Losing battery charge over night.

Jeppo · Veteran Member

Losing battery charge over night.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Either one battery is stuffed or you have a power leak.
Disconnect the battery that gets warm and run with just the other 2 and see how you go.
Cheers,
Peter

Ozzie_Traveller · Senior Member

G'day Jeppo

If P&Ms suggestion doesn't fix things, maybe you need to visit a battery service for them to individually examine each one and see what's going on

Phil

Jeppo · Veteran Member

Thanks. Will do and post results.

Jeppo · Veteran Member

Thanks for your help. Firstly I removed the so-called top notch battery being the very warm one then checked again this morning and behold the readings are now up from 11.3v up to 12.8v. Charge solar 1.5A. and 3Ah in. .ps no 240 v connection. Maybe the battery isnt as good as indicated. Any comments or anything else i should now do ?. Thanks a lot for your help.

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

Check HOW the charger side is connected ? You could be charging one battery priority. Or pulling load off one more . The batteries sound like they need balancing ? Are batteries charged by solar by about 11AM on good day ? When charged ? Check individual batteries charge . It will tell you they are all charged, condition or possibly as said they are not being charged evenly . Is connection for charging ? - on one end and + Battery outer battery . If its connected to one ? Youll can have balance issues !!

Jeppo · Veteran Member

Thanks for your advice. Very sure batteries are connected correctly as previous owner is a electrician having wired up many caravans. He totally rewired whole system 5yrs ago with all new gear and batteries and has worked fine for us in last 4yrs.. Think maybe just batteries need replacement. I will have individual batteries checked first thought. Cheers. Ps. Believe batteries about 7yrs old. Van also has a 12v Megapulse claiming extends batteries by up to 5 times ?. Think I'll just run of 2 batteries and replace if problem returns.

Jeppo · Veteran Member

Batteries are 7yr old. Not 5. Two yr old when rewired.

Jeppo · Veteran Member

Can i just replace the one battery or critical to replace all 3. Only on pension and cant afford three. Maybe just keep running on just two batteries. Checked voltage this morning which has jumped from 12.8 v. to 13.4 v. Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

blaze · Guru

rest easy, smile and enjoy your day
run with the two
cheers
blaze

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Jeppo wrote:
Can i just replace the one battery or critical to replace all 3. Only on pension and cant afford three. Maybe just keep running on just two batteries. Checked voltage this morning which has jumped from 12.8 v. to 13.4 v. Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

Jeppo, 3 batteries is a relatively large bank. What solar have you got and what is your overnight power consumption?

It is likely that 2 batteries will be sufficient for your needs.

Cheers,

Peter

Jeppo · Veteran Member

Thanks for answers and suggestions.

Our solar panels (3) mounted, are Uni_Solar US64. RATED POWER 64 Watts each. Honestly dont know overnight usage and never before concerned as we hardly ever had to use our 2400 Yamaha gennie to top up. Should check though and will do on next trip if ever happens.

Longest trip to date was xmas just gone. Six weeks along the Murray. Loved it and will do again.

Cheers.
Jeppo.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Check what the battery voltage is in the morning BEFORE the sun starts charging via the solar panels.
If that is consistently OK, you will be cruising.
Cheers,
Peter

Jeppo · Veteran Member

Think that's a good idea and will do. The timer on solar control system was set at 10 04 pm when actually 4 08 pm. Adjusted when i disconnected 3rd batt. Don't know why used but guess correcting time is a plus.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

The timer on the PL20 determines when it starts a new counting day.
I have mine set to think 6pm is midnight so it starts a new day just as the sun stops and the charge stops. That way, I can look at the total power OUT in the morning and it tells me how much was used overnight. Of course it also tells you the SOC (State of Charge) at any time (you will need to change the battery capacity to what you now have for this to work properly).
All of the above is dependent on having the PL properly set up and configured so it counts all the loads and measures all of the charge. If they are not correct, check the voltage in the morning as I said previously.
They are an old technology controller, but extremely good in terms of the information available.
Cheers,
Peter

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

Sounds like old batteries are tired ? Imo just replace one at a time when you can afford ?? Obviously with 2 batteries youll drain them lower. Assume you have battery charger connected to generator?

Jeppo · Veteran Member

Checked voltage this morning and maybe not good ?

14.4 V

2.5A charge

00 load. (nothing being used)

5Ah in

0 Ah out

Not sure how to change battery capacity but will readup manual directions. What should it be set to with 2 batt. (24 or higher) ?

Will replace 3rd batt if necessary. Or as your advise ..

Jaahn · Guru

Hi Jeppo smile

I will say what I would do if they were mine. But if they are 7 years old I would expect some bad news for sure.

Park the van so it will get sun on the panels. I would disconnect two of the batteries and monitor what happens to the one connected when it charges and then put all the lights on and see what it delivers till it is down to say 12V. Recharge that one. Repeat with the other batteries connected one at a time.

The results will tell you the rough capacity of each one. Probably tell you quickly which one is stuffed. Then just see what the good two, or one will do together. Meanwhile save the fuel money you are not spending for some new batteries in the future. I would bet there will be some battery specials available after a while to move some stock.

I would not put a new battery in parallel with 7 year old batteries. If you have two that are OK use them untill they do not get the job done and then scrap them. Time then to buy one or two new ones. Possibly you do not need three. Measure your usage to see what you need.

Jaahn

-- Edited by Jaahn on Tuesday 31st of March 2020 12:56:57 PM

Jeppo · Veteran Member

Thanks for all replies. I'll take all aboard and see what happens. Reset and check controller and batteries individually and see what happens. Live with 2 batteries until obviously no good then sell my Pings and buy couple new batteries. Only joking. Sell van first.