Sterling BB1260 Running 80C+, Normal?

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woundedpig

2018 Unity MB
Article from a website from which I have learned a lot.

https://marinehowto.com/understanding-the-sterling-power-pro-batt-ultra-battery-to-battery-charger/

Someone mentioned the waterproof BBW series is different from the BB. I have trouble telling how, other the the waterproof design of the BBW. One problem with the BB is the caliber of wire accepted from the chassis and house batteries. The BBW has posts that will accept lugs and larger caliber wire. The BB accepts max 6AWG with screw down pressure plate terminal blocks.
 
J

john61ct

Active member
calbiker said:
Sterling isn't well designed. It doesn't meet specs.



I would not advise anybody purchasing this product.
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No one else makes a better DC-DC charger, for most use cases.

Absolutely fine products, excellent design, build quality and customer service.

That is not to say everything's perfect, always room for improvement, as even Charles would attest.

But if you think other products are better for a given context, please be specific about why, rather than just slandering one of the best manufacturers out there.
 
K

kosio86

New member
jbm-sd said:
Hi Mark,
I recently purchased the same BB1260, green stripe. I live in the San Diego area, so we get hot, but not as hot as you. I am having similar issues and my installation is much more ideal. I mounted mine in the driver seat base, so my wire runs are much shorter. Here's the information I sent to Sterling.........

My BB1260 is cycling between what appears to be its maximum output current and ~25A. I captured some more data this weekend. My alternator was holding pretty steadily right around 14V. I had discharged my 2 Lifeline GPL-4CT batteries to about 67% SOC and I removed all loads before starting my van.


Over the drive home, the charge started at 45A. I guess the charger just has a 75% efficiency? Ambient temps were around 75F.


Then after about 3-4 minutes, you can see the charger took its first dip in output current to 28.3A. There were no alarms audible from the BB1260, and the fans were cycling on and off normally. Input voltage was still ~13.8V-14.1V
.........
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Hi all,

I have the very same issue. My device is the one without the green stripe - it has updated software to v67.
I am charging 120AH Lifepo4 until my 200Ah Lifepo4 arrives. On absolutely cold device it starts charging with 47A and less than a minute later it goes to 29A. Then after 840sec (it goes down to 15-17). I related the second drop to the Regen timer that activates due to lower input voltage, although I am using it in Mode 3 with ignition signal and I've set the cut off voltage to 12.00(the lowest possible for my version). This is a test setup at home. I am powering it up with 12v 100A single rail Gold PSU that hardly ever starts its fan spinning. I initially decided that the reduction is because of overheat, but I cannot feel the radiators hot when the first drop is observed. However it always goes 1/2 Power mode according to the LED and there is no way to get out of this mode. Then I decided that the reduction is due to lower input than output (boost mode), but what I've read here is on the contrary. After talking to support they recommended a full reset, which worked for less than 1 charge cycle and reverted back to same 1/2 power again. I think I should make a video to better explain.
 
marklg

marklg

Well-known member
kosio86 said:
Hi all,

I have the very same issue. My device is the one without the green stripe - it has updated software to v67.
I am charging 120AH Lifepo4 until my 200Ah Lifepo4 arrives. On absolutely cold device it starts charging with 47A and less than a minute later it goes to 29A. Then after 840sec (it goes down to 15-17). I related the second drop to the Regen timer that activates due to lower input voltage, although I am using it in Mode 3 with ignition signal and I've set the cut off voltage to 12.00(the lowest possible for my version). This is a test setup at home. I am powering it up with 12v 100A single rail Gold PSU that hardly ever starts its fan spinning. I initially decided that the reduction is because of overheat, but I cannot feel the radiators hot when the first drop is observed. However it always goes 1/2 Power mode according to the LED and there is no way to get out of this mode. Then I decided that the reduction is due to lower input than output (boost mode), but what I've read here is on the contrary. After talking to support they recommended a full reset, which worked for less than 1 charge cycle and reverted back to same 1/2 power again. I think I should make a video to better explain.
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If you have the Sterling remote, you can see the temperature and voltages and if it is cutting back due to heat. Unfortunately, I had two that did the same thing, one early and one green stripe, so my belief it that it just does not have enough built in cooling or high enough efficiency to limit the heat as designed. With my bilge blower addition, it works fine.

Regards,

Mark
 
K

kosio86

New member
marklg said:
If you have the Sterling remote, you can see the temperature and voltages and if it is cutting back due to heat. Unfortunately, I had two that did the same thing, one early and one green stripe, so my belief it that it just does not have enough built in cooling or high enough efficiency to limit the heat as designed. With my bilge blower addition, it works fine.

Regards,

Mark
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I was thinking of getting the remote, so I can see if the temperatures readings were related to the current drop. At the same time I don't want to invest more in the device if it's defective. It really seems that the device struggles with the cooling, because even when charging with 29A the fans are spinning at max. I imagined that fans will work only when the device is charging with 50A for hours. Still, when the 1st drop of the charging current is observed the radiators are cold to the touch. It is literally 10-15seconds after powering up. I cannot imagine it heats up so quickly, unless the temp sensor touches the FETS/diodes, which I doubt.
I bought it 8months ago, so I missed the store's return window, so if it is defective I could only hope the support will offer repair/replacement. In the worst case I will try to fix it myself, with forums help, which would contribute to this forum with some image/video material.
 
marklg

marklg

Well-known member
kosio86 said:
I was thinking of getting the remote, so I can see if the temperatures readings were related to the current drop. At the same time I don't want to invest more in the device if it's defective. It really seems that the device struggles with the cooling, because even when charging with 29A the fans are spinning at max. I imagined that fans will work only when the device is charging with 50A for hours. Still, when the 1st drop of the charging current is observed the radiators are cold to the touch. It is literally 10-15seconds after powering up. I cannot imagine it heats up so quickly, unless the temp sensor touches the FETS/diodes, which I doubt.
I bought it 8months ago, so I missed the store's return window, so if it is defective I could only hope the support will offer repair/replacement. In the worst case I will try to fix it myself, with forums help, which would contribute to this forum with some image/video material.
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Sterling goes out of their way to support their customers. Definitely contact them. They swapped my used unit for a brand new green stripe unit. I am in AZ where it gets to probably 140 degrees F where the unit is if I just started up, and is always over 80 degrees F with the front AC on high, so it does need extra cooling. With the cooling, my green stripe unit has worked great and charged my LiFePO4s to 100%.

I do not believe there are any publically available schematics. I did look inside and it clearly is a SEPIC converter, and there are markings on the parts, but even the old unit did not seem to have any actually bad parts. Those converters are susceptible to efficiency losses due to things like diode and FET switching speed, leakage inductance, series resistance in parts, etc. That is hard to know what to do unless you are a power supply expert, which I am not, and really know what the design criteria for the product is. They may super select parts for some particular parameter, for example. Unless you are inside the head of the designer, it is pretty difficult to fix, especially when it is mostly working.

https://www.electro-tech-online.com/threads/sepic-converter-is-only-67-efficient-why-so-bad.132702/


Regards,

Mark
 
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