Over the wet and miserable Easter weekend , I only got a day and a half out of my 3 x 100a/h Batteries before I had to turn Gennie on. Solar panels weren't not generating because of the overcast wet conditions ( have 400w solar on roof ) . I was running 175lt 12v Waeco Fridge/Freezer and the 40ltr Engle constantly running everything else was intermittent , radio , tv , lights (leds) , water pump. It was the first time we have been on 12v since buying the motorhome in December last year , I'm thinking their is a problem with the Batteries , not sure how old they are , as I couldn't find a date . Can one battery be dead
Hi, sounds to me like everything is close to normal. Some 12 volt appliances like your fridges have low voltage cut out to protect the battery and fridge, I'm guessing over the time, and with the small charge during cloudy daylight there was enough to send you low and require a charge.
An issue (or should I say normal) with AGMS is that they don't like being discharged (used) below 50% or so of their total charge. I'm not sure one battery is dead, that would cause more problems than that. To be sure carefully disconect each and measure the voltage after charging and sitting for a day, if one is way lower than the others that's the dead one, however I'm not sure that the case.
Food for thought. Perhaps the battery bank was not fully charged when you left. Fridges draw a fair bit out of a battery current and could send them low after a day and a half when on constantly.
We have a similar setup, at free camp my caravan uses gas for the van fridge and the freezer (12volt) gets switched off overnight, there is enough insulation inside to keep the food frozen for over night.
Lots of things can make a battery lose capacity, age, temperature (they don't like cold) length of time just doing nothing etc.
Cheers
-- Edited by Phil C on Tuesday 7th of April 2015 04:39:07 PM
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Homebase is Murray Bridge Tourist Park (in a cabin). New Horse.. 2020 Ford Everest Titanium, Jayco swan for touring.
The Engel won't have a low voltage cut off, the Waeco might though. Dunno how much the 175L Waeco draws, but I would have expected more than that from 300AH of battery.
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The Engel won't have a low voltage cut off, the Waeco might though. Dunno how much the 175L Waeco draws, but I would have expected more than that from 300AH of battery.
G'day troopy. I'm still thinking its normal as the fridge could draw up to 10 amps when the compressor is running, and the second fridge will not be helping either. The night loads of TV, radio, lighting (I assume LED from the age of the van) will also help to flatten the batts, even at 300AH down to 50% (150AH) makes sense seeing there was no charge action during the day. 36 hours that's less than 5 amps flat out.
Hope you are well mate.
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Ex RAAF, now retired. EX Electrician/Teacher.
Homebase is Murray Bridge Tourist Park (in a cabin). New Horse.. 2020 Ford Everest Titanium, Jayco swan for touring.
yeah.. 175 draws 7A the 40L would draw about 3A from memory, when running by the looks of it.. it is a big fridge lol. probably better than you would expect after all then.
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Yes I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
yeah.. 175 draws 7A the 40L would draw about 3A from memory, when running by the looks of it.. it is a big fridge lol. probably better than you would expect after all then.
Yes but also as the voltage drops the current to fridge and hence loss at battery increases. Agree the load/time to have a batteyr issue is about normal.
As PhilC says make sure the batteries are FULLY charged before testing.
PS> missed one point the "duty cycle" ie the time fridges ON and compressor running is often more than you would expect and hence more Ah over time than you expect.
-- Edited by Baz421 on Tuesday 7th of April 2015 09:01:00 PM
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Thanks , answer to a couple of questions , the sticker inside the fridge says 7amps Troopy correct on his figures , Batteries were fully charged according to the Drifter Monitor which I don't have much faith in , Black lead to middle battery is a conduit with a wire in it , never noticed it before so I don't know what it does but will check it out. The duty time on the fridge is pretty good , green light on fridge means compressor running red light not running , most of the time when I glance over at the fridge it's red except when opening and closing the fridge during meals . Beer and wine kept in Engel.
Don't know why but I thought I would've got longer out of them , that's why I thought their might be a problem . Thanks again
yeah.. 175 draws 7A the 40L would draw about 3A from memory, when running by the looks of it.. it is a big fridge lol. probably better than you would expect after all then.
Yes but also as the voltage drops the current to fridge and hence loss at battery increases. Agree the load/time to have a batteyr issue is about normal.
As PhilC says make sure the batteries are FULLY charged before testing.
PS> missed one point the "duty cycle" ie the time fridges ON and compressor running is often more than you would expect and hence more Ah over time than you expect.
-- Edited by Baz421 on Tuesday 7th of April 2015 09:01:00 PM
Agree Baz, but in thinking more about this, 36 hour isnt too bad especially when there was minimal charging during the day. I had to rattle that one around a while, I wonder if Dorian has an input on this one.
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Ex RAAF, now retired. EX Electrician/Teacher.
Homebase is Murray Bridge Tourist Park (in a cabin). New Horse.. 2020 Ford Everest Titanium, Jayco swan for touring.
Why is a black wire normall negative going to the positive terminal on middle battery. Cheers Jeff
Don't assume black wires are always negative either. especially if they are in your vehicle.
Yep the big ones don't have fuzz on either ! Lol
Ha, I'm not game to ask AK...
But seriously, I had a young bloke (trained but not certified Auto Elec) telling me that the black wire going to the ciggy lighter was negative and the other wire (can't remember the colour now) had to be positive. I told him the wire going to the centre pin is always positive, but he wouldn't have it. So he connected a UHF set up and blew the dummy diode inside. I told him he had to go tell the boss why the customers ute wouldn't be ready on time... I ended up repairing the radio anyway, and when I took it back to work, I told the boss it was a crap way to install a CB and we should be running dedicated wiring from it's own fuse.
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Yes I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
Yea plenty of mixed circuits in vehicles .. Radio, lighter, internal lights, Inmobilizer all in one.. Going bigger battery may not be nessecary . If your comparing old batteries V load
Compared to good new batteries ...
-- Edited by Aus-Kiwi on Thursday 9th of April 2015 09:26:06 PM
my 170 ltr 12 volt compressor fridge draws 5 amps on cycle and 6 start up
dibs
Had my 30 year old Engel tested the other week after I realized my battery was not lasting as long as it should.
It was drawing more like 6 amps consistently, the gentleman felt it had done good service as the original owner brought it to him about 15 years ago for a small problem that was easy to repair but now you are unable to purchase replacement electronics or something for it.
The fellow who I bought it off said to me if you ever have a problem with the frig, ring the repairer in Lawnton sticker was still on it. The man there said me when I asked him to service it said "don't bring it here if it's not broken". Back about 12 years ago.
I have had good use out of it now to bite the bullet and buy another.
Just trying to warn you be careful that your trusty frig is not drawing to many amps. Ralph.
especially if they are in your vehicle.
