Antares 91136 User manual

Battery Equaliser
DC Line Charger User Manual, Part No. 13328 Issue 5
APPLICATION
TYPE APPROVAL – INFORMATION
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
INSTALLATION
OPERATION
Instructions or
installation and use
© 2003
FM 37786
ISO 9002
Antares (Europe) Limited
Chiltern Hill . Chal ont St Peter
Gerrards Cross . Bucks . SL9 9UQ . UK
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]-
email:[e-mail]
web site: http://www.antares.co.uk
DC Line Charger

APPLICATION
The DC Line Charger is intended for the harging of auxiliary batteries on-board road-going
vehi les. It is parti ularly suited to harging trailer batteries, where power is supplied through
the 12S or 24S “suzi” so ket, & urrent needs to be onstrained to avoid overloading the
so ket & its supply ables. The model range provides for 12volt, 24 volt & mixed voltage
systems.
The unit is a tivated automati ally by the presen e of a harging sour e on the input supply,
swit hing off again when the harging sour e is removed. Charging output is temperature
ompensated, with raised voltage during re harge, automati ally swit hing to float voltage
on e the battery has re overed. The presen e of a load on the battery whilst harging does
not pose a problem, although any load should be apable of withstanding the raised harging
voltage, whi h ould be as high as 15 or 30 volts (12 or 24 volt systems) under some
ir umstan es.
TYPE APPROVAL – INFORMATION (APPROVAL PENDING)
Con erning dire tive 72/245/EEC as last amended by dire tive 95/54/EC;
Conditions of use for whi h the type approval (E mark) applies:
This equipment is designated as an ele troni sub-assembly;
It is intended for use on-board road-going vehi les;
This equipment is intended to be onne ted dire tly to a vehi le 12 or 24 volt DC supply and
used to harge a separate 12 or 24 volt lead a id battery.
Note that non-vehi ular & marine appli ations are spe ifi ally ex luded, as the DC line
harger has not been verified against the parti ular EMC standards that apply.
Non approved onditions of use:
This unit may be suitable for use in other appli ations, but it an only be supplied as a
omponent in this respe t, in whi h ase the type approval does not apply. If the unit is
used in this way, then it is supplied solely on the ondition that it is the responsibility of
the manufa turer of the apparatus to ensure that the apparatus omplies with the
requirements of the relevant legislation, and apply the CE marking should it be required.
In this ase, this user manual does not apply, and referen e should be made to Antares
(Europe) Limited for any information required for omplian e with the legislation.
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
Please read and observe the installation instru tions.
WARNING: Explosive asses may be enerated by a battery on char e. To prevent
i nition, allow time for asses to disperse before attemptin to connect this unit.
INSTALLATION
Choosin a location
The DC harger is suitable for use in a sheltered lo ation only, and must not be exposed to
the outside environment, water spray or areas where ondensation is likely. Areas subje t to
high temperature or vibration must also be avoided if performan e and reliability are not to
be impaired.
DC Charger User Manual, Part No. 13328 Issue 5

The best performan e will be a hieved with the line harger lo ated as lose as possible to
the batteries to be harged, and onne ted with ables giving minimal voltage drop. If this
annot be a hieved, then the remote battery voltage & temperature sensor should be used.
Further guidan e is given at the end of this manual.
Mountin
The unit may be mounted in any orientation, but allow suffi ient learan e around the unit for
ooling. Mounting hole lo ations are shown below:
100mm en losure: 150mm en losure:
ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS
INCORRECT CONNECTION MAY CAUSE DAMAGE
PLEASE FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY
WARNING: Explosive asses may be enerated by a battery on char e. To prevent
i nition, allow time for asses to disperse before attemptin to connect this unit.
Before beginning the ele tri al installation, be aware that this unit automati ally swit hes on
when a harging voltage is present on the input supply. It also swit hes on for approximately
30 se onds when first onne ted to the input supply. When on, the output is live and
apable of delivering high urrent, so are must be exer ised when making the output
onne tion (yellow wire). Ideally, when installing the unit on a vehi le, the engine should be
off, and have been off for suffi ient time to allow the main battery voltage to fall ba k to
nominal. The vehi le lights ould be swit hed on to speed this pro ess.
Four power leads are provided whi h should be onne ted in the order detailed below:
DC Charger User Manual, Part No. 13328 Issue 5
25 50 50 25
9
205
9
25 50 25
9
205
9
Mounting holes, diameter 6.5mm Mounting holes, diameter 6.5mm
OVERALL HEIGHT 98mm
130100-1

The first onne tion to be made is the battery negative onne tion; one of the bla k wires
(either will do) emerging from the DC harger should be onne ted dire tly to the negative
terminal of the battery to be harged.
The se ond onne tion is the other bla k wire; whi h should be onne ted to the input
supply negative. Note that both input & output negatives are onne ted together inside the
unit.
The third onne tion is the yellow wire, whi h onne ts dire tly to the positive terminal of the
battery to be harged. A small spark may be seen as this onne tion is made, whi h is
normal and may be ignored.
The fourth onne tion is the red wire, whi h onne ts dire tly to the positive terminal of the
harging power supply. A small spark may be seen as this onne tion is made, whi h is
normal and may be ignored.
The remote battery sensor (if used) should be atta hed to the battery to be harged & then
plugged into the line harger (see separate information supplied with sensor).
Typi al appli ation ir uit:
(24 volt sour e, 24 volt auxiliary battery)
DC Charger User Manual, Part No. 13328 Issue 5
REDYELLOW
BLACK
+24V
0V
BATTERYBATTERY
BATTERYBATTERY
DC Power Charger Antares (Europe) Limited . Gerrards Cross . UK
130117-2
1 2 3 4 5 6
INPUT SUPPLYOUTPUT SUPPLY

OPERATION
The DC harger is fully automati in operation. On e installed, no further user a tion is
required. The unit automati ally swit hes on when a harging voltage is dete ted on the
input supply. When a harging sour e is not present, it swit hes to a low power sleep mode.
SPECIFICATIONS
Model range:
Input volta e Input current Output volta e Model number,
with remote sense
Model number,
no remote sense
12V 12A 12V 91136 91126
12V 15A 12V 91141 91131
12V 12A 24V 91135 91125
12V 15A 24V 91140 91130
24V 12A 12V 91138 91128
24V 15A 12V 91143 91133
24V 12A 24V 91137 91127
24V 15A 24V 91142 91132
24V 15A 24V 90131
The line harger operates in a way whi h ontrols the input urrent, su h that the maximum
possible power is always drawn from the power sour e, without overloading the input supply
ables & onne tors. The output harging urrent is onstrained by the ability of the sour e
to supply power. The maximum battery harging urrent is therefore determined by ea h
parti ular installation. The urves below show this dependen y:
DC Charger User Manual, Part No. 13328 Issue 5
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Output v oltage
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Output urrent - amps
Input = 25 volts
Input = 20 volts
Input = 15 volts
Input = 10 volts
Line char er - output current vs output volta e
input volta e held constant
input current 15 amps

INSTALLATION CABLE SIZING
Cables & any onne tors should be sele ted to arry the following maximum urrent:
Model Input current (maximum) Output current (maximum)
All models 15 amps 33 amps
12 amps 30 amps
Input cables
The line harger will operate su essfully with the input voltage as low as 12 volts, however,
this will redu e the output power available for battery harging. The higher the input voltage,
the greater the available harging urrent. The table below lists the approximate input
voltage drop for various able sizes (at full output):
Cable size Volts drop per 10 metre len th
2.5mm21.1 volts
4mm20.7 volts
6mm20.4 volts
10mm20.25 volts
Ea h volt lost in the input onne tion will redu e the available output harging urrent by
approximately 0.5 amps.
Output cables
Any voltage drop in the output ables will also redu e harging effe tiveness, however, the
remote battery sensing option (if used) will over ome any volt drop by raising the output
voltage to ompensate. The amount of ompensation is limited to 0.7 volts.
If remote sense is not used, output ables should be sized to keep the voltage drop below
0.1 to 0.2 volts at 10 amps.
The table below lists the maximum total output able length (positive plus negative) for
various able sizes when remote sense is not used:
Cable size Maximum len th
(0.1volt drop)
2.5mm21.4 metres
4mm22.3 metres
6mm23.4 metres
10mm25.9 metres
Suzi connector
The line harger may be used through the 12N/S or 24N/S trailer so kets, to harge a trailer
battery (The line harger is mounted on the trailer, near the battery). You should he k that
both the tra tor & trailer wiring to the onne tor pair is adequately sized for the urrent and
suitably fused. Typi al “7 ore trailer able” will have one 2mm2 ondu tor rated at 17 amps
& six 1mm2 ondu tors rated at 8½ amps ea h. In this ase, two ondu tors & two pins on
the onne tor will have to be used for the input positive supply. Che k your vehi le’s wiring
arrangement to determine whi h, if any, of the so ket pins have power available and that the
wiring is adequate to support the load.
If the 15 amp input line harger is used, then there is only one or two amps spare apa ity on
the 12N/S/24N/S onne tor earth for other trailer loads. To allow for the possibility that other
loads are required, the alternative 12 amp input line harger allows 5 amps spare.
Note that “heavy duty” 12S/24S onne tor sets are available, rated 70 amps, & able to take
up to 6mm2 sized ables.
DC Charger User Manual, Part No. 13328 Issue 5