence in their manuals… so I would lean towards a bad connection between the charger and the battery.
May be time to test their customer service.
I’ve reached out to them. Connections looked good last night when I checked, but I’ll take apart and look closer tonight.
I feel like someone here recommended adding some grease or other product to the terminals to prevent corrosion, but can’t find the thread now…
It was mentioned to me re: pictures I sent. I took all the leads off my batteries, cleaned them and made sure they were coated with Dielectric grease.
From an online description:
Dielectric grease is used in many applications, including high-energy ignition systems, bulb sockets, trailer electrical connectors, headlamp connectors, ignition coil connectors, battery terminals, and spark plug boots. This silicone-based grease is used in battery terminals to prevent corrosion and fusing.
ptx-22058_xl.jpg
Thanks Umy. This is the thread I remembered.
Even though your battery shows full voltage check the electrolyte level, it may be low and the charger sensed this when it went into desalination mode.
Or, see if this helps you at all.
https://no.co/support/gen-understanding-the-charge-led
I had a NOCO charger, not the onboard model, but what happened to mine was the wires went bad where they go into the charger body itself. Something to look for, I certainly didn’t think of it right away but when I dug into it that was the issue.
Sheldon your on vacation,your off the clock.
Even though your battery shows full voltage check the electrolyte level, it may be low and the charger sensed this when it went into desalination mode.
Is it reasonable for a battery that is just a year old to have low fluid levels? If the levels are low, do I fill with distilled water?
Depending on how hard you are working them and how much charging they are getting,yes, electrolyte levels can be low.
Distilled water yes.
Depending on how hard you are working them and how much charging they are getting,yes, electrolyte levels can be low.
Distilled water yes.
Not working them hard at all…only ran them 2-3 days last year. Didn’t have the onboard hooked up though for about 6 months afterwards.
Got it, when you checked the battery voltage did you do so while the charger was hooked up and running??
If so, you were reading charger volts and not battery volts.
The lights will flash indicating the battery is so low it cannot take a charge.
There is a chance the batteries were frozen, ( I am guessing they were left in the cold ) and if they were,, they are toast.
Best I can do now is tell you to have the batteries load tested to make certain what is going on, and, have the charger checked for A/C voltage output, if you can read more than .250 volts A/C while hooked to the batteries the rectifier/diode has failed in the charger.
Sorry I cannot help you more than that without having it in the shop so I can test everything personally.
Thanks for the help Sheldon! Battery was checked without the charger so 12.61V was stored energy. Checked fluid levels and had to add maybe 1/2 oz to one cell. That’s it. No corrosion anywhere, but adding dielectric grease to all connections. Thinking it’s the charger.
As I was putting it back together, I decided to swap the battery hookups to the charger. Probably should have mentioned that it is a 24v system. Same issue on the same onboard bank (different battery now) so it definitely is a charger issue.
If I can’t get a new charger by Thursday, I’ll just have to put the trickle charger on the battery with the bad charger bank. Should I disconnect this battery from the charger first? Maybe pull the inline fuses so I don’t have exposed voltage flying around.
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