Forum Discussion

Fisherguy's avatar
Fisherguy
Explorer
Oct 12, 2020

PD charge wizard not working

Since I put the solar panels ontop of the trailer I haven't used the PD 9280 I put in a few years ago. When I parked the trailer a while ago in the RV Port I plugged in the trailer my trimetric showed the converter was not putting out many amps, then I noticed the LED on the wizard wasn't lit up and pushing the button didn't do anything either.

It's stilll plugged in, I removed the jack and plugged it in again and still can't get the converter into bulk mode.
So my question is do you think the issue is the wizard or would something be wrong with the PD9280?
Thx
  • time2roll's avatar
    time2roll
    Nomad
    Oct 12, 2020
    What is the battery voltage?

    Consider disconnecting the panels and check the PD operation next day. With the wizard light out I suspect an open power circuit to the battery or 12v system. Possibly the wizard communication cable was disconnected.
  • Fisherguy's avatar
    Fisherguy
    Explorer
    Oct 12, 2020
    Batteries were at 66%.
    It was charging the batteries but not in bulk mode, and like I said I disconnected and reconnected the wizard phone jack.

    The LED of the Wizard should normally be on when the PD is on.
  • wnjj's avatar
    wnjj
    Explorer II
    Oct 12, 2020
    Technically the Wizard is built in to the PD unit. The thing with the LED and button is an optional remote pennant. If the LED isn’t lit and the unit doesn’t seem to produce any current something is probably wrong with the PD itself. It could be as simple as a blown fuse.

    You can also try disconnecting the pennant and see if there is any charging current in case the pennant has failed and is confusing the main unit.
  • BFL13's avatar
    BFL13
    Explorer II
    Oct 12, 2020
    Way back, the graphs the OP produced indicated the unit went into Boost by itself because the batts were low enough. The unit dropped to Float after about 3 hours.

    If the CW had been used to initiate Boost, AFAIK it should have stayed at that for a full 4 hours, then drop to Float.

    In this case, it would be worth running the batts down to under 50% SOC, and then connect the PD9280 to see if it still would go into Boost by itself. If it did then a new pendant would be indicated.
  • Fisherguy's avatar
    Fisherguy
    Explorer
    Oct 13, 2020
    wnjj wrote:
    Technically the Wizard is built in to the PD unit. The thing with the LED and button is an optional remote pennant. If the LED isn’t lit and the unit doesn’t seem to produce any current something is probably wrong with the PD itself. It could be as simple as a blown fuse.

    You can also try disconnecting the pennant and see if there is any charging current in case the pennant has failed and is confusing the main unit.


    It is charging the batteries but not in bulk mode.


    BFL13 wrote:
    Way back, the graphs the OP produced indicated the unit went into Boost by itself because the batts were low enough. The unit dropped to Float after about 3 hours.

    If the CW had been used to initiate Boost, AFAIK it should have stayed at that for a full 4 hours, then drop to Float.

    In this case, it would be worth running the batts down to under 50% SOC, and then connect the PD9280 to see if it still would go into Boost by itself. If it did then a new pendant would be indicated.


    Thanks Barry, that's a good idea and is what I'm gonna try next.

    I *DO* remember it didn't put out the max 80 amps very long but it charged a lot faster than the WFCO the trailer came with.
  • Fisherguy's avatar
    Fisherguy
    Explorer
    Oct 18, 2020
    BFL13 wrote:
    Way back, the graphs the OP produced indicated the unit went into Boost by itself because the batts were low enough. The unit dropped to Float after about 3 hours.

    If the CW had been used to initiate Boost, AFAIK it should have stayed at that for a full 4 hours, then drop to Float.

    In this case, it would be worth running the batts down to under 50% SOC, and then connect the PD9280 to see if it still would go into Boost by itself. If it did then a new pendant would be indicated.


    Barry, I took the batteries down to 44% and plugged in the trailer, got 77.5 amps on the Trimetric so it IS going into bulk mode, will order a new "Wizard" and hopefully that works.

    It's funny though, since I went to solar I got outa the habit of even looking at the wizard to see what was going on until now.
  • BFL13's avatar
    BFL13
    Explorer II
    Oct 18, 2020
    You need to see the voltage at the converter's terminals (not the battery's) as 14.x to know if it is in Boost. It is possible to get high amps at 13.x at first with a low battery.
  • Fisherguy's avatar
    Fisherguy
    Explorer
    Oct 18, 2020
    BFL13 wrote:
    You need to see the voltage at the converter's terminals (not the battery's) as 14.x to know if it is in Boost. It is possible to get high amps at 13.x at first with a low battery.


    I was seeing 13.9V on the trimetric which is pretty much the same as my old graph so I'm assuming it was in bulk mode.

    (I don't see the photobucket in the link you posted here, I've added a "Photobucket Hotlink Fix" to my Chrome browser.

    I stopped using photbucket when they started charging extra for anything over 250 images, I had 2000 or something. Logged in today for the first time in years, they're still trying to get money. Too bad, I did a lotta threads on the diesel forums and a few on here where the images don't show up.

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