House batteries

[lowejug]

just made the switch to 8 new house batteries. I am very confident that I got the cables right but if one got a cable wrong, what would happen? would it affect the performance?

when i turned back on my inverters and battery switch my volts read 12.5 volts
( about the same as my old batteries . which 4 of my 8 were no longer holding a charge according to freightliner shop)

seems low volt reading for 8 brand new batteries... ?? .. had the fridge on and a few lights.. thats it 5 hours later it was at 12.3 volts,, -- put in duracell ultra pro 230 ah flooded.

what do others experience on there meter reading after fully charged batteries? thanks for your input

[twinboat]

A batterys fully charged, resting voltage is about 12.6 volts.

Any higher voltage reading is because it's in charging mode or a surface charge that will drop off over time.

Have you charged the new batteries ?

I would charge that many, for at least 8 hours.

While charging, check the voltages of all of them. If hooked up correctly, the volts should be the same.

[brobox]

Have you put a full charge on the new batteries yet? Should have had a full and or float charge rate of 13.2v, then settle down to 12.6 when fully charged and the charger removed.

Have you tested each battery with a volt meter with the charger turned off. Are they all reading the same? If one is .5v difference there is a problem.
12.3-12.4v volt in a couple of hours are what my new batteries read. My old batteries were down to 11.0 v in 2 hours

[rjxj]

Sounds about right. New batteries will take several cycles before they perform well. check each string with your main cables off and be sure that they are all reading 12 volts. You need a means of pumping the batteries full or they get lazy and start dropping the specific gravity. If you are running off generator it can take many hours to fully charge. You can usually put 80 % or so back in within 4 hours or so but a full charge will usually take longer. It will also depend on your converter voltage. If it's only a 13.6 volt model it will be days of charging sometimes.

Upgraded converters will often put out 14.4 volts and some even do 14.6. Solar will often be adjustable and some people will do 14.8 volt charges. My 4 stage with high voltage "top charging" goes higher yet. When you have depleted your batteries over night start the charging process and check voltage at the converter terminals and at the battery posts. There will be an expected difference in readings yet too high of a difference may indicate excessive resistance in the circuit.

[757driver]

Originally Posted by lowejug

just made the switch to 8 new house batteries. I am very confident that I got the cables right but if one got a cable wrong, what would happen? would it affect the performance?

when i turned back on my inverters and battery switch my volts read 12.5 volts
( about the same as my old batteries . which 4 of my 8 were no longer holding a charge according to freightliner shop)

seems low volt reading for 8 brand new batteries... ?? .. had the fridge on and a few lights.. thats it 5 hours later it was at 12.3 volts,, -- put in duracell ultra pro 230 ah flooded.

what do others experience on there meter reading after fully charged batteries? thanks for your input

Justin,

Give the batteries a full charge and then give them a 2 hour equalize charge to help get them up to peak performance. I think everything is fine with your new batteries. Compared to your Discover AGM batteries these ones will appear lower in voltage overall. Your Discover AGM's were fully charged with an open circuit voltage of 12.9v, these flooded ones are fully charged at 12.6-12.7v.

I would also lower your AGS start at voltage to 11.8-11.9v if it is not already there.

[lowejug]

thank you all for the advice... from what I am reading my battery switch was a success and my batteries will get better in time after fully charged and used... thanks don ... I am equalizing my batteries now ... and thanks for the voltage tip on where they should read at full versus my old that helps tremendously 😀

[wa8yxm]

Well if you got one cable wrong.. There are 3 posibilities depending on the cable

1: Reduced performance
2: No performance
3: Smoke fire and sparks.


For new, never been charged batteries 12.5 is about normal 1.26 is full charge. You need to fire up ye old converter for at least 6-8 hours to top 'em off before you make any judgements.

[757driver]

No converter in an Entegra.

[Smitty3509]

There is a specific way to wire up 8 batteries, do it wrong and you will only be pulling from 4. I think PJ covers it in his YouTube video, or you can find it at the RV Doctor web site, or you can call Cust Service for the diagram.