Here we go again....
The boat is on the hard and plugged into AC power, AC panel is on and the Xantrex/Statpower Truecharge 20 is on charging the batteries. No different than I have done many times before....
Working on wiring in new instruments I noticed that the battery combiner solenoid was quite hot. I removed the cover on the Ample Power NS2 voltage regulator and the error LED was lit solid indicating battery over-voltage condition, the combiner LED was lit indicating that the solenoid was indeed latched, and the status LED was flashing the system OFF message. A thin plume of smoke was emanating from the circuit board on the NS2. I pulled the fuse and shut it down. I did check the charging voltage and it was 14.2volts.
The Xantrex charger has the ability to charge two banks independently and is wired like that, one leg to the house and the other to the start batteries.
Apparently the NS2 combiner function is always on and it senses charging voltage from ANY source and then latches the solenoid tying the start battery to the house bank.
I spoke to Ample about the problem and they would have liked me to run diagnostics but that would require running the engine, which I can't do right now. They were unable to tell me if the problem was caused by the charger trying to charge two banks and the combiner kicking in and possibly screwing things up. I have sent the unit to them so they can check it.
I may or may not wait for Ample to respond and may just opt to replace the regulator. If the Ample is repairable, then it would become the spare, or vice versa. I am considering the following:
1. Balmar ARS5 w/Balmar digital duocharge
2. Aqualine marine regulator w/Blue Seas combiner
3. Xantrex XAR-12 w/Xantrex Echocharge
Currently leaning towards the Xantrex setup for cost reasons alone. Any pros/cons to this stuff? Any other ideas why I had the problem above? I do know that the AC charger will only be connected to the house bank from now on. AFAIK, the Duocharge, Echocharge and the Ample effectively maintain the start battery regardless of what provides the charging current.
Let me know what you all think....
RT
The boat is on the hard and plugged into AC power, AC panel is on and the Xantrex/Statpower Truecharge 20 is on charging the batteries. No different than I have done many times before....
Working on wiring in new instruments I noticed that the battery combiner solenoid was quite hot. I removed the cover on the Ample Power NS2 voltage regulator and the error LED was lit solid indicating battery over-voltage condition, the combiner LED was lit indicating that the solenoid was indeed latched, and the status LED was flashing the system OFF message. A thin plume of smoke was emanating from the circuit board on the NS2. I pulled the fuse and shut it down. I did check the charging voltage and it was 14.2volts.
The Xantrex charger has the ability to charge two banks independently and is wired like that, one leg to the house and the other to the start batteries.
Apparently the NS2 combiner function is always on and it senses charging voltage from ANY source and then latches the solenoid tying the start battery to the house bank.
I spoke to Ample about the problem and they would have liked me to run diagnostics but that would require running the engine, which I can't do right now. They were unable to tell me if the problem was caused by the charger trying to charge two banks and the combiner kicking in and possibly screwing things up. I have sent the unit to them so they can check it.
I may or may not wait for Ample to respond and may just opt to replace the regulator. If the Ample is repairable, then it would become the spare, or vice versa. I am considering the following:
1. Balmar ARS5 w/Balmar digital duocharge
2. Aqualine marine regulator w/Blue Seas combiner
3. Xantrex XAR-12 w/Xantrex Echocharge
Currently leaning towards the Xantrex setup for cost reasons alone. Any pros/cons to this stuff? Any other ideas why I had the problem above? I do know that the AC charger will only be connected to the house bank from now on. AFAIK, the Duocharge, Echocharge and the Ample effectively maintain the start battery regardless of what provides the charging current.
Let me know what you all think....
RT
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