Ark Powerpack charger questions

[Keithy P38]

Hey all,

I've had my Ark Powerpack for a few years now, since my first aux battery was faulty, I have always been suss about the charger in the Powerpack. The first battery was my fault as I bought a cheapie just to suss out how it all works (which was replaced with a good quality battery). The other day I ran my ARB fridge off my aux battery for a few days just to use it, then put the Powerpack back on to charge and as a result my aux battery has now dropped a cell and won't take charge. The battery has been replaced under warranty luckily, but I'd hate to kill another battery if the charger is the issue.

Anyone got thoughts as to the quality of the charger in these things?

My first battery hemorrhaged a bit in the box (spilt battery fluid, not whilr on charge) and I'm wondering if this has had an effect on the charger?

I have an SC80 in the Range Rover that has no problems keeping the battery charged, so I'm not overly devastated if the charger is the problem, it is simply a handy option to be able to remove the battery when I'm not camping and chuck it on 240v to charge.

Cheers
Keithy

[drivesafe]

Hi Keithy and there have been a couple of versions of the Ark power packs so do you by any chance have the specs for the charger.

Also, with the charger connected to your battery, measure the voltage at the battery’s terminals and make sure the charger is not running at too high a voltage once the battery is near fully charged.

[Keithy P38]

Thanks mate!

I have the older version (the one you can't use the vehicle to charge with - hence the SC80)

From the top of my head I believe the charger in them is a 6 or 8 amp unit.

Before I took the battery in to the place of purchase I ran the multimeter over it. The battery was at 10.68v. I turned the charger on and the most I saw at the terminals was 11.21v. I then put my 12amp charger on and it got up to 12.1v and kept tripping and restarting. Overnight with the 12 amp charger on I didn't see any gain in voltage.

Hope this helps!

Cheers
Keithy

[Keithy P38]

A bit of an update on my situation!

I got the replacement battery under warranty. It had legitimately dropped a cell (why, I'm unsure). The new battery is in the Powerpack now and the charger is doing what it should.

The Ark Powerpack is a 6 stage charger, 1.5amp unit (not 6amp as I thought it was).

First it takes the battery to 12.5v, if it gets there ok it then takes it to 13.8v and holds it there for 5hrs.

Once the 5hrs are up it allows the battery to settle at 12.8v for 300hrs, then begins again. I watched it go through its stages with the multimeter, so I'm glad it is working!

Cheers
Keithy