Link 10 Memory Blackout April 03, 2014, 11:15:23 pm Yahoo Message Number: 145600Hi All and Steve,I don't know how to send a message directly to someone so I'm putting this on the board for all to see and comment.Anyway, I spoke with Steve at Morro Bay about my weird problem.What happens is my Link 10 blanks out (literally blacks out) when I start my generator. When this happens the Link 10 loses all memory of the current battery condition. After the generator starts, the Link 10 shows the battery is in perfect condition because it's starting from scratch each time the generator starts. It's a low voltage disconnect problem.Steve said that I probably had a bad AGM battery and I was probably encountering a low voltage on generator start. I agreed with him because it did account for the problems that I've encountered.I had already done a simple verification the low voltage account by Steve. Earlier I had started the engine and ran it for a couple of minutes before starting the generator. If the batteries weren't drained from the night before, the Link 10 would work perfectly. But when the batteries were down, the engine couldn't overcome the prior drain and the Link 10 did its standard black out.Since Morro Bay, I've started my generator with a multi-meter connected to the battery group and I see the voltage do a flash drop to about 9+ volts and then instantly back up to normal. This looks like a verification of Steve's idea. The next generator start immediately after the first start shows a flash drop to 8+ volts and then back to normal.So I'm faced with a generator that is doing an excessive draw down on startup, or I have a bad battery in the group of 4. How do I test a generator on an excessive drawdown (other than going to Onan)Next I disconnected my solar input from the battery group and separated each battery from the group of 4 AGMs. I let them sit isolated for several days to see if there was a different voltage drop on any one battery. Didn't happen, every battery showed exactly the same voltage.Undaunted, I bought a load tester for the batteries and did a load test on each separate battery and they all tested exactly the same with no indication of a problem. #&^%$#*%#@ curses, foiled again.I have come across a capacitance battery tester than can show a bad battery when everything else fails. The problem is the testers I've seen are for 12 volts and I've got four 6 volt batteries. I need a 6 volt capacitance battery tester or a really brainy solution to this situation. I like the brainy solution.If anyone (including Steve) can shed any light on this, I would appreciate it. Because presently I have a useless Link 10 because it loses it's memory with a low voltage dump on generator startup.I'm positive there is nothing wrong with the Link 10.Thanks for any help anyone can give, Really Frustrated Bob
Re: Link 10 Memory Blackout Reply #1 – April 04, 2014, 05:59:51 pm Yahoo Message Number: 145612Check all battery cable connections, including any crimped cable lugs. With the high current demand when the generator starter kicks in, any higher than normal resistance in a connection could drop enough voltage to cause a problem.Art
Re: Link 10 Memory Blackout Reply #2 – April 04, 2014, 08:40:16 pm Yahoo Message Number: 145615As Art said, connections are likely the issue. When testing the batteries under starting load, it is important to have the meter probes directly on the captive battery terminals, not on any of the cable ends. Note this applies too for the cable that connects each 6V pair to make 12V. So, you want to check each 6V battery this way. If any battery drops below 5V, either the battery is bad or the starter current is excessive. If none of the batteries drops below 5.5V, then the batteries are good, the starter is probably good, and you need to inspect all connections for poor contact, poor crimp, etc.Steve
Topic: Link 10 Memory Blackout (Read 2 times)
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Topic: Link 10 Memory Blackout (Read 2 times)
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