Problem with Meanwell PB-1000-24 chargers

Dear friends,
I am living off-grid and use an array of 30 solar panels, 2 wind turbines and a 20KW 3-phase generator (for the "powerless days").  A few years ago,  I installed three MW PB-1000-24 switching chargers in order to charge my 1800AH battery bank from the generator. Inputs are connected each on one phase, while outputs are paralleled to the battery. All was fine for a few years, but yesterday all chargers indicate failure.  Their leds are red, like there is no detected battery. Of course, battery and connections are fine, I am currently running on the battery. The weird thing is that the exact same problem happens to all three charger units! Its like there is no battery and they do not start charging. Self diagnosing of the charger (status pins on their connector) reports STATUS OK. Being an electrician myself, I opened one unit and there are no signs of damage, all FET and most other transistors measure OK. It seems that the unit does not give the command to start charging, probably because it fails to detect the battery.  Did anybody have such a problem before? Any ideas will be appreciated,  Meanwell company does not even answer to my e-mails..

Comments

  • mike95490
    mike95490 Solar Expert Posts: 9,583 ✭✭✭✭✭
    First thing I'd look at is the generator.  It's common to the chargers too.  Any wire changes, ground rods ?
    Powerfab top of pole PV mount | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
    || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
    || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

    solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
    gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister ,

  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    While you are figuring out what to do with the backup AC chargers (my condolences)--Don't let the battery bank state of charge get out of hand--Get backup AC chargers (if you needed).

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset