With the current version of my XS50 charging booster, it is now possible to emergency-charge the starter battery. The engine must not be running for this. That much is clear.
I’m now using the charging booster as a workaround to charge an AGM battery (not the starter battery) from a lithium battery. So I wanted to try reverse charging and enabled the booster and alternator detection. The system is now telling me that emergency charging can’t take place because the booster isn’t enabled. I don’t understand that.
Any ideas?
Many thanks and best regards,
Michael
PS: I tried emergency charging remotely via the VictronApp.
I don’t know what conditions have to be met for this emergency charging function to be used, but according to this post, if it does run, it only runs for 15 minutes anyway…?!
In my opinion, they could have left it out…
So far, I’ve managed to activate emergency charging once, but I can’t reproduce it. It must be related to the engine signal detection. Since I haven’t connected the device to an engine, the signal always shows “Engine running”. I have to deactivate this first and then activate the booster. But it hasn’t worked again, despite repeated attempts. I assume a delay has been programmed between “Engine signal” and “Activate booster”. I’ll keep trying from time to time.
According to your screenshot, the booster is currently charging the LiFePO. That normally only happens when the engine is running and the input voltage is high enough. The booster sees that too, so it naturally disables the emergency charging function.
Try setting the engine-running detection voltage higher, so that it’s above the AGM voltage. Otherwise, the booster will always assume the engine is running.
Oh, damn, I had the batteries the wrong way round. Of course, the AGM is the “starter battery” and is charging the LiFePO, because its (too high) voltage triggers the engine-on detection. I’ve corrected it above.
Unfortunately, emergency charging still won’t start. Please see the attached screenshots. The engine does need to be switched off for emergency charging to begin, doesn’t it? I’m still at a loss.
and just now it worked. I think it must have something to do with the 120-second delay that’s set by default, so that the starter battery isn’t loaded straight away when the engine starts. This parameter also seems to apply to emergency charging, which makes no sense.
Perhaps you should set your input and output currents a little higher so it can charge at the maximum charging current. This is always governed by whichever of the two set currents is lower.
