# CSB2 Playing Up



## namder (Sep 20, 2006)

My CSB2 Battery Manager has performed well for the 6 months that I have had it installed, both in conjunction with mains hookup and solar charging. Recently the LED light has remained on permanently. It should of course go off whilst the leisure batteries are being charged and come on whilst the engine battery is taking the charge. It appears to be allowing charge to both leisure & engine batteries although more monitoring needs to be done to be sure.

Anyone else experiencing similar. 

John


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## lgbzone (Oct 8, 2008)

Hi

On the csb2; the led will illuminate whenever there is a high enough voltage on the source battery to charge a target battery.

therefore if your leisure battery is being charged the led should be lit.

HTH


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## Techno100 (May 8, 2010)

Yes transfer charge begins at 13.6 volts so if your leisures are getting a mains charge this will be high enough to trigger it. It will only stop when the leisure battery drops to 12.6 or less


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## tessajoe (Sep 23, 2008)

Techno100 said:


> Yes transfer charge begins at 13.6 volts so if your leisures are getting a mains charge this will be high enough to trigger it. It will only stop when the leisure battery drops to 12.6 or less


spot on.


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## JockandRita (Jun 1, 2005)

Techno100 said:


> Yes transfer charge begins at 13.6 volts so if your leisures are getting a mains charge this will be high enough to trigger it. It will only stop when the leisure battery drops to 12.6 or less


Same here, hence the permanent green LED whilst on mains.

Cheers,

Jock.


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## namder (Sep 20, 2006)

I haven't got my instructions to hand but I'm sure they state that whilst the leisure batteries are being charged, the light stays off and only illuminates when the charge switches to the engine battery.

I have tested this by running down the leisure batteries and then connected the mains power. I would have expected the light to remain off until the leisure battery reached full charge. It now doesn't although it used to do this. It remains on all the time but appears to charge both batteries.

John


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## lgbzone (Oct 8, 2008)

the csb2 doesn't charge the leisure battery, it takes charge from the leisure battery to the engine battery, but only when the voltage of the leisure battery is at a charge voltage.

HTH


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## namder (Sep 20, 2006)

I've now retrieved the instructions from the van and I quote:

"When the leisure battery voltage is lower than 12.5 volts the car battery recharging system is deactivated. When the green light is on, the device CSB-2 is ready charge(sic) the car battery, if necessary."

I refer to my initial post that the light is on all the time, even when the leisure battery is supposedly below 12.5V. I have yet to check this with a multimeter as my findings are only based on the series of lights on the control panel that indicate the battery voltage.

John


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## JockandRita (Jun 1, 2005)

namder said:


> clipped........I refer to my initial post that the light is on all the time, even when the leisure battery is supposedly below 12.5V. I have yet to check this with a multimeter as my findings are only based on the series of lights on the control panel that indicate the battery voltage.
> 
> John


John, is this when you are on, or off mains hook up?

Regards,

Jock.


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## namder (Sep 20, 2006)

Hi Jock

This is when I am on mains hookup or on solar with the leisure battery below 12.5v or fully charged. According to the instructions, the light should only come on only when the leisure battery is fully charged whereupon the engine battery starts to charge. This used to happen until recently, now it is on all the time.

John


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## Techno100 (May 8, 2010)

Contact the seller John


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## lgbzone (Oct 8, 2008)

John

you are interpreting the instructions incorrectly, they don't say it will "come on when the leisure battery is fully charged and it starts to charge the engine battery", the instructions totally agree with what everyone has been saying; when a charge voltage is present 13.6 volts, it starts to charge the engine battery and continues until the leisure battery is below 12.5.

forget the battery state indicator in your van, the csb2 does not differentiate between a full or empty battery, if the voltage is in the window stated above it charges the engine battery. i.e. if your battery is empty and you connect the mains hook up lead, the voltage rises and the csb2 starts to pass charge to the engine battery if required. also; as you have solar, the led will be lit whenever it is daylight and then an extra hour or two as the voltage of the leisure battery starts to drop.

leave the van off hookup for a good few hours then check the led on the csb2 late in the evening, you should find it's off, if not post back. essentially whenever you are on hookup or it's daylight; expect it to be illuminated.

hth

<edit>
get your meter out as well, if the input lead to the csb2 is substantially below 12.5 and it's illuminated, then i'd think there's a fault, otherwise it most likely should be lit.
</edit>


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## JockandRita (Jun 1, 2005)

lgbzone said:


> clipped.......essentially whenever you are on hookup or it's daylight; expect it to be illuminated.
> 
> hth


And that's exactly how mine works John, ie, regardless of battery state, as soon as I plug in to the mains hook up, the 4 x stage battery charger causes the green LED to come on thereby transferring a charge over to the starter battery. Off mains hook up, it's a different kettle of fish.

Cheers,

Jock.


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## lgbzone (Oct 8, 2008)

I suppose while we're at it; it's worth mentioning that if you start the engine the voltage of the 12v system will rise due to the alternator, therefore the led will illuminate, it won't go off the second you stop the engine as the voltage takes an amount of time to drop.


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## namder (Sep 20, 2006)

lgbzone said:


> Hi
> 
> On the csb2; the led will illuminate whenever there is a high enough voltage on the source battery to charge a target battery.
> 
> ...


Shouldn't that be "if the engine battery is being charged the LED should be lit


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## namder (Sep 20, 2006)

Techno100 said:


> Yes transfer charge begins at 13.6 volts so if your leisures are getting a mains charge this will be high enough to trigger it. It will only stop when the leisure battery drops to 12.6 or less


Do this mean that however low the leisure battery(less than 12.6) the connection of mains hookup will immediately start to transfer charge to the engine battery


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## namder (Sep 20, 2006)

JockandRita said:


> lgbzone said:
> 
> 
> > clipped.......essentially whenever you are on hookup or it's daylight; expect it to be illuminated.
> ...


Hi Jock

How should it differ off hookup? I also use solar at times. 
You state regardless of battery state(leisure I presume) the LED should come on. This is what puzzles me. Does connecting the hookup and turning on the charger immediately raise the level of the leisure battery to 13.6 from less than 12.6? If it doesn't then I assume the light would not come on until 13.6 is reached!!!


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## lgbzone (Oct 8, 2008)

namder said:


> lgbzone said:
> 
> 
> > Hi
> ...


Hi
No; if the voltage on the source wires is high enough the led will illuminate, i have 3 csb2s in my van for various tasks, one is connected to the leisure batteries as a source and a 12v din socket as a target, this allows me to connect batteries to the socket to charge them, if the sun is out, the engine is running, or the van is on EHU; the leisure voltage rises and the led comes on, regardless of if a battery to charge is connected or not. (actually it doesn't come on as i placed a switch in the circuit to disconnect the source (leisure) batteries unless i want to charge).

HTH


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## lgbzone (Oct 8, 2008)

Yes; connecting the ehu immediately raises the voltage of the leisure batteries to the charge voltage, when ehu is disconnected it takes an amount of time for the batteries to go down to their natural voltage.

the solar will have the same effect if the panels are generating enough current to charge.

HTH


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## JockandRita (Jun 1, 2005)

namder said:


> clipped..... Does connecting the hookup and turning on the charger immediately raise the level of the leisure battery to 13.6 from less than 12.6?


Yep.



lgbzone said:


> Yes; connecting the ehu immediately raises the voltage of the leisure batteries to the charge voltage, when ehu is disconnected it takes an amount of time for the batteries to go down to their natural voltage.
> 
> the solar will have the same effect if the panels are generating enough current to charge.
> 
> HTH


Like wot he wrote. :wink:

Cheers,

Jock.


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