I have been upgrading my 12v system with a view to doing more time away from electrical hook ups. Yesterday when testing the system I got a mystery increase in voltage when I shut down the engine, having checked that the battery to battery bit was working properly. I am hoping that someone can point me towards where I should be looking. My suspicion is that there may be some incompatibility between the components I have fitted.
The components are:
Relion RB100 LiFePO4 with built in battery management system (new)
Mains charger Sterling Pro Charge Ultra 40 amp (existing)
Battery to battery charger Votronic VCC1212-45 (new)
Solar regulator Votronic MPP 350 (new)
Inverter Sterling Pro Power SB pure sine wave 300 watts (existing).
The vehicle is a Hymer with Schaudt EBL-29. Following advice from Udo Lang at Schaudt I have disconnected the mains charging by removing the 20 amp fuse from the EBL and have also diverted the primary positive engine battery connection from the EBL to the Votronic 1212-45.
At the time of my tests the solar panels were not connected to to the solar controller. The mains battery charger had performed as expected but the mains had been disconnected. Also the inverter had not been wired in. The Votronic battery to battery charger then performed as expected with 14.6 volts once the engine was running.
I then connected the 12 volt side of the inverter to the system and repeated the engine running test, so far as I recall the inverter was not switched on and nothing was plugged into it, I run it as a completely separate system from the ehu mains. I then repeated my engine running test and again the expected 14.6 volts was achieved. However when I turned the engine off this time, the voltage in the system shot up to 19 volts. I quickly disconnected the battery and let the voltage settle down. I did the test again with the same result of 19 volts after turning off the engine but this time I noticed a puff of smoke coming from the inverter.
I disconnected the inverter and in subsequent tests without it I have not seen anything higher than the expected 14.6 volts.
I brought the inverter home and it is still working normally when it is standing alone but I hesitate to reconnect it in the motorhome until I know what was happening. Anyone got any suggestions please.
The components are:
Relion RB100 LiFePO4 with built in battery management system (new)
Mains charger Sterling Pro Charge Ultra 40 amp (existing)
Battery to battery charger Votronic VCC1212-45 (new)
Solar regulator Votronic MPP 350 (new)
Inverter Sterling Pro Power SB pure sine wave 300 watts (existing).
The vehicle is a Hymer with Schaudt EBL-29. Following advice from Udo Lang at Schaudt I have disconnected the mains charging by removing the 20 amp fuse from the EBL and have also diverted the primary positive engine battery connection from the EBL to the Votronic 1212-45.
At the time of my tests the solar panels were not connected to to the solar controller. The mains battery charger had performed as expected but the mains had been disconnected. Also the inverter had not been wired in. The Votronic battery to battery charger then performed as expected with 14.6 volts once the engine was running.
I then connected the 12 volt side of the inverter to the system and repeated the engine running test, so far as I recall the inverter was not switched on and nothing was plugged into it, I run it as a completely separate system from the ehu mains. I then repeated my engine running test and again the expected 14.6 volts was achieved. However when I turned the engine off this time, the voltage in the system shot up to 19 volts. I quickly disconnected the battery and let the voltage settle down. I did the test again with the same result of 19 volts after turning off the engine but this time I noticed a puff of smoke coming from the inverter.
I disconnected the inverter and in subsequent tests without it I have not seen anything higher than the expected 14.6 volts.
I brought the inverter home and it is still working normally when it is standing alone but I hesitate to reconnect it in the motorhome until I know what was happening. Anyone got any suggestions please.