Charging Weirdness

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Originally Posted by Milton477

I drove for 45 min with no charging except on overrun & then it shot up to 200 A.

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Hi folks and I am following this thread with interest.

But can someone confirm the size of the alternator in later models of the D4?

To my knowledge they were 180 amp, but this may have changed in the later models.

Also note, unless you fit a dedicated monitoring system, all the tools above only monitor currents associated with the cranking battery itself and can not "see" what is happening to auxiliary and/or house batteries.

Still 180a Tim...

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Originally Posted by Milton477

The amperage the alternator is pushing can't be right. It needs almost 60 A just to keep the systems running so the 26 from the alternator + the 13 battery doesn't make anywhere near 50+.

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My experience is the requires 35 - 40 amps which makes the total current (26 + 13) in the ball park. Might depend on what accessories are fitted. My entertainment system is the base so there would not be large amplifier pulling current.

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Originally Posted by Milton477

When we stopped in Moranbah after travelling 900 km in 2 days from Brisbane, my vehicle battery was at 100% At the end of day 1 of the trip it was at 85%. Maybe it charges to 100% only on even numbered days of the month, who knows.

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And yes, I have seen the previous battery (when new) achieve 100% SOC charging via the alternator only.

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Originally Posted by LRD414

Above approx 80% SoC the BMS really minimises the current running to the battery but there is always a trickle of positive current to the battery (0.5 - 1.0A).

Below approx 60% SoC the BMS raises the current running to the battery, anywhere between 10-20A is normal, then it ramps down as the SoC rises.

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This is how things were behaving with me until several days ago, there was always a positive trickle though the voltage was often very high (14.9v) because the battery was cactus and would not accept charge to any degree. Might kick up to 10 amps just after starting but would fall back to ~1-2 amps within a few minutes after starting even when the SOC was relatively low.

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Originally Posted by LRD414

I think BMS behaviour may be different with the Traxide dual battery setup but can't confirm that as I've never run live values without the aux battery.

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Interesting comment because the charging behaviours as I drove away after having the battery replaced was normal. The different behaviour was only noticed after reconnecting the Traxide USI 160. Though I don't understand how that could influence things. I would imagine with 2 batteries connected in parallel it would look like a single high capacity battery to the BMS.

Like I said I'm heading O/S so think will just monitor when I get back. The strange behaviour may be the result of the battery reset - may need some time to 're-learn' whatever after the reset.

Is your aux battery's negative connected to a body earth point or to the primary's negative?

It is possible that the battery monitor got fried when charging the new battery from a 240v charger.

Check that the battery cable fittings are properly fitted, ie not sitting too high on the post and run out of clamping force.

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Originally Posted by Graeme

Is your aux battery's negative connected to a body earth point or to the primary's negative?

It is possible that the battery monitor got fried when charging the new battery from a 240v charger.

Check that the battery cable fittings are properly fitted, ie not sitting too high on the post and run out of clamping force.

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Aux is connected to body earth as per Traxide installation instructions.

All battery cables and fittings are good,

Now, the possibility the battery monitor has been fried - any means of checking this?

I ask because while the battery was on the 240v charger, Western Power kindly disconnected the mains power to the street. So there has been a 240v electrical anomaly, immediately after which I first start to notice the vehicle charging funnies.

Having said that I charge the main battery by connecting through the aux battery so I would think the aux battery would act as 'filter' before the battery monitor plus there is all the Traxide electronics in line also.

What difference a day makes.

I think all this strange business is the effect of the battery reset function. Have a feeling the BMS may testing the limits of the batteries performance or as Tombie said - cycling it.

Don't have time to test this theory at the moment but if anybody else wants to do a battery reset and observe what happens, go for it.

Today's drive - normal functioning.

Hi again Ferret, can you display the GRAPH version of the info.

Realtime readings don't tell enough of the story, but a graph can show what has been happening prior to your latest reading and may show the reason why you have that specific reading.

Unfortunately I don't. But its interesting so will try to reproduce the behaviour on getting home towards end of July by doing a battery reset. If I can i will get some graphs.

Makes sense in all honesty. It has no idea what you’ve installed into the vehicle, so after a reset it will be determining its capacity through allowing it to discharge. It likely also tests its absorption capability as well. It’ll also determine its health through all this. From there it understands what it’s working with ongoing and how to effectively manage its capacity.

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Originally Posted by DiscoJeffster

Makes sense in all honesty. It has no idea what you’ve installed into the vehicle, so after a reset it will be determining its capacity through allowing it to discharge. It likely also tests its absorption capability as well. It’ll also determine its health through all this. From there it understands what it’s working with ongoing and how to effectively manage its capacity.

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So should one do a reset when installing a dual battery system then?