boondocking, need help asap....

RJsfishin wrote:
You are talking "fair - good" language ?
You should have taken the money wasted on that hi dollar controller and bought a digital readout voltmeter for 10 bucks.

I watch my voltage go up and down all the time as clouds pass over, or as the sun sets. What do you think the voltage is supposed to do when the panel goes from full sun to shade ??
Do as advised and read 12v side of life. You really have no clue as to how a battery/charging systems works.

Seems you have no clue what we are talking about! If you don't have anything helpful/nice to say please don't say anything at all.

You are talking "fair - good" language ?
You should have taken the money wasted on that hi dollar controller and bought a digital readout voltmeter for 10 bucks.

I watch my voltage go up and down all the time as clouds pass over, or as the sun sets. What do you think the voltage is supposed to do when the panel goes from full sun to shade ??
Do as advised and read 12v side of life. You really have no clue as to how a battery/charging systems works.

Pulled the plug from genny, didn't do anything, oil is good, fresh fuel.

Ran the truck a while yesterday, that charges the batteries. Don't have cables long enough and don't want to run down truck batteries since I am not driving it.

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

There is one last thing to try with the solar. Just direct connect the solar panel to the battery bank. You will have to disconnect manually late in the day, say an hour before sunset

That's a good idea too. Keep an eye on the battery voltage, let it get to around 15volts or so and then disconnect if it will go that high

For the generator, you could try removing the spark plug and then see if you can pull the starter. If that works put the spark plug back in and try to start it then. Doubt if this will help but certainly worth trying.

If you have a long set of heavy duty jumper cables you could start your truck and charge the TC batteries using the alternator by jumping your truck batteries to the TC batteries for a couple of hours. Won't fully charge in that time but might give you enough charge to get you off such a deleted state on the TC batteries and then let the Morningstar maintain them. Assumming the TC batteries are still good

Hi,

There is one last thing to try with the solar. Just direct connect the solar panel to the battery bank. You will have to disconnect manually late in the day, say an hour before sunset.

This will allow some charging from the solar panel and will eliminate the possible failure of the Morningstar controller.

If you have jumper cables you can use the truck to recharge the house batteries. It is not ideal but it is better than sitting in the dark.

hmknightnc wrote:

campermama wrote:


I did this when I noticed the drain, the batteries then seemed to drain "normally" or at least at a slower pace.

With the battery completely disconnected it should have settled down to 12.6 or so volts and lowered to that value very slowly. You are experiencing the classic symptoms of depeleted or failing batteries. You have to do two things in order for us to try to help you

1.) Check your solar controller wiring setup to make sure it is correct

2.) Get your batteries fully charged and that little 55 watt solar is not going to do it from a depeted state. It will at best maintain your batteries while boondocking. Your going to probably need at least 2 days plugged into shore power/generator.

Well like I said, not able to get to shore power and my genny is not working, won't start (ran fine at home before I left) now can't pull the cord to even try to start it. Guess I am screwed for now.....my life is neer easy

load terminals are for something you wish to power from the battery
like a 'security light at night'

batteries should be connected to 'battery'

solar to solar/'input'

and if there is an option switch, turn load 'OFF'

campermama wrote:
Ok first of all please reread what i wrote......the cheapy controller that was given to me worked better the the new NOT CHEAPY one I have now!
I expect voltage to drop over night due to fridge etc running, but not to drop the way it is because a cloud passes over! How can a battery go from good to fair in a matter of 20 minutes? Something isn't right.

if a cloud passes over and 'solar charging' (reduces/stops) then you are running on strictly battery power, so yes the RV monitor panel reading is going to change and show 'what it thinks the battery level is' , which is usually optimistic, so fair on the RV monitor panel is actually "POOR"

campermama wrote:


I did this when I noticed the drain, the batteries then seemed to drain "normally" or at least at a slower pace.

With the battery completely disconnected it should have settled down to 12.6 or so volts and lowered to that value very slowly. You are experiencing the classic symptoms of depeleted or failing batteries. You have to do two things in order for us to try to help you

1.) Check your solar controller wiring setup to make sure it is correct

2.) Get your batteries fully charged and that little 55 watt solar is not going to do it from a depeted state. It will at best maintain your batteries while boondocking. Your going to probably need at least 2 days plugged into shore power/generator.

Hi campermama,

How is the Morningstar connected?

I hope you did not use the "load" terminals for the battery.