Member
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 98
|
12V Loss House Batteries
I am trying to chase a voltage loss when not plugged into power. Problem first appeared when plugged into a bad? 30 amp campground panel. At 95 F temp, turned on 1 AC, after a minute, lost all power. The park panel did not trip. Dry camp to and from Gillette. Checked dogbone, transfer switch, had house batts tested, [good], monitored batts. Allowed gen to run overnight, AGS, it cycled most of the night, 15 minutes on, 15 off, charger in absorb or float. Without shore or gen, after driving all day and running gen a lot, in evening we had 12.8v, in morning at 10.8v. Turned off breakers overnight. Problem pointing to the batts or the inverter?
Back home, 30A power. Tried to do more controlled testing. Pulled out the house batts and had them retested, they said they found a bad cell in each 6v batt. I am not confident of this test, because their mechanic (machine) was trying to set it for cranking amps. Cleaned all wire connectors in batt and service bay, back to the starter. Improved my power by 0,1V. With house batts sitting on the garage floor for 4 days, all batts held their charge, near 6.4v. Over the last few weeks, disconnect the shore power, batts in.
House batts, 6 AGM Lifeline, 900AH, age 5.5 years.
Inverter, Xantrex RS2000, 9 years old, (2nd one).
Disconnect 30A, at SL disable inverter and charger, 110v breakers off, subpanel inverter breaker off, fridge plugged in externally. No obvious power draws.
Batts stay at 12.8v all day 8-12 hours, in morning at 10.8v.
2 batts at 4,4v and 4 at 6.4v. wow, 4.4 +6.4 = 10.8. So lets disconnect the 2 BAD batts, 600AH, redo test.
All day at the 12.8v and in morning 10.8v. Again, 2 at 4.4v and 2 at 6.4v.
Tried as above, remove ground wire from bathroom fuse block. Same 12.8 to 10.8 in morning.
Tried as above, with ground wire at water bay remove, bathroom reconnected, same 12,8 to 10.8.
Remove the Xantrex temp sensor, no change. Even disconnected the solar panels, no change.
With batt disconnect switches turned off, I am able to maintain my 12.8v for a couple of days.
I even replaced my Sure Power Battery Separator.
I recharge the batteries between testing, 30A shore. Notice that the charger comes on in bulk for only a couple of minutes, and then to absorb. This is telling me that the batts are not severely discharged.
I would like to do another load test on "deep cycle" batteries to prove them. Previous AGMs had a life over 9 years.
I can spend $2000 for batts OR inverter. I'd like to do it right the first time.
I think the inverter has treated us right for the last 9 years.
What am I missing? Any further testing, or take it to a service center, (who?) and let them start over?
__________________
Alpine Coach, 2007 Apex MDT
|