Controller issue

[Ash87]

Morning all , Happy new year to you .

Wondering if  you can help me confirm or troubleshoot my issue . I will try and keep it as short as possible ...

I think my varistream digital controller needs replacing I . 

it cuts out (U) to protect the battery but it cuts out when the voltage is at 12.7 surely i should be able to run it lower than that ?

The resolve i found for this is too unplug the connectors from the battery to the control give them a wipe and it stops cutting out . And I can work a full day.

However today it kept stopping for pressure despite me re calibrating it to allow maximum pressure and running it on  4 (out of 9) , if I ran it on 3 it barely had water coming out at the brush , I thought it could be air in the system so checked all that and when I disconnected from my hose it ran fine and didn't stop . Plugged the brush back in same problem 

Adjusted the pressure screw on the pump that didn't help either  

So eventually I just bypassed the controller and finished the job . 

Hope that makes sense .

My thoughts are that I might re wire from the battery to the control then the control to the battery as I think the connectors could just do with renewing , but also just replace with a newer control but im sure its only 2 years old  

Anything I might of missed before I re wire it and buy a new control ? 

TIA 

Ash 

 

[Martyn]

It can't hurt to renew the connections, if one has gone high resistance for any reason it will cause problems.

 

[Ian Sheppard]

Another thing to consider would be the battery itself. Depending on its age the battery may not be holding a charge very well. Worn batteries appear to be charged but once under load from the pump voltage can fall very quickly and drop below 10.5v which is the point at which the Williamson VSP6 will stop the pump and show U. Once the pump is stopped and there is no under load the battery voltage will return to its floating voltage. As mentioned already wet and worn cable and connectors will create a problem 

Also is the battery regularly bench charged or is it only charged via a split relay. If its the second the split relay may not be putting back all the current used during the day.

There is some good info on batteries at https://www.progressivedyn.com/service/battery-basics/

plus a blog covering batteries at http://springltd.co/blog/79/the-importance-of-battery-maintenance

 

[spruce]

Another thing to consider would be the battery itself. Depending on its age the battery may not be holding a charge very well. Worn batteries appear to be charged but once under load from the pump voltage can fall very quickly and drop below 10.5v which is the point at which the Williamson VSP6 will stop the pump and show U. Once the pump is stopped and there is no under load the battery voltage will return to its floating voltage. As mentioned already wet and worn cable and connectors will create a problem 

Also is the battery regularly bench charged or is it only charged via a split relay. If its the second the split relay may not be putting back all the current used during the day.

There is some good info on batteries at https://www.progressivedyn.com/service/battery-basics/

plus a blog covering batteries at http://springltd.co/blog/79/the-importance-of-battery-maintenance

Agreed. If he has a VSD6 then he won't immediately know what the voltage was when the controller cut out. I have found with an onboard volt meter that the moment the controller switches off on low voltage the battery voltages jumps back up very quickly. By the time he gets back to the van and gets a volt meter across the terminals the battery voltage will be showing into the 12v plus.

If @Ash87 has a split charge relay then it will help if someone can keep an eye on the van with the engine running. If this solves the problem then either the battery has a low charge or worn out.

 

[Ash87]

Thanks for your inputs, I have a split charge relay but haven't travelled much recently,  however had bench charged the battery, I was taking the reading from my pure freedom hose reel .

I changed the connectors and also diverted the wiring somits not as tidy but more direct from battery to controller and it seems to have done the trick . 

Thanks again 

Ash