CTEK D250SA Issue

[bailezzz]

Hey all. I recently bought a brand new 120aH AGM battery for my second battery in my car. I charged it up to 100% on a battery charger in my house and then put it straight into my car and connected it to my CTEK D250SA. On startup of the car the ctek began charging my battery at 14.7V and a current varying between 0.60-1.2A (Absorption stage). It charged like this for 2 hours before I turned the car off and gave up. If my battery was already at 100% why isn’t my ctek charging it at the float stage of 13.5V? I feel as if it may be overcharging it considering it was already at 100%. Is this normal. Any insight is appreciated

 

[Sim60]

What battery charger did you use in your house? Does it have a dedicated multistage AGM charging mode?

You says current between 0.6 and 1.2A is this decreasing? Ie it’s gone from 1.2 to 0.6 - this would be normal in absorption mode.
Do you have any load on the leisure battery?

Simon

 

[Dellmassive]

What he said....

What charger was you using and how long was it connected?

It could take 24hrs or more to fully top up.

Leave it connected and use like normal, the CTEK will do its thing and full charge the battery eventually.

As for the shunt..... It will re calibrate itself.... It will just show 100% as the battery continues to take a charge,.. that's normal.

 

[Dellmassive]

14.7v is fine for an AGM battery....

And 0.6A would imply its almost full..

The CTEK d250 will be going through its smart charger program..... Eventually it will drop to 13.5ish....

But depending on the AGM, it might rest higher than that, like 13.6 or 13.8v..... so you might not notice the charger going into float stage before going back into bulk stage.

 

[Dellmassive]

Looks like a nice setup... Post some pics of your setup, charger and battery's etc.

 

[bailezzz]

What battery charger did you use in your house? Does it have a dedicated multistage AGM charging mode?

You says current between 0.6 and 1.2A is this decreasing? Ie it’s gone from 1.2 to 0.6 - this would be normal in absorption mode.
Do you have any load on the leisure battery?

Simon

I used a 9 stage kickass battery charger in my house so no issues there.
Nah the current was fluctuating up and down between those figures.
Had no load at the time of charging.
Thanks for the reply

 

[Dellmassive]

I love the KickAss stuff and Redarc....

If I was in Auz that's what I'd be using too.

It's not really available in the UK, though there are Redarc dealers here....

I have a Redarc bcdc1240 & bcdc1250d myself.

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[bailezzz]

Looks like a nice setup... Post some pics of your setup, charger and battery's etc.

Got my battery underneath the carpet

 

[bailezzz]

I wou

14.7v is fine for an AGM battery....

And 0.6A would imply its almost full..

The CTEK d250 will be going through its smart charger program..... Eventually it will drop to 13.5ish....

But depending on the AGM, it might rest higher than that, like 13.6 or 13.8v..... so you might not notice the charger going into float stage before going back into bulk stage

I usually wouldn’t be to worried but the fact it was 100% from my house charger 10 minutes before hand has me worried as to why it was still charging at the absorption stage.

 

[Dellmassive]

Every Auz install needs an Anderson plug or two....

I love them and use them everywhere... On the Power side.

I use MC4 for solar side.

 

[bailezzz]

Every Auz install needs an Anderson plug or two....

I love them and use them everywhere... On the Power side.

I use MC4 for solar side.

Anderson plugs are for my fridges, does the job nicely

 

[Dellmassive]

I wou

I usually wouldn’t be to worried but the fact it was 100% from my house charger 10 minutes before hand has me worried as to why it was still charging at the absorption stage.

Different charger, different profile.

The CTEK might need to go through its stages for a time.....

I have a CTEK MXS charger next to me now.... It has charge status LEDs on it show the stages... The d250 doesn't.

But it's a good charger, give your charger more time....

 

[Dellmassive]

Fwiw....

Have a quick look at my d250 testing.....

[Guide] DC-DC Charger (for leisure battery) -- How I Done It --

Thanks Lee. Or should I say Mr. Renogy! Been looking at your threads so will work out how to do it all now. Thanks bud.

www.t6forum.com

.

 

[bailezzz]

Fwiw....

Have a quick look at my d250 testing.....

[Guide] DC-DC Charger (for leisure battery) -- How I Done It --

Thanks Lee. Or should I say Mr. Renogy! Been looking at your threads so will work out how to do it all now. Thanks bud.

www.t6forum.com

.

I’ve just purchased the Victron Bluetooth battery monitor, looks the same as your app, hopefully goes well

 

[Jerry2111]

Can I use the Victron mppt 100/30 and connect to the ctek d250se on solar input so that the ctek charges my starter battery and leisure battery?
my solar200w has to large output 27v

 

[Dellmassive]

Can I use the Victron mppt 100/30 and connect to the ctek d250se on solar input so that the ctek charges my starter battery and leisure battery?
my solar200w has to large output 27v

No, your not supposed do that....

Though technicaly provided the Victron output was bellow 23v it could work.... But the Victron is smart and detects the battery voltage at intervals.... Which it won't see when delivering power to the CTEK.

 

[Dellmassive]

You could connect the Victron to the LB.

Then charge the starter via other means...

See below.

 

[Dellmassive]

Or connect the Victron to the starter ..... And let the CTEK charge the LB.

Via the Auto VSR method.


If you have lowish loads this works ok.

If you have higher loads is best to directly charge the LB with the solar.

[Guide] DC-DC Charger (for leisure battery) -- How I Done It --

@Farnorthsurfer did you set the Dc-dc to lithium mode for the TN100 battery? Also have you got any more BM2 views showing more days? Yes the unit is set to Lithium profile. Easy enough to do when it was powered up. Yesterday was a flat line all day as it just sat on the drive. Back to work...

www.t6forum.com

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[Dellmassive]

Myself and others have gone for the AMT12 option from Abelmail. ( A small smart box of tricks that back charges the starter from the solar charged LB)

[Guide] Battery Maintainer (for Starter battery) -- How I Done It --

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[Rosco1200]

I’m looking for some help please with my T6 campervan CTEK D250SA battery to battery charger, I have just fitted a new 12v 110A AGM leisure battery as the old one wouldn’t hold charge above 8.5v, I have a 150w solar panel connected to one input to the CTEK and the starter battery connected to the other, everything seems to be operating ok but I’m worried that when I monitor the output to the AGM battery I’ve seen it go as high as 15v before switching over to trickle charge the starter battery. I was under the impression that the CTEK maximum voltage should be 14.7v in AGM mode, does anyone know if this could be indicating a faulty CTEK output, possibly damaged by the old AGM dead battery or does this sound ok? The CTEK seems to start charging the leisure battery from the solar panel around 12.96v gradually ramping up to 15v before switching to trickle charge the starter battery. Any help or advice would be much appreciated.