question

cverhoofstad avatar image
cverhoofstad asked

Battery charge greater than shore power breaker?

Let me first provide our setup:

  • Phoenix charger 12/50
  • Phoenix inverter
  • Phoenix control panel
  • 2 x12V 220ah AGM blue energy batteries
  • 2 x 12V Exide batteries (I think there are start only batteries)

If I understand correctly, we have 16 amp shore power. But when I connect our boat to the shore power I can read on the Phoenix control panel the battery charge is often time >30A. I am very confused how this is possible and why the shore based 16 amp breaker is not tripping?

I notice when I turn down the charge control on the control panel to 30 ish % the display shows a charge of 12 A.

My question really is… how should I read the battery charge amperage on the control panel and relate it to the shore power? and what is the recommended setting of the charge current % given the shore power available?

Lets say that the boat uses about 5 amps when docked and not used (inverter on, fridge on, security camera on, MiFi router on).

Thanks!



battery chargingchargercharge current limit
img-6940.jpg (463.9 KiB)
2 |3000

Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

3 Answers
nickdb avatar image
nickdb answered ·

Power = V x A.

So 1000W at 230V is 4.3A

1000W at 12V is 83A.


2 comments
2 |3000

Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

cverhoofstad avatar image cverhoofstad commented ·
So basically if I have 16 amps of shore power at 230, I have 16 * 230 = 3680. On the 12V side this would translate to 3680 / 12 = 306 amps.
0 Likes 0 ·
nickdb avatar image nickdb ♦♦ cverhoofstad commented ·
Just remember inverters aren’t 100% efficient.

You will lose some power converting from ac/dc or from dc/ac.

Apart from that all the usual formulas apply.

0 Likes 0 ·
cverhoofstad avatar image
cverhoofstad answered ·

Some additional pictures: one with the dialed down charge current and one with the shore breaker of 16a. Note you see 10 breakers but that’s because there are 10 shore connections.

img-6941.jpg



img-6942.jpg (527.2 KiB)
2 |3000

Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

harold avatar image
harold answered ·

Your shore breaker is on your 230V input side.
But your charge current is at the 12V side!

2 |3000

Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

Related Resources

VictronConnect VE.Bus charging manual  

Additional resources still need to be added for this topic

Chargers.

Additional resources still need to be added for this topic