MarkNiwot
New Member
My Schneider XW6848 has started to fail to charge the batteries other than at VERY low (and perhaps dropping) charge rate/current. It t has been in place for over a year, all seasons, with no configuration or hardware changes - until the last few days of debug.
Generator (8kW Generac) output, frequency, voltage all look fine. (I don't have a scope on it, but my older Trace inverter works as always from the same source.)
I've watched the sequence dozens of times by now, at different states of charge. It sees AC input when I start the generator, does AC qualification, then flags it as OK, and switches to Bulk mode. The main display goes briefly to '----' and the charge relay picks, after which the generator starts to load up, and the display ramps up the charge current - until it drops the relay. No indication of why on anything I can see (we are VERY 'off-grid; there is no web GUI connection.) Then the cycle repeats.
If I drop the max charge rate low enough (now down to abut 10%, of 400 Ah; house load varies, but is less than 1 kW most of the time I've done the testing) I can keep it on-line and charging - very slowly. Any attempt to ramp it up above that level, 1% at a time, will trip the failure.Initially, I suspected a software issue, but I am beginning to think a hardware failure occurred.
The primary indication I have there is the main display battery 'SOC' indicator - which never shows below 3/4 - even when I see the individual LiFePO4 battery displays show levels below 50% (and much lower than I want to normally allow.)
Is it likely (since I don't know the software internals) that the charger is trying to avoid charging batteries that it mistakenly thinks don't need it? (There is no external shunt, battery voltages on the displays are all consistent, and track the apparently correct SOC.)
Any ideas appreciated. I'm not anxious to pull that thing down. (But I can pull the cables and do some probing, if appropriate.)
Generator (8kW Generac) output, frequency, voltage all look fine. (I don't have a scope on it, but my older Trace inverter works as always from the same source.)
I've watched the sequence dozens of times by now, at different states of charge. It sees AC input when I start the generator, does AC qualification, then flags it as OK, and switches to Bulk mode. The main display goes briefly to '----' and the charge relay picks, after which the generator starts to load up, and the display ramps up the charge current - until it drops the relay. No indication of why on anything I can see (we are VERY 'off-grid; there is no web GUI connection.) Then the cycle repeats.
If I drop the max charge rate low enough (now down to abut 10%, of 400 Ah; house load varies, but is less than 1 kW most of the time I've done the testing) I can keep it on-line and charging - very slowly. Any attempt to ramp it up above that level, 1% at a time, will trip the failure.Initially, I suspected a software issue, but I am beginning to think a hardware failure occurred.
The primary indication I have there is the main display battery 'SOC' indicator - which never shows below 3/4 - even when I see the individual LiFePO4 battery displays show levels below 50% (and much lower than I want to normally allow.)
Is it likely (since I don't know the software internals) that the charger is trying to avoid charging batteries that it mistakenly thinks don't need it? (There is no external shunt, battery voltages on the displays are all consistent, and track the apparently correct SOC.)
Any ideas appreciated. I'm not anxious to pull that thing down. (But I can pull the cables and do some probing, if appropriate.)