Sterling BB1270 seems to have stopped working

[PaulW2]

I had a Sterling B2B and a lithium battery installed by Van Bitz last year together with the Battery Master, Growler and Metatrak etc.

The charger worked fine.

I've now been parked up for some months, only occasionally keeping things ticking over.

I had the vehicle serviced yesterday and also took it for an MOT. I've now discovered an unexpected thing.

The Sterling charger seems to have stopped charging the lithium which just remains on 'standby' on the app. I've now done maybe 120 miles in 2 days, and have ensured that the cab battery is fully charged. The lithium app tells me it's on 87% from when I last had it on hookup, but it just stays there and the Sterling never kicks into action.

I'm really not clued up on the electrical stuff, but is there an obvious answer for why this would have happened?

 

[Jo662]

I would contact AshVanBitz there after service is second to none

 

[stevewagner]

Check that the lithium has not gone into sleep mode and switched the charging off.

 

[Tombola]

Stick a voltmeter on the lithium battery terminals and check the reading with the engine running, it will be 13.4 + volts or more if b2b is working and will drop to 12v when switched off
remember of course as long as the battery has been drained somewhat and needs a charge

 

[AshVanBitz]

I had a Sterling B2B and a lithium battery installed by Van Bitz last year together with the Battery Master, Growler and Metatrak etc.

The charger worked fine.

I've now been parked up for some months, only occasionally keeping things ticking over.

I had the vehicle serviced yesterday and also took it for an MOT. I've now discovered an unexpected thing.

The Sterling charger seems to have stopped charging the lithium which just remains on 'standby' on the app. I've now done maybe 120 miles in 2 days, and have ensured that the cab battery is fully charged. The lithium app tells me it's on 87% from when I last had it on hookup, but it just stays there and the Sterling never kicks into action.

I'm really not clued up on the electrical stuff, but is there an obvious answer for why this would have happened?

Give me a call on Monday (01823 321992) and we can go through some tests. It will hopefully be something nice and simple and we can get you back up and running 100%
Ash

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[PaulW2]

Give me a call on Monday (01823 321992) and we can go through some tests. It will hopefully be something nice and simple and we can get you back up and running 100%
Ash

Cheers, thanks Ash, will do

 

[Pausim]

Check that the lithium has not gone into sleep mode and switched the charging off.

Most lithium batteries do not have a sleep mode. I would check the main fuse on the B2B connection to the engine battery.

 

[LithiumConvert]

Check out this topic

Dual MPPT charges, one battery bank

How does this work? AFAIC a battery charger senses the the voltage of the battery and supplies an appropriate charging current. If that's correct how does the second charger know what current to supply, if it's being 'fooled' by the voltage across the battery caused by the first charger ?

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

On our last van, I come to the conclusion the the higher voltage output by the solar panels was stopping the Sterling B2B from chargng the lithium batteries.

Since then (this van and the last), I have had switch in the wire from the solar panel to the MPPT charge controller.

The Steling B2B has been fine ever since.

 

[stevewagner]

Most lithium batteries do not have a sleep mode. I would check the main fuse on the B2B connection to the engine battery.

They do if the temperature drops below zero

 

[Pausim]

They do if the temperature drops below zero

I wouldn’t call that a sleep mode. My Lipo blocks the charging if it needs to but it continues to be active and live. It also allows the charging to resume as soon as the condition is back inside normal parameters.

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[bigtwin]

They do if the temperature drops below zero

I wouldn’t call that a sleep mode. My Lipo blocks the charging if it needs to but it continues to be active and live. It also allows the charging to resume as soon as the condition is back inside normal parameters.

Agreed, isolating the charge source doesn’t affect its ability to otherwise service any loads. It’s a normal operating function.

Ian