Ok I did an inverter teat with our new coffee pot. Remember I had issues before but we thought it was the inverter settings - well maybe the setting weren't the issue.
During the 10-15 minute test t watched my Touch 50 screen while doing this. Pot was pulling 950 - 975 watts. Whats amazing is the solar panels were putting out about 225W during this time. Battery voltage at start (Inverter on, coffee pot off) was 13.6. When I turned on the coffee pot it immediately dropped to 12.6 - within 8 minutes it was 11.8 and inverter kicked off. 11.8 is the threshold I set. Battery voltage quickly recovered back to 12.6 and the inverter turned on and ran for 2 minutes to 11.8 again. So I turned everything off and voltage was 12.2. Touch 50 was also showing 98% soc too. I also checked voltage with my meter and everything was good.
Multplus passed, battery bank fail !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So I go and check the batterys. I am running 4 deep cycle Crown CR260 6V in a series parallel set up - this should give me 520AH - 250 usable.
I checked all the battery cells with my battery hydrometer and all cells read 1265 or better - this surprised me and I went and read what my Touch 50 was saying - 13.5V. 100% soc. The solar panels were putting out about 120 watts while I was unhooking the battery box vent and getting ready for testing )about 15-20 minutes. Water levels were good to, although I did top them off. All cable connections are good too.
So I am stumped All battery cells say good, but they are loosing voltage fast. Battery are wired together with 2/0 and tied to the main multiplus input with 4/0
I guess they are failing under load, but how do I prove that? I know the battery folks can load test if I bring the batterys in. However I don't want to hook up to drag the trailer into town.
Is there a load tester that I can get that can be used with batterys in the trailer?
Thanks - is there anything else to check?
Keith
During the 10-15 minute test t watched my Touch 50 screen while doing this. Pot was pulling 950 - 975 watts. Whats amazing is the solar panels were putting out about 225W during this time. Battery voltage at start (Inverter on, coffee pot off) was 13.6. When I turned on the coffee pot it immediately dropped to 12.6 - within 8 minutes it was 11.8 and inverter kicked off. 11.8 is the threshold I set. Battery voltage quickly recovered back to 12.6 and the inverter turned on and ran for 2 minutes to 11.8 again. So I turned everything off and voltage was 12.2. Touch 50 was also showing 98% soc too. I also checked voltage with my meter and everything was good.
Multplus passed, battery bank fail !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So I go and check the batterys. I am running 4 deep cycle Crown CR260 6V in a series parallel set up - this should give me 520AH - 250 usable.
I checked all the battery cells with my battery hydrometer and all cells read 1265 or better - this surprised me and I went and read what my Touch 50 was saying - 13.5V. 100% soc. The solar panels were putting out about 120 watts while I was unhooking the battery box vent and getting ready for testing )about 15-20 minutes. Water levels were good to, although I did top them off. All cable connections are good too.
So I am stumped All battery cells say good, but they are loosing voltage fast. Battery are wired together with 2/0 and tied to the main multiplus input with 4/0
I guess they are failing under load, but how do I prove that? I know the battery folks can load test if I bring the batterys in. However I don't want to hook up to drag the trailer into town.
Is there a load tester that I can get that can be used with batterys in the trailer?
Thanks - is there anything else to check?
Keith
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