Help on a 24VDC Battery Charging system

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MrJLH

Senior Member
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CO
I need some help on a 24VDC battery charging system. The battery chargers are long obsolete and even the vendor doesn't have documentation on them.

What is happening is the DC output voltmeter indicates about 28VDC output but the ammeter reads 0.

Any idea what could be going on?

Unfortunately I cant take the system down.

Thanks
 
The open-circuit voltage sounds normal, zero current indicates an open circuit.

There's a gap in the circuit somewhere, perhaps a fuse or connector contact.
 
If your batteries are too low in voltage, many chargers will sense that, and not turn on. Check the batteries voltages first. Sometimes you can apply an external charger to each battery individually, and get it's voltage up to a point that will activate the bank charger. Batteries may be too sulfated to to hold enough charge to maintain the minimum require voltage.
 
MTW said:
If your batteries are too low in voltage, many chargers will sense that, and not turn on. Check the batteries voltages first. Sometimes you can apply an external charger to each battery individually, and get it's voltage up to a point that will activate the bank charger. Batteries may be too sulfated to to hold enough charge to maintain the minimum require voltage.
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If they don’t turn on, how can he be measuring 28 volts output?
 
The ammeter could be faulty.
If the ammeter uses an external shunt resistor, the wiring between shunt & meter could be open.

Maybe the batteries are old or dried up and not drawing any current.

It could also be operating normally. Maybe the batteries are fully charged, the voltmeter calibration is slightly off and the actual voltage is maybe 25 or 26 volts, and the float current is sufficiently close to zero that it doesn't show up on the ammeter.

What are the actual voltage & current at the battery terminals?
 
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