# Manzanita Charger



## F16bmathis (Jun 6, 2008)

I have a manzanita charger and the instructions say to adjust it with a full battery pack, or monitor it till full. My battery pack (144V) was not fully charged when I got the charger. So, I set it up so it showed fully charged, lights flashing and all, then adjusted the voltage up a little more. My amp meter wasn't moving hardly, so I remembered I had the amps knob all the way down, so I increased it about 1/4 turn.

Thats when my DC/DC converter started smoking. Over voltaged it.

Is there any clear cut way to adjust my charger to FULLY charge the pack, and not fry my DC/DC converter?


----------



## chamilun (Jun 17, 2008)

do you mean the dc dc fried while charging or in normal operations? if while charging, you need to add a bosch relay so that the dc dc is only on while the car is 'on'


----------



## F16bmathis (Jun 6, 2008)

I have it connected after my main disconnect, so it should be connected only when driving. I was charging when it blew....Maybe I need to check wiring...


----------



## F16bmathis (Jun 6, 2008)

I also should mention, while cutting the wires for the 144V power input, with the disconnect off, I shorted those wires, which I believed were de-energized, but instead, produced a shotgun like explosion melting the wires and burning my side cutters. I thought that was from the current back tracking through the chargers capacitors, but they should not have been connected to the dc/dc converters input power with the diconnect off. I really got to check the wiring.

But the main thing I'm looking for is, once the Manzanita's voltage setting is set to charge a battery pack, does adjusting the AMPS knob change that voltage setting? That would explain why my dc/dc blew.


----------



## F16bmathis (Jun 6, 2008)

Found my main disconnect was shorted closed. Must have done that when the controller fried.


----------



## F16bmathis (Jun 6, 2008)

So I drove 18 miles, the batteries are now somewhat drained. I set the AMPS knob all the way down, turned the VOLTS adjust CCW till the lights went off, and monitored the pack voltage. At 144V, it should sit around 156V charged, so I increased the AMPS knob to stay just below the 156V, and kept turning the VOLTS adjust to keep the lights off. It got to 156V and I adjusted the VOLTS adjust so the lights just came on for final charging...


----------

