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Old 06-28-2018, 09:44 PM   #21
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Here is a state of charge file to review. To check your state of charge you need to either unplug the camper so that you are not reading the charger voltage. Or disconnect the battery.

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Old 06-30-2018, 10:38 PM   #22
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You said inverter. Is your camper plugged into a generator or shore power? If it is a CONVERTOR will take 110 VAC and change it into 12 VDC power for your equipment and charge your batteries.. But if you are not plugged in and are just justing the batteries they will draw down. If you are using an INVERTER to power your 110 VAC household type outlets, etc. The inverter is a power hog and will draw down the batteries even faster and not recharge the battery
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Old 07-01-2018, 03:04 AM   #23
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my nephew took his battery to O'reilly's whom said it was good,, I took my cheapo 50 amp Harbor freight checker over, and battery could not handle load, my son had Autozone check his battery/ alternator and they said it was good and the alternator was bad. I dont trust them, as they dont know how their testers work. good luck in your search.
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Old 07-01-2018, 05:06 AM   #24
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Batteries draining too soon.

My batteries were draining due to a faulty water pump.
I replaced the pump and all is well again.
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Old 07-01-2018, 10:59 AM   #25
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Quote:
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My batteries were draining due to a faulty water pump.
I replaced the pump and all is well again.
I am curious how the water pump was draining the batteries.

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Old 07-01-2018, 11:27 AM   #26
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WalMart will check your batteries also.
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Old 07-01-2018, 02:28 PM   #27
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Quote:
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I am curious how the water pump was draining the batteries.

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Faulty pressure switch (shorted) would make it run continuously.
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Old 07-03-2018, 02:19 AM   #28
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All fixed

Just wanted to close this out and end with some observations/questions as I've been diving deeper into this.
I got the new converter installed 2 nights ago. I went with the Progressive Dynamics 4655. It comes with both the converter itself as well as a new board (where all the fuses go). The board install is optional but it allows you to manually control the charge rate:
Boost mode:14.4V
Normal: 13.6V
Storage 13.2
Equalization: 14.4
Under normal operation if you leave it alone it switches between these modes automatically, but if you need a quick charge to get the batteries back up as high as possible you can manually switch to boost. Like being in a campground with restricted generator hours.
Anyway, after putting in the converter and board I was seeing good voltage being put out now. Where the old converter showed at best 10.6 I was now getting over 14V. However after running the generator for over 4 hrs, I shut down and again the batteries were dead within 30 minutes. So, I found out that I ruined my batteries running them down for so long.
Got new batteries this morning and now all finally seems to be well! Converter is charging and batteries seem to be holding 3+ hours in.
One question I have at the end of all this? I read this on the Progressive Dynamics website:
"In our testing a 125-AH (Amp Hour) battery was fully discharged to 10.5-volts and then connected to a PD9160 (60-Amp) Converter/Charger set to our standard output voltage of 13.6-volts. The battery reached full charge in 70-hours."
With this I would think we could never achieve a full charge running the generator
while camping? At best we may run the generator 5-6hrs a day. If we go months (or even weeks) dry camping with just the generator and never get the batteries to 100% am I damaging them? Seems kind of crazy!
Thanks again for everyones help
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Old 07-03-2018, 09:32 AM   #29
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Number one rule with lead acid batteries, regardless of type: Avoid discharging them below 50%. An occasional slip below that won't kill them but will shorten the life span. Regular discharge below 50% will.

I can't lay hands on the graph, but the way a typical battery charges is to take a bulk charge fairly quickly, then it takes several hours to get them topped up to 100% using the taper off charge. Just the nature of the beast.

I don't recall if you have one or not, but get a good battery meter to monitor voltage in and out. Something like a Victron or Trimetric. They aren't cheap, but they will give you much better control over what is going on.

If you are spending most of your time off grid and using a generator, consider getting solar panels to keep the batteries topped up.

The other alternative to consider is Li-ion batteries, $1000 each but they have ability to be discharged to 100%, lighter and can take a brutally high charging rate. Battleborn is the brand to buy.

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Old 07-03-2018, 10:39 AM   #30
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Or LifeBlue is a great lithium battery too and has built-in Bluetooth monitoring, very light compared to lead acid, no maintenance and drop in replacement. I have the new 200ah one and love it so far.

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Old 07-03-2018, 11:22 AM   #31
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Originally Posted by wahoonc View Post
Number one rule with lead acid batteries, regardless of type: Avoid discharging them below 50%. An occasional slip below that won't kill them but will shorten the life span. Regular discharge below 50% will.

I can't lay hands on the graph, but the way a typical battery charges is to take a bulk charge fairly quickly, then it takes several hours to get them topped up to 100% using the taper off charge. Just the nature of the beast.

I don't recall if you have one or not, but get a good battery meter to monitor voltage in and out. Something like a Victron or Trimetric. They aren't cheap, but they will give you much better control over what is going on.

If you are spending most of your time off grid and using a generator, consider getting solar panels to keep the batteries topped up.

The other alternative to consider is Li-ion batteries, $1000 each but they have ability to be discharged to 100%, lighter and can take a brutally high charging rate. Battleborn is the brand to buy.

Aaron

I agree with Aaron, LI-ion batteries are the way to go, consider them part of the 10% you spend for chatchkies when you purchase a new RV. Also, I installed a 100w solar panel just to maintain the charge on the batteries, that works wonderful! I also installed it so I could be able to add more. I have a 500w controller.
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Old 07-03-2018, 11:59 PM   #32
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@Wahoonc, funny you should mention solar. I've been starting to look into this. First off trying to figure out the AMP hrs of my (2) batteries? They are just standard 12V deep cycles. I was considering this kit
:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...KIKX0DER&psc=1
Any thoughts or advice? I'd just wire it straight to the batteries to keep them topped up during the day rather than run the generator. I'd still use the generator for microwave, tv, etc.
Thanks,
Randy
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Old 07-04-2018, 01:38 AM   #33
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Renogy is good stuff, I use one of their 100 watt suitcase solar panel set ups to keep my batteries topped up when I am parking lot camping. You are going to ultimately want more power from your solar. My general recommendation is 80 watts per battery minimum, if you plan to use them much at all. Eventually I plan for 200+ watts on the roof of my motor home.

I am assuming that your batteries are the typical "deep" cycle marine batteries that you get from most places. If that is the case they are probably Group 24 or Group 27. At best you have maybe 75-80 amp hours of usable power between the two of them. Eventually I would consider an upgrade to the true deep cycle batteries like the Trojans, or the Li-ion.

A 100 watt solar panel is going to give you a max of maybe 5 amps or so. If you draw down to the 50% level it would take a good 15-20 hours of full sun to get them topped back up. The good news is solar is fairly easy to expand as money allows. And you may not be doing a full draw down, so the solar may be able to keep you ahead of the game. Also check into the differences between the PWM and MPPT controlers. Solar and 12 volt living is a whole different lifestyle. I have a link to a good website, but can't find it at the moment.

Aaron

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Old 07-04-2018, 01:54 AM   #34
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Thanks for the reply Aaron. Solar is of course another worm hole for me to dive into at this point. I did see the system I was looking at seems to be easily expandable. What I'm hoping is for now to go with that system and between that and running the generator a few hours in the AM and PM (catching the news, etc) we may keep the batteries topped up. At least it should be far better than we are doing now! If we find we need more then I have no problem adding panels. From what I read in the comments on that system people are adding 4+ panels to it. At what point would you need a better (larger) charge controller? Or does that not matter.
Thanks again,
Randy
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Old 07-04-2018, 02:09 AM   #35
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I would go to the Renogy website and look at their kits and see what each one has based on future needs. I didn't look closely at the one you linked to. Depending on what your long range plans are it might pay off to buy the larger controller up front. IIRC a 30 watt controller is probably the largest you would conceivably need.

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Old 07-04-2018, 09:56 PM   #36
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I'll add a few thoughts here - I added a 2nd deep cycle battery to my system and use a pair of Harbor Freight 45 watt solar system modules (6 total panels) to keep the batteries charged when off grid doing Amateur Radio activities, I just have to move them as the sun progresses..
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