Victron energy Phoenix Smart 12/30 (1+1) User manual

Manual
EN
Handleiding
NL
Manuel
FR
Anleitung
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Manual
ES
Användarhandbok
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Manuale
IT
Phoenix Smart Charger
12/30 (1+1) 24/16 (1+1)
12/30 (3) 24/16 (3)
12/50 (1+1) 24/25 (1+1)
12/50 (3) 24/25 (3)

1. Safety instructions
•Always provide proper ventilation during charging.
•Avoid covering the charger.
•Never try to charge non-rechargeable - or frozen batteries.
•Never place the charger on top of the battery when charging.
•Prevent sparks close to the battery. A battery being charged could emit
explosive gasses.
•Battery acid is corrosive. Rinse immediately with water if acid comes into
contact with skin.
•This device is not suitable for use by children. Store the charger out of reach
of children.
•This device is not to be used by persons (including children) with reduced
physical, sensory or mental capabilities, or lack of experience and knowledge,
unless they have been given supervision or instruction.
•Connection to the mains supply must be in accordance with the national
regulations for electrical installations. In case of a damaged supply cord
please contact the manufacturer or your service agent.
•The charger may only be plugged into an earthed socket.

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2. Installation
•Install the charger vertically on a non-combustible surface with the
supply terminal facing down. To optimise cooling, maintain a minimum
distance of 10 cm below and above the product.
•Install close to the battery, but never immediately above the battery (to
prevent damage due to gas formation by the battery).
•Use flexible multi-core copper cables for the connections: see safety
instructions.
•Poor internal temperature compensation (e.g. ambient conditions of
battery and charger not within 5°C) may shorten the life span of the
battery.

3. Quick user guide
A. Connect the battery charger to the battery or batteries.
B. Connect the battery charger to the wall socket using the AC cable (can be
ordered separately).
All the LEDs light up briefly and once the charger has been activated the
relevant status LEDs light up, depending on the status of the charger.
By default the charger starts up in normal mode and bulk.
C. If required, press the MODE button to select a different charging algorithm
(the battery charger remembers the mode when it is disconnected from the
power supply and/or battery).
After selecting reconditioning, the RECONDITION LED will light up and start
to blink when reconditioning is active.
The battery charger switches to LOW (low power) when the MODE button is
held down for 3 seconds. The LOW LED will then light up and remain lit, and
the maximum output current will be limited to 50% of the rated output power.
LOW mode can be deactivated by holding the MODE button down for
another 3 seconds.
D. The battery will be about 80% charged and ready for use when the
ABSORPTION LED lights up.
E. The battery will be fully charged when the FLOAT (trickle charging) or
STORAGE LED lights up.
F. You can now interrupt the charging at any time by disconnecting the power
supply to the charger.

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4. Key properties and features
4.1. Bluetooth functionality
Set-up, monitoring and updating of the charger. Option for parallel
redundant charging and option for external voltage and temperature
compensation using the Smart Battery Sense (separately available).
New functions can be added once they become available using Apple and
Android smartphones, tablets and other devices.
When using Bluetooth functionality, a PIN can be set to prevent
unauthorised access to the device. This PIN can be reset to its default
value (000000) by holding the MODE button down for 10 seconds.
4.2. VE.Direct port
For a wired connection with a Color Control, Venus GX, PC or other
devices.
4.3. Programmable relay
Can be programmed (e.g. with a smartphone) for activation by an alarm or
other events.
4.4. ‘Green’ battery charger with very high efficiency
With an efficiency of up to 94%, these battery chargers generate up to four times
less heat than the industry standard. And once the battery is fully charged,
power consumption drops to less than 1 Watt, which is five to ten times better
than the industry standard.
4.5. Sustainable, safe and silent
- Low thermal load on the electronic components.
- Overheating protection: The output current drops if the temperature rises to
60°C.
- The charger is cooled by means of natural convection. This eliminates the
need for a noisy cooling fan.
4.6. Temperature-compensated charging
The optimum charging voltage of a lead acid battery is inversely proportional to
the temperature. The Phoenix Smart Charger measures the ambient
temperature at the start of the charging phase and compensates for the
temperature while charging. The temperature is measured again when the

battery charger is in low-current mode during absorption or storage. Special
settings for a cold or warm environment are therefore not required.
4.7. Adaptive battery management
Lead acid batteries must be charged in three phases, namely [1] bulk charging,
[2] absorption charging and [3] float charging.
Several hours of absorption charging are required to fully charge the battery and
to prevent early defects due to sulphation¹.
However, the relatively high voltage during absorption shortens the battery’s life
span as a result of corrosion at the positive plates.
Adaptive battery management limits corrosion by reducing the absorption period
if possible, i.e. when charging a battery that is already (almost) fully charged.
4.8. Storage mode: less corrosion of the positive plates
Even the lower float charge voltage that follows absorption charging will cause
corrosion. It is therefore essential to lower the charging voltage even more if the
battery remains connected to the charger for more than 48 hours.
4.9. Reconditioning
A lead acid battery that is insufficiently charged or is left in an uncharged
condition for several days or weeks will deteriorate due to sulphation1. If this is
noticed in time, the sulphation can sometimes be partially reversed by charging
the battery to a higher voltage using a low current.
Notes:
Reconditioning must only be used now and then on flat-plate VRLA (gel and
AGM) batteries, as the gases formed during reconditioning dry out the
electrolyte.
VRLA batteries with cylindrical cells build up more internal pressure before the
gases are formed and therefore lose less water during reconditioning. Some
manufacturers of batteries with cylindrical cells therefore recommend
reconditioning in case of cyclical application.
Reconditioning can be applied to wet-cell batteries to ‘balance’ the cells and to
prevent acid stratification.
1For more information about batteries, see
our book ‘Energy Unlimited’ (this can be downloaded from www.victronenergy.com) or
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/sulfation_and_how_to_prevent_it

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Some manufacturers of battery chargers recommend impulse charging to
reverse the sulphation. However, most battery experts agree there is no
conclusive evidence that impulse charging is better than charging with a
low current / high voltage. This is confirmed by our own tests.
4.10. Lithium-ion (LiFePO₄) batteries
Li-ion batteries are not subject to sulphation and do not have to be fully
charged on a regular basis.
However, Li-ion batteries are highly sensitive to high or low voltages.
This is why Li-ion batteries are often equipped with an integrated system
for cell balancing and to protect against low voltages (UVP: Under Voltage
Protection).
Important note:
NEVER attempt to charge a lithium-ion battery if the temperature of the
battery is below 0°C.2
4.11. Remote on-off
There are three ways to switch on the device:
1. Short the L and H pins (factory default)
2. Pull the H pin to a high level (e.g. the battery plus)
3. Pull the L pin to a low level (e.g. the battery minus)
4.12. Alarm LED
If an error occurs, the ALARM LED will light up red. The status LEDs indicate the
type of error with a blink code. See the following table for the possible error
codes.
Error
LOW
BULK
ABS
FLOAT
STORAGE
ALARM
Bulk time
protection ○◎○○○●
Internal
Error ○◎◎◎○●
Charger
over-
voltage
○○◎○◎●
2For more information about lithium-ion batteries, see http://www.victronenergy.com/batteries/lithium-
battery-12,8v/

○ Off
◎Blinking
● On
4.13. Automatic voltage compensation
The charger compensates for the voltage drop over the DC cables by gradually
increasing the output voltage if the charging current rises.
The fixed voltage offset is 100mV. The voltage offset is scaled with the charge
current and added to the output voltage. The voltage offset is based on 2x 1-
meter cable, contact resistance and fuse resistance.
Example calculation for the 12/50 (1+1):
The cable resistance R can be calculated with the following formula:
=×

Here R is the resistance in ohms (Ω), ρ is the resistivity of copper (1.786x10^-8
Ωm at 25°C), l is the wire length (in m) and A is the surface area of the wire (in
m²).
A widely used distance from charger to battery is 1 metre. In this case the wire
length is 2 metres (plus and minus). When using a 6AWG cable (16mm²) the
wire resistance is:
 =1,786 ×10−8 × 2
16 ×10−6 = 2.24Ω
Installing a fuse close to the battery is highly recommended. The resistance of a
standard 80A fuse is:
 = 0.720Ω
The overall resistance of the circuit can then be calculated with the following
formula:
 = +
Therefore:
 = 2.24Ω + 0.720Ω = 2.96Ω
The required voltage drop compensation over the cable can be calculated with
the following formula:
=×
In which U is the voltage drop in volts (V) and I is the current through the wire in
amperes (A).
The voltage drop will then be:
=50 × 2.96Ω =148 for the full 50A charging current.

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4.14. Three (3) output versions
The three output version chargers have an integrated FET battery isolator
and therefore feature three isolated outputs
Although all outputs can supply the full rated output current, the combined
output current of all outputs is limited to the full rated output current.
By using the three-output version charger it is possible to charge three
separate batteries with only a single charger while keeping the batteries
isolated from each other.
The outputs are not regulated individually. One charge algorithm is applied
to all outputs.
5. Charging algorithms
5.1. Battery selection
The charge algorithm of the charger must fit the battery type connected to
the charger. The following table shows the three predefined battery types
available. A custom battery type can be programmed by the user.
Charging voltages at room temperature:
MODE
ABS
V
FLOAT
V
STORAGE
V
RECONDITION
Max V@% of
Inom
NORMAL
14.4
13.8
13.2
16.2@8%, 1h
max
HIGH
14.7
13.8
13.2
16.5@8%, 1h
max
LI-ION
14.2
13.5
13.5
N/A
For 24V battery chargers: multiply all values by 2.

NORMAL (14.4V): recommended for wet-cell flat-plate lead-antimony batteries
(starter batteries), flat-plate gel and AGM batteries.
HIGH (14.7V): recommended for wet-cell lead-calcium batteries, Optima spiral cell
batteries and Odyssey batteries.
LI-ION (14.2V): recommended for Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePo4) batteries.
CUSTOM (Adj.): recommended for any other type of battery other the the above
mentioned if the adjustable voltages are set according to the battery manufacturer
recommendations.
MODE button
Once the battery charger has been connected to the AC power supply, press the
MODE button to select a different charging algorithm if required (the battery charger
remembers the mode after disconnecting the power supply and/or battery).
After selecting reconditioning, the RECONDITION LED will light up and start to blink
when reconditioning is active.
The battery charger switches to LOW (low power) when the MODE button is held
down for 3 seconds. The LOW LED will then remain lit. LOW mode will remain active
until the MODE button is held down for another 3 seconds.
When LOW is active, the output current is limited to max. 50% of the rated output
power.
Intelligent 7-stage charging algorithm for lead acid batteries:
(with optional reconditioning)
1. BULK
Charges the battery using the maximum current until the absorption voltage is
reached. At the end of the bulk phase, the battery will be about 80% charged
and ready for use.
2. ABS - Absorption
Charges the battery using a constant voltage and a decreasing current until it is
fully charged. See the above table for the absorption voltage at room
temperature.
Variable absorption time:
The absorption time is short (at least 30 minutes) if an almost fully charged
battery is connected and increases to 8 hours for a totally discharged battery.
3. RECONDITION
RECONDITION is an option for the NORMAL and HIGH charging programs and