Coolum Counters or Current Counters....

aussie_paul · Guru

Coolum Counters or Current Counters....

greyhoundtom · Senior Member

Bugger I don't want to know.

Before joining this site I used to tow a caravan all over the place with never a care or worry about weights, compliance plates, weight and load distribution all in blissfull ignorance.

That blissfull ignorance included not worrying about the size or quality of the inverter I was using, or state of the batteries. Twenty years worth of traveling every winter getting out of bloody cold Victoria, and other than a shredded tire every three or four years, and a few speeding tickets, never a problem.

Now I'm a nervous wreck trying to get the whole rig legal, ensuring there is enough solar to keep the batteries charged, and adjusting the loading of the van to reduce the weight front and back.

Still undecided about grey water storage facility, but I really can't afford the weight of even the tank itself. Now there is a bit of pressure on me to make sure the aircon can be turned on if required when free camping, but then where do I put the generator and if I take it is this going to make me the most disliked camper in the free camp?

it sounds like a great idea Paul, bu as I said ...... bugger, I don't want to know or want anything else I need to monitor, look at or worry about. furious furious biggrin biggrin

aussie_paul · Guru

Yeah, I know how you feel Tom!!!!!!

Aussie Paul. smile

oldtrack123 · Guru

Hi
It would be great If they could get the name right

"Coulomb"

It is a basic unit of energy

http://www.convertunits.com/

But really does not tell you any more than Amphr meter[except the numbers will be a lot bigger]

"Coulomb's law, or Coulomb's inverse-square law, is a law of physics describing the electrostatic interaction between electrically charged particles. The law was first published in 1785 by French physicist Charles Augustin de Coulomb and was essential to the development of the theory of electromagnetism
"

-- Edited by oldtrack123 on Tuesday 8th of March 2016 10:09:05 PM

dorian · Guru

A Coulomb is the unit of charge, not energy. The Joule is the unit of energy.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coulomb

The coulomb (unit symbol: C) is the International System of Units (SI) unit of electric charge. It is the charge (symbol: Q or q) transported by a constant current of one ampere in one second.

1C is equivalent to the charge of approximately 6.242×10^18 electrons.

BTW, Google's first result is seriously wrong.

whatis.techtarget.com/definition/coulomb

The coulomb (symbolized C) is the standard unit of electric charge in the International System of Units (SI). It is a dimensionless quantity [WRONG], sharing this aspect with the mole [the mole IS dimensionless]. A quantity of 1 C is equal to approximately 6.24 x 1018, or 6.24 quintillion. [WRONG]

oldtrack123 · Guru

Hi

YES correct it is not a unit of Electrical energy as that requires voltage in the equation disbelief

Which ever way it goes ,a simple Amphr or Watthr meter is more practical. smile

But for most users a good Voltmeter connected direct to the battery on it's own circuit & understanding what the readings mean is good enough !!

www.convertunits.com/from/ampere/to/coulomb/second

-- Edited by oldtrack123 on Wednesday 9th of March 2016 11:20:57 AM

brickies · Guru

I am with Tom I brought my caravan new ask the dealer to set up the tow bar and WDH , They also set up the in house battery and charger , I felt good vibe in our talks about what we need in the build of the caravan and just trusted the the man , We have had the caravan for 8 years don't look for faults , If it breaks just fix it and enjoy the caravan , I had the caravan serviced recently by Jacks mobile caravan service in Brisbane and ask him to check the whole thing out and good report I trust him so I will just enjoy the life on the road , And don't feel bad that I don't own a multi meter . Sometime it better to leave it to the expert and have less stress .

dorian · Guru

oldtrack123 wrote:
Convert Coulombs to Amps per second or even further to Amphrs
www.convertunits.com/from/ampere/to/coulomb/second

A coulomb cannot be expressed in amps per second. The two quantities have dissimilar dimensions.

1 coulomb per second = 1 ampere

oldtrack123 · Guru

brickies wrote:
I am with Tom I brought my caravan new ask the dealer to set up the tow bar and WDH , They also set up the in house battery and charger , I felt good vibe in our talks about what we need in the build of the caravan and just trusted the the man , We have had the caravan for 8 years don't look for faults , If it breaks just fix it and enjoy the caravan , I had the caravan serviced recently by Jacks mobile caravan service in Brisbane and ask him to check the whole thing out and good report I trust him so I will just enjoy the life on the road , And don't feel bad that I don't own a multi meter . Sometime it better to leave it to the expert and have less stress .

Hi

How do you know the state of charge of your batteries?

How do you know if they have seriously lost capacity?

If you bush camp , how do you know when the batteries are getting too low in charge & may be permanently damaged by further use?

Of course if you mainly use MAINS power /Cps the above may not present any problems smile

oldtrack123 · Guru

dorian wrote:
oldtrack123 wrote:
Convert Coulombs to Amps per second or even further to Amphrs
www.convertunits.com/from/ampere/to/coulomb/second
A coulomb cannot be expressed in amps per second. The two quantities have dissimilar dimensions.
1 coulomb per second = 1 ampere

Note, I corrected that 9 minutes before your reply smile

-- Edited by oldtrack123 on Wednesday 9th of March 2016 11:34:01 AM

Jaahn · Guru

oldtrack123 wrote:
Hi--------------------
But for most users a good Voltmeter connected direct to the battery on it's own circuit & understanding what the readings mean is good enough !!
----------------------

Hi,

Yes I have found that with a good voltmeter and a bit of experience i can see what my batteries are doing at a glance. My wife can too biggrin

I have an expensive one which has a(2) row of LED lights, 15 I think and different colours not just a couple, and it is easy to see at a glance. A digital meter is accurate but needs some brain conversion when you look at it and most do not really understand it. hmm

Jaahn

aussie_paul · Guru

Last night I disconnected the solar from the controller at around 9pm. The voltage was 13.0. At midday today the voltage was 12.8. The only current being drawn was for a couple of digital volt meters and the LCD controller scrolling. How does this stack up?

Aussie Paul. smile

03_Troopy · Guru

Coolum is a beach in QLD

oldtrack123 · Guru

aussie_paul wrote:
Last night I disconnected the solar from the controller at around 9pm. The voltage was 13.0. At midday today the voltage was 12.8. The only current being drawn was for a couple of digital volt meters and the LCD controller scrolling. How does this stack up?
Aussie Paul.

HI Paul

That would indicate that whatever capacity the Battery has ,THAT capacity is FULLY charged. biggrin

aussie_paul · Guru

oldtrack123 wrote:
aussie_paul wrote:
Last night I disconnected the solar from the controller at around 9pm. The voltage was 13.0. At midday today the voltage was 12.8. The only current being drawn was for a couple of digital volt meters and the LCD controller scrolling. How does this stack up?
Aussie Paul.

HI Paul
That would indicate that whatever capacity the Battery has ,THAT capacity is FULLY charged.

Thanks oldtrack, can I assume that the batteries are in reasonable condition?

Aussie Paul. smile

oldtrack123 · Guru

Hi Paul
That is the catch.
It lies with"That would indicate that whatever capacity the Battery has ,THAT capacity is FULLY charged"

It purely indicates that WHAT EVER CAPACITY THE BATTERY MAY NOW HAVE is fully charged.
As a battery ages it looses capacity [that can be due to many reasons]so a 100Ahr battery when new can slowly loose charge capacity until it becomes useless [say now only 10Ahrs capacity] but that will still charge up fully by voltage.

aussie_paul · Guru

oldtrack123 wrote:

Hi Paul
That is the catch.
It lies with"That would indicate that whatever capacity the Battery has ,THAT capacity is FULLY charged"

It purely indicates that WHAT EVER CAPACITY THE BATTERY MAY NOW HAVE is fully charged.
As a battery ages it looses capacity [that can be due to many reasons]so a 100Ahr battery when new can slowly loose charge capacity until it becomes useless [say now only 10Ahrs capacity] but that will still charge up fully by voltage.

Ok oldtrack123, today it is still 12.8. If battery is getting stuffed would it lose voltage unloaded?

Aussie Paul. smile

oldtrack123 · Guru

aussie_paul wrote:
oldtrack123 wrote:

Hi Paul
That is the catch.
It lies with"That would indicate that whatever capacity the Battery has ,THAT capacity is FULLY charged"

It purely indicates that WHAT EVER CAPACITY THE BATTERY MAY NOW HAVE is fully charged.
As a battery ages it looses capacity [that can be due to many reasons]so a 100Ahr battery when new can slowly loose charge capacity until it becomes useless [say now only 10Ahrs capacity] but that will still charge up fully by voltage.
Ok oldtrack123, today it is still 12.8. If battery is getting stuffed would it lose voltage unloaded?
Aussie Paul.

Hi Paul

No, Not quickly, if it has only lost capacity

It will loose voltage with no load, IF it has high internal electrical leakage

A shorted or partially shorted plate

Excess sludge in the bottom ,again partially shorting plates

aussie_paul · Guru

Hi Paul

No, Not quickly, if it has only lost capacity
It will loose voltage with no load, IF it has high internal electrical leakage
A shorted or partially shorted plate
Excess sludge in the bottom ,again partially shorting plates

Thanks oldtrack123.

Aussie Paul. smile

greyhoundtom · Senior Member

There you go ...... more very useful information.

Like a I'm sure a lot of people are, I was under the impression that if a battery, after having been fully charged lost voltage quickly, it was time to start looking for a replacement.

While that is still obviously an indicator, I was not aware that a battery could hold voltage for a period of time and still be stuffed due to the fact that it had lost CAPACITY.

oldtrack123 · Guru

greyhoundtom wrote:
There you go ...... more very useful information.
Like a I'm sure a lot of people are, I was under the impression that if a battery, after having been fully charged lost voltage quickly, it was time to start looking for a replacement.
While that is still obviously an indicator, I was not aware that a battery could hold voltage for a period of time and still be stuffed due to the fact that it had lost CAPACITY.

Hi Tom

I think there are of lot of people who do not understand lost capacity

Just a little bit more on THAT

It is quite common with sulphated batteries ,where the active area is reduced by heavy sulphation

also batteries which have lost active material from the plates

Phil C · Guru

Gday gang

When I was in the RAAF the best way to test a battery was on load (eg 10 hour rate) measure the voltage after a time and calculate the state of health of the battery. The very best way was a constant load until the battery was flat or a preset low voltage, that gave us a percentage capacity of the battery.

I do believe there are such devices available today to test the on load state of the battery and calculate the health of it. Just saying....

Cheers from Esperance WA on our way to Perth