Lynnmor
Red Lion
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Joined: 07/16/2011
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If you have a disconnect switch, check that as well, the cheap ones fail quickly.
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2oldman
south
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Joined: 04/15/2001
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How are your batteries? You said 13+, but that isn't usually the case with resting batteries.
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jdc1
Rescue, Ca
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Joined: 05/30/2011
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Is that 13.4 reading coming from your solar charger display?
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D MAX
Canada
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Joined: 01/30/2008
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Well it looks like the problem is everyone’s favourite, an intermittent one. I could not replicate the problem today. It has to be a bad connection somewhere as the ride home bounced something back in place.
I do not have a cutoff switch.
The 13V readings were when I was having the problem after several cycles.
Today, Initial resting voltage at batteries was 14.2
Today, Initial charge controller reading was 14 and showing fully charged
I ran several cycles of lights on and water pump (7-10) and by the end the voltage was down to 12.8. It quickly recovers back to low13’s and 5 mins later is 13.6.
I have an accumulator tank so each cycle of the pump is about 20 secs.
So I’m going to check every connection and ground (battery terminals are good). I may also just find new ground points for sanity.
Thank you to everyone for the advice, I’ll report back if I find anything.
* This post was
edited 06/20/20 01:43pm by D MAX *
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KD4UPL
Swoope, VA
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Are you sure your batteries are good. Your voltage measurments are useless because your solar charger is holding the voltage up. Batteries do not have a resting voltage of 14.2, that is under charge of some kind. In fact, 12.8 is a little high for resting voltage. A fully charged 12 volt battery at "rest" will only read 12.7 volts. With a little load it will always be below 12.7 volts if there is no charging source present.
Unhook you solar charger, unplug from shore power, then measure your voltage with and without a load.
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D MAX
Canada
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KD4UPL wrote:Are you sure your batteries are good. Your voltage measurments are useless because your solar charger is holding the voltage up. Batteries do not have a resting voltage of 14.2, that is under charge of some kind. In fact, 12.8 is a little high for resting voltage. A fully charged 12 volt battery at "rest" will only read 12.7 volts. With a little load it will always be below 12.7 volts if there is no charging source present.
Unhook you solar charger, unplug from shore power, then measure your voltage with and without a load.
I haven’t had a lot of time to dig into it, but thanks as that’s a good idea to disconnect the panel. I’ve questioned the batteries from the get go as they are at least 5 hrs old, but if it was batteries why would it be intermittent? Unless there is a flakey cell I’d assume?
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Jetstreamer
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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I don’t necessarily think they are implying your batteries are bad it’s just that your voltage readings are of no help in trying to diagnose the problem with a solar charger in the loop.
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D MAX
Canada
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Jetstreamer wrote:I don’t necessarily think they are implying your batteries are bad it’s just that your voltage readings are of no help in trying to diagnose the problem with a solar charger in the loop.
That makes sense. I figured the charge controller wouldn't provide enough power to mask a bad battery, but as you and others said, it totally skews the useless numbers I was posting on voltage.
I removed it from the equation, and after a 4hr rest to equalize my voltage read 12.65. The only load would have been the LP detector. I proceeded to run the same test (all lights on and pump running). After 5-7 cycles the voltage remained fairly constant at 12.38 idle, and down to 12.3 when the pump kicked on. It dipped to 12.29 at one point, and was up to 12.46 after running all cycles. Lights remained bright, with a slight pulse in sync with the pump at the end of the cycle.
I could not replicate the original problem. So unless I misunderstand the battery voltage situation, it leads me to believe I have a wiring issue/sloppy connection somewhere.
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Gjac
Milford, CT
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Another thing to check is the set screws that hold your 12v wires in place on either side of the 12 v fuses a loose screw could cause an intermittent problem.
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D MAX
Canada
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Gjac wrote:Another thing to check is the set screws that hold your 12v wires in place on either side of the 12 v fuses a loose screw could cause an intermittent problem.
Thank you, I’ll definitely check them.
Because this is intermittent and currently not a problem, it’s going to be more frustrating as I may not be able to actually ID the fix unless it’s super obvious. My weekend ahead will be the joy of going over all connections and insuring I have good grounds.
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