Njmurvin wrote:
Last week I went dry camping. I could barely get through the night with my setup (single 100 watt solar panel, 2 12V group 24 deep cell marine batteries) using lights (fluo) VERY sparingly and no furnace. Batteries were down to 50-60% by morning each day even though the solar controller (Go Power 30amp) reached float stage each day by mid-day.
I'm trying to diagnose where my deficiencies are (not enough panel watts, controller, batteries, etc.). So far I have removed one of the batteries to simplify my testing. Hydrometer says all cells are fully charged (well over 1.250). I have ordered a multimeter with amp clamp and I plan to determine what the overnight load is when the panel is not charging. Assuming refer on propane, water heater on propane and other parasitic stuff (CO and propane leak detectors) how much load is to be expected?
Dealer says the batteries should be 70ah each but they are off-brand cheapies that they installed. I am very suspicious that they're not providing anywhere close to 70ah. If they were, I would expect my solar system to be working much harder to replenish the batteries after getting down to 50-60% overnight.
Any suggestions for other tests?
In my experience, a marine "deep cycle" (not =really= a deep cycle) battery should have at least 100 ah capacity. I know that my 2nd set of batteries were +/-110 ah each, for a total of 220 ah, when new. Check Costco or Sam's Club for their marine batteries and see what they have. 70 ah seems pretty anemic, to me.
Lyle
