Battery SOC Low - Voltage Normal
Hi All. I'm new here so go easy on me. I've Googled for hours but can't find any solid answers. My setup is in my signature. So here's my issue.... Whether plugged into shore power, running my ...
Forum Discussion
5er,
You have some issues. (Big news flash - Huh?)
First is that your instruments do not agree. This is not uncommon, but you have to get into the wrestling match to find out who is right. For starters, I suspect everything.
Your instrument that reads SOC is suspect because the SOC can't change as fast as you have reported without a disaster.
Your voltmeter is inadequate to the task. A lead/acid (LA) batteries entire life is between 12.0 and 12.6(~7). You really need to be able to read 12.XX to know how things are really working.
Your converter/charger is either out of calibration or inadequate. It should be able to bring the house bank to 90% in less than three hours from the 50% (12.00V) mark.
Your house bank may also be in trouble and this will be difficult to diagnose with jars in parallel. When anything gets wrong about one cell in one jar of a parallel bank, the whole set will go down. So, you have to break it up and find out who is the problem. You cannot replace one jar of a parallel bank.
My simple suggestions are that you first buy/borrow a meter that can do 12.XX, then get a way to measure electrolyte density (the true measure of SOC) and that can be a real hydrometer or a refractometer. The car store cheapy hydrometer with floating balls will be useless or worse. It it does not have a thermometer to indicate the temperature correction, then you can only use it at the stated temperature. This is why I carry a refractometer.
Your problems are not original or unique. Before the depression, I did a lot of this work on expensive pleasure boats and they all had problems.
Good Luck Guy
Matt
You have some issues. (Big news flash - Huh?)
First is that your instruments do not agree. This is not uncommon, but you have to get into the wrestling match to find out who is right. For starters, I suspect everything.
Your instrument that reads SOC is suspect because the SOC can't change as fast as you have reported without a disaster.
Your voltmeter is inadequate to the task. A lead/acid (LA) batteries entire life is between 12.0 and 12.6(~7). You really need to be able to read 12.XX to know how things are really working.
Your converter/charger is either out of calibration or inadequate. It should be able to bring the house bank to 90% in less than three hours from the 50% (12.00V) mark.
Your house bank may also be in trouble and this will be difficult to diagnose with jars in parallel. When anything gets wrong about one cell in one jar of a parallel bank, the whole set will go down. So, you have to break it up and find out who is the problem. You cannot replace one jar of a parallel bank.
My simple suggestions are that you first buy/borrow a meter that can do 12.XX, then get a way to measure electrolyte density (the true measure of SOC) and that can be a real hydrometer or a refractometer. The car store cheapy hydrometer with floating balls will be useless or worse. It it does not have a thermometer to indicate the temperature correction, then you can only use it at the stated temperature. This is why I carry a refractometer.
Your problems are not original or unique. Before the depression, I did a lot of this work on expensive pleasure boats and they all had problems.
Good Luck Guy
Matt
