MK 330 PCL odd LED pattern with Lithium batteries

[donmac]

I have a brand new Minn Kota 'lithium optimized' charger that came with a brand new boat. Installed 2 new 100ah Lithiums yesterday and it charged them up to 100% according to the charger and verified with battery bluetooth app. Trolling motor works.

Batteries are still at 100%, but when I plug charger back in today, the charger goes into an LED pattern that is not in the manual or online. MK support suggested they may be in sleep mode, but they are charged 100% and the motor works, so that does not make sense to me. Waiting for them to respond to that.

The LED pattern is each Lithium bank between going red light for a few seconds, then top green lights flashing for a few seconds, then repeating....

Anyone seen anything like this?

-donmac

[bobcoy]

If the batteries are shutdown ( as the help desk said) they will do that if too high a voltage was applied. That could happen if they were setup as Lead acid batteries. I would check to see if they were setup as Lithium or Lead acid first. Page 17 in the manual explains how to do that properly. The following link will take you to that manual.
LINK: https://johnsonoutdoors.widen.net/co...-2367135ra.pdf

[donmac]

Thanks, but they were setup and charged in Lithium mode.

[CatFan]

Drain some power out of one with a 12V light or something that clamps to the terminals, then plug the charger in and see what the lights do.

[donmac]

Yep, already started that test. ;) I disconnected the 24v jumper and put a 10amp draw on one of the batteries. In about hour it should be at 90%. I'm hoping that the charger will recognize the need for a charge and work...

[donmac]

After I drained 10 amps from one of the batteries I reconnected the charger and it charged as it should. So, I unplugged the charger, and put a 10 amp draw on the other battery for an hour as well. I then connected it all back up and charged it over night. This morning both lithium batteries are solid green and the SLA cranking battery is flashing green as expected.

Once the cranking battery reaches long term float, I'll unplug the charger for a bit, plug it back in (with all batteries at 100%), and suspect I'll see the same undocumented LED pattern - but as long as the charger charges the batteries when needed, and turns off appropriately, all is good.

I believe the reason for this LED code is that the lithium batteries' CMOS/Charge Disconnect kicked in (confirmed via bluetooth) when the batteries reached full charged. I suspect the MK 330PCL is responding to this with what the MK tech called 'not a normal error code'. When I am done with my testing I'll report my findings to MK support.

[bobcoy]

What battery are you using? Could have something to do with a particular BMS parameter that is messing with the charger logic. Bob

[CatFan]

After I drained 10 amps from one of the batteries I reconnected the charger and it charged as it should. So, I unplugged the charger, and put a 10 amp draw on the other battery for an hour as well. I then connected it all back up and charged it over night. This morning both lithium batteries are solid green and the SLA cranking battery is flashing green as expected.

Once the cranking battery reaches long term float, I'll unplug the charger for a bit, plug it back in (with all batteries at 100%), and suspect I'll see the same undocumented LED pattern - but as long as the charger charges the batteries when needed, and turns off appropriately, all is good.

I believe the reason for this LED code is that the lithium batteries' CMOS/Charge Disconnect kicked in (confirmed via bluetooth) when the batteries reached full charged. I suspect the MK 330PCL is responding to this with what the MK tech called 'not a normal error code'. When I am done with my testing I'll report my findings to MK support.

That’s what I guessed was going on as well when I suggested applying the load. You were way ahead of me.

[donmac]

As expected, once all the batteries were charged back up and solid green, when I unplugged and then plugged in the charger back in, the original alternating red/blinking returned - but that's OK. It'd be nice if the MK330PCL could recognize this state (common to Lithium batteries), but I can live with that. The batteries are being charged.

What battery are you using? Could have something to do with a particular BMS parameter that is messing with the charger logic. Bob

MK says they support Lithium, but to check with the battery manufacturers for specifics, so I did. Most said that the MK's Lithium charging profile was not recommended for their batteries.

I have 2 200ah Kiliovault heated lithiums in my truck camper (with solar etc) that have worked out very well. I would have went with Kilovault again but they, along with Renogy, and a couple others, did not recommend the MK charger.

After a few weeks of research, I wound up with 2 100ah Powerurus smart batteries with low temp protection. They are one of the few Lithiums I found with published charging parameters that can be as low as 14.2 - which is what the MK330PCL provides. They were highly rated by Will Prowse (google him to learn more about Lithium batteries than you'll ever need to know) and relatively inexpensive ($400) for smart 100ah lithiums with low temp protection that actually works. And the build quality and BMS is apparently much better than most of the less expensive batteries (at least for the moment).

Anyway, thanks everyone for the suggestions.

[bobcoy]

Familiar with the videos. My BMS reference was not about the hardware as much as the parameters programmed in that might not play well with the Chargers profiles.(whatever brand) If batteries have specific chargers they usually favor them.

[stormsearch]

Have not seen that with my lithiums and 220 PCL in LIthium mode.

What is your charging voltage at beginning vs. end of test. I am not thrilled with my PCL either. I've depleted the batteries twice down to 70% after use and re-charged. Initial charge voltage is only around 13.6v and ends up at 14.2v. Verified via blue tooth and with a DVM. After second use/re-charge, now have one battery at 4% lower SOC. I used them again down to 80/76% and storing them over winter. I plan to switch the PCL to AGM mode and see what voltage is being applied in a few weeks. If it is that low, calling MK.