Problem with Blue Smart Charger IP65 12/15

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szpieg asked Dec 8, '20

Problem with Blue Smart Charger IP65 12/15

Good morning

Recently, I have become the owner of a charger as in the title of the post. When I first connected to the charger with VictronConnect, I received a notification from the application about the available firmware update to version 3.21. The previous firmware version is 1. ?? (I don't remember the ending). After the update, I tried to charge a few different batteries and each time the Bulk and Absorb cycle times are very short and ... always exactly the same. The time of the bulk mode is either ... 4s or 3m ??? depending on the choice of the charging mode - normal (14.4V) or high (14.7V). On the other hand, the ABS cycle time is always 30 minutes, and Recond 60minutes ... In this state, the charger cannot effectively charge the batteries. My guess is that the reason could be a bug in the new firmware or during its installation. In addition, in the attachment I present the history of the cycles from the charger. I am asking for help on how to force the installation of the firmware again or go back to its previous version. Thanks for the hints

sorry i don't know english so i use a well-known translator

charger

chargercyclehistory.png (19.6 KiB)

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Alexandra ♦ commented · Dec 09, 2020 at 04:42 PM

@Szpieg

I do want to stress that you need to know your particular battery manufacturer recommendation for charging. So check that before modifying the charge settings. You can damage your battery irreversibly.

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Modifications Space

Node Red Space

Answer 1 · 2020-12-09T16:33:05Z

Alexandra answered · Dec 09, 2020 at 04:33 PM

@Szpieg

You may need to go to the advanced setting s and set the voltages for you specific battery.

Go to the gear in the top right of the screen in victron connect

Check on your battery for the correct charge and float voltages then activate the advanced setting. Use them to customize your charging.

You can then activate user defined and expert mode and make it do exactly what you want

screenshot-20201209-183015.jpg (251.7 KiB)

screenshot-20201209-182454.jpg (44.7 KiB)

screenshot-20201209-182731.jpg (168.6 KiB)

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Answer 2 · 2020-12-09T16:57:34Z

szpieg answered · Dec 09, 2020 at 04:57 PM

Hello Alexandra

The charger has exactly the same voltage set as on the screenshots you post. I also tried several times to return to the factory settings and work in User definied mode ... each time the result is the same, regardless of the different batteries connected. The Bulk cycle lasts 3 seconds for 14.4V (normal) and 3 minutes for 14.7V (high). The ABS cycle is always 30 minutes and RECOND 60 minutes. It looks like a problem after updating the firmware (I got a hint from another user). Now I am wondering if I can force reinstall the firmware or downgrade it? I was thinking about installing an older version of the VC v1.20 application, which has the firmware for my charger version 3.12 (currently I have 3.21).

Thank you for the hint and best regards.

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Answer 3 · 2020-12-09T17:19:08Z

Matthias Lange - DE answered · Dec 09, 2020 at 05:19 PM

If the charger jumps to the absorption voltage in a few seconds the is in most cases a bad or no connection to the battery.
Do you have a multi-meter to measure the voltage at the connections of the charger without a battery connected?

If there is no voltage the charger is defective and you should contact your dealer.

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szpieg commented · Dec 09, 2020 at 06:00 PM

Hello Matthias

Yes, the charger has voltage on its terminals, it causes the charging current to flow. This can be seen in the loading history I posted in the first post. If the connection between the charger and the battery was bad, I would not get the current flow. I also measured the voltage with a multimeter and it corresponds to the voltage in the VC application. The transition from the Bulk cycle to the ABS cycle takes place exactly at the appropriate values of the set voltage, i.e. 14.4V or 14.7V. The problem is that the charger, regardless of the battery discharge level and the voltage on its terminals, switches the charging cycles as if after a certain fixed time. This is exactly the same when the battery is disconnected. That's why your hint is logical, I thought so myself ...

Thank you and best regards.

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Matthias Lange - DE ♦ szpieg commented · Dec 09, 2020 at 07:56 PM

Switching from bulk to absorption is based on voltage and current.

If the voltage reach 14.4V and the current is low it will quickly switches to absorption.

I still think the charger has a problem.

Can you try to connect a 12V load (like a 12V light bulb) directly to the charger?

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szpieg Matthias Lange - DE ♦ commented · Dec 14, 2020 at 07:45 PM

Hi Mathias

Sorry to write back only now, but I've been busy these last days.

I connected the charger directly to the 12V 20W bulb - the bulb turned on, the charger quickly reached a voltage of 14.4V, current of about 1.8A and switched to the absorption cycle.

I also connected a 12V 55W car bulb ... the bulb lit slightly for a moment, then the charger disconnected the power and displayed a short circuit message. Similarly, after switching to power supply mode.

I did one more test. I connected three AGM 12V 7.2Ah batteries in parallel (previously I tried to charge each separately) and additionally charged them with both bulbs. When the current was set to 4A, the charger worked in the Bulk cycle, with a voltage of 12.7V. After disconnecting the 12V 55W bulb, the charger quickly reached the voltage of 14.4V and the current of 2.7A and went into the absorption cycle. After reconnecting the 55W bulb, the current reached the 4A limit, the voltage dropped and the charger returned to Bulk mode ... it looks like the correct behavior, I don't know anymore ...

But why the batteries reach 14.4V so quickly and consume so little current ... I tried on four different ones ... I don't understand anything anymore ...

Regards and thank you

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nightliner szpieg commented · Dec 13, 2021 at 10:08 PM

Hi szpieg,

I also bought a Blue Smart Charger last week and had the same "problems". Do you have a solution found?

Best regards Nightliner

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Answer 4 · 2022-12-26T02:12:56Z

pentiddy answered · Dec 26, 2022 at 02:12 AM

Is there a solution yet?

I am interested to find this post as this is exactly what I am finding is happening with my charger (IP65 12/30).
It keeps stepping to Absorption mode way before the preset voltage.
I would love to know why this might be happening.

My charger is powered when needed from a generator with more than enough output to supply the charger- it hardly loads it even in the short time it outputs the full 30A. I am charging LiFePO4 batteries.

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Answer 5 · 2023-04-21T03:00:37Z

stefan2068 answered · Apr 21, 2023 at 03:00 AM

Mich würde auch interessieren, ob es eine Lösung gibt. Verschiedene Blue Smart IP65 Charger 12/10 und 12/15 schalten bei halbvollen Batterien (AGM und LifePo4, 100 und 200Ah) bereits weit unter Volladung (zwischen 12 und 13V) in den abs oder storage Modus. Bei verschiedenen Lademodi. Ein 12/5 Ladegerät funktioniert.

Es sieht stark nach einem Firmware-Problem aus. Leider gibt es keine Antwort vom Support, weder Händler noch Victron. Die Geräte sind leider nicht zu gebrauchen.

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Answer 6 · 2023-06-22T06:53:23Z

jogi71 answered · Jun 22, 2023 at 06:53 AM

I have the same problem with a BlueSmart IP22 24/16. The charger goes to early from Bulk to Absorb. At this time, the battery has only 27V. In the settings the absorb voltage for LifePo4 is 28,4V. A BlueSmart IP22 24/8 with the same settings works with no problems with the same battery.

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Answer 7 · 2023-10-21T02:45:47Z

thisisanewusername answered · Oct 21, 2023 at 02:45 AM

I have the same problem as described above. I am frustrated to see this that is a common problem going on for nearly three years!

For context, I've tried 3 different new LiFePo4 12v 100 AH batteries from 3 different manufactures. I am charging the batteries and doing discharge and capacity tests before putting them to use.

I've tried various states of charge, including after a full capacity test. I have only the charger connected to the battery using Victron battery charging cables using screw terminals (I've tried three of them). I've verified the current shown in the VictronConnect app with a clamp on meter, hall effect style shunt and in one case, a battery's bluetooth app. In all cases my Blue Smart IP65 12|15 won't charge faster than about an amp. Also, in all cases, my Blue Smart 12|5 and my cheap Chinese 12v 20amp charger work as expected, charging at 5 and 20 amps respectively, with zero issues on the same batteries.

Also, since I can use the same battery charging cable with the 12|15 and 12|5 chargers, I know it isn't a battery connection issue.

I've had the 12|15 for two or three years. It's been attached 24/7 to two 100 AH LiFePo4 batteries which I use to power my CPAP. Since the current draw on my CPAP is low, I have no way of knowing when the problem started. I know that when I first got the 12|15, it bulk charged my batteries at 15 amps. I suspect that I at some point, I updated the charger's firmware (now 3.21) to the version that as others have reported has this issue.

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Answer 8 · 2023-10-21T05:56:31Z

kevgermany answered · Oct 21, 2023 at 05:56 AM

@ThisIsANewUserName

You've posted in a few threads. Assuming that you've checked the steps outlined above, please get your dealer to resolve things under warranty.

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Answer 9 · 2023-10-30T13:19:17Z

uristier answered · Oct 30, 2023 at 01:19 PM

Hello all

Same issue here. We were looking for issues with the battery in the first place, after the symptom of "no more charging via shore power". Until now we have tested five different batteries with different charging stats as well as types (AGM, LiFePO): Victron charger directly jumps to Absorption charging and charges way below Abs-voltage with less than 1 A.

The real suspicious part of that is that three same charger types (Victron BlueSmart 12/15), built in three different cars with different batteries (types, sizes), showed the same behaviour within a short timespan (about 2-3 weeks)!

@Victron: It would be great to get some feedback from your side!

Regards

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