FaRon charger issue

[Joehaugh]

Hello,
Seem to have a problem with my leisure charging system. When I plug it in to mains it will sit at around 14 Odd volts quite happily then will suddenly climb up to 15.1v and the centre console display will start flashing. I’ve seen this issue happening to people on this forum before. It’s got Gell batteries and the centre console has the correct settings. When I got access to the charger I found that the original charger has already been replaced by a FaRon unit, this was most unexpected as I was expecting to find the original charger sitting there! Anybody out there had this issue with FaRon chargers? I’m in the process of contacting them to see if they can offer any help but thought it might be worth giving a shout on here too.
Thanks
Joe

 

[Joehaugh]

Just to confirm it’s a Fraron charger!

 

[mrcheesbrough]

How many of those batteries do you have fitted?


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[Joehaugh]

How many of those batteries do you have fitted?


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Two battery’s fitted.

 

[mrcheesbrough]

Two battery’s fitted.

Identical I take it? They’re quite low capacity for the job - VW fitted x2 80Ah or 85Ah. Not sure this would effect the charging though. You say the Central Control unit switches are set correctly - again for two batteries? What age of Westy do you have?


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[Joehaugh]

Identical I take it? They’re quite low capacity for the job - VW fitted x2 80Ah or 85Ah. Not sure this would effect the charging though. You say the Central Control unit switches are set correctly - again for two batteries? What age of Westy do you have?


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Yes two identical. I did think the Ah was a bit low but wouldn’t imagine that would effect the charger???!
It’s a 94 Westie

 

[mrcheesbrough]

Yes two identical. I did think the Ah was a bit low but wouldn’t imagine that would effect the charger???!
It’s a 94 Westie

Do you know which charger is fitted? There are two, one claims to be Westfalia specific.


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[Joehaugh]

It’s a BLG20M12V

 

[WelshGas]

It’s a BLG20M12V

The Charger for the Westfalia conversions is BLG20M12V_S. The Product Code is different the _S denotes the Westfalia charger.

Could be the cause, an interaction between your charger and the Control Panel.

 

[Joehaugh]

ok That’s interesting. If it’s just the readout in the control panel I can live with. I’ll see what my volt meter reads if I can get it to “over charge” again.
It’s sat all day with the fridge off at 13.6v. Just turned on the fridge, see what effect that has.

 

[Joehaugh]

ok That’s interesting. If it’s just the readout in the control panel I can live with. I’ll see what my volt meter reads if I can get it to “over charge” again.
It’s sat all day with the fridge off at 13.6v. Just turned on the fridge, see what effect that has.

Thanks for your feed back today everybody

 

[ArcticMatt]

The Charger for the Westfalia conversions is BLG20M12V_S. The Product Code is different the _S denotes the Westfalia charger.

Could be the cause, an interaction between your charger and the Control Panel.

The case might be the same for both. Mine doesnt have the "_S" on the case but it is the westfalia compatible version. Does yours have the little blue wire on the other side of the charger connected to a 6-pin plug (to the control unit)?

IMG_20171219_132527 by Matt Wilde, on Flickr

 

[ArcticMatt]

Hello,
Seem to have a problem with my leisure charging system. When I plug it in to mains it will sit at around 14 Odd volts quite happily then will suddenly climb up to 15.1v and the centre console display will start flashing. I’ve seen this issue happening to people on this forum before. It’s got Gell batteries and the centre console has the correct settings. When I got access to the charger I found that the original charger has already been replaced by a FaRon unit, this was most unexpected as I was expecting to find the original charger sitting there! Anybody out there had this issue with FaRon chargers? I’m in the process of contacting them to see if they can offer any help but thought it might be worth giving a shout on here too.
Thanks
Joe

View attachment 44691

View attachment 44692

View attachment 44693

Is that top switch just hidden by the fuse holder set to "Battery Charger" and not supply

 

[Joehaugh]

The case might be the same for both. Mine doesnt have the "_S" on the case but it is the westfalia compatible version. Does yours have the little blue wire on the other side of the charger connected to a 6-pin plug (to the control unit)?

IMG_20171219_132527 by Matt Wilde, on Flickr

Hi, yes it does have the blue wire going in to the multi plug.
Regards
Joe

 

[Joehaugh]

Is that top switch just hidden by the fuse holder set to "Battery Charger" and not supply

It’s set to battery charger..

 

[Joehaugh]

Images attached

 

[ArcticMatt]

Seems legit. Hopefully it's not the westy controller that's the issue. Your voltmeter readings were ok you said? Does it happen every time the charger is on?

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[Joehaugh]

Seems legit. Hopefully it's not the westy controller that's the issue. Your voltmeter readings were ok you said? Does it happen every time the charger is on?

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Yes the Westie controller and my volt meter give the same reading. I does not happen every time, some times it’s fine for a day

 

[ArcticMatt]

Yes the Westie controller and my volt meter give the same reading. I does not happen every time, some times it’s fine for a day

Maybe email FraRon and see if they can help perhaps?

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[ArcticMatt]

Seems like a similar issue here

Fraron engine battery charging...

Decided to hook up the engine battery to the second port on the Fraron. But if I plug in the hook up and look at the voltage of the engine battery that's now charging, it's climbing. It got to 15.8 before I chickened out. Is that normal? The battery was brand new last year (truth be known it...

www.vwcaliforniaclub.com

 

[bxl_lad]

Seems like a similar issue here

Fraron engine battery charging...

Decided to hook up the engine battery to the second port on the Fraron. But if I plug in the hook up and look at the voltage of the engine battery that's now charging, it's climbing. It got to 15.8 before I chickened out. Is that normal? The battery was brand new last year (truth be known it...

www.vwcaliforniaclub.com

Just to clarify, my issue(s) in the above post, were not related to the leisure battery - that charges fine with the Fraron and the Westy display in the cab shows the correct voltage.

My problems started when i added the starter battery to the Fraron (so dual charging), and it seems more a problem with the person on the other end of the screwdriver than the charging unit...

Seems i was reading my multi-meter in AC and not DC for starters and I also connected the negative line to what I thought was the body but turned out to be the Shunt Resisitor (thanks ArcticMatt for showing me the light there!)

So with all the cables in the right place, all seems fine for me now...
But you might want to also check if whoever fitted your Fraron, didn't indeed make my schoolboy error and connected the negative connection back to the Shunt:


The negative on my setup connects directly to the leisure battery.

Hope this helps a little... Good luck - Otherwise I did also contact Fraron and they replied in English, promptly and with clear pointers as to what to try, so don't hesitate to reach out to them...