House battery voltage under draw?
I have a new (to me motor home) and an upgrade from my old one. In my old RV, I had to check the house battery voltage manually. With the new rv, I have a switch on the wall. However, when I check t...
Forum Discussion
In the OP:
"However, when I check the batteries while I am using them, they quickly get below 11.9 (to 11.6 or so), but later, when not in use, seem to be OK again at low to mid 12. They are BRAND new. Like one day old!"
In a previous reply I said:
"With a pair of 6s in good shape, being drawn down from full steadily at their "20 hour rate" (of about 11 1/4 amps for 225AH), in 10 hours you will see about 11.6v when they get to 50% SOC. Remove all loads and the voltage should bounce back to about 12.1 (Trojan spec) after a couple of hours"
We now know your voltage readings are ok.
Conclusion is that those two 6s must be about 50% SOC (no idea how they got so low--another story?) so your recharge has to be a biggie.
You want a charger that can do 14.8 volts to get them done right, but on your converter, expect it to take half a day or so to get them sort of charged up. Too long for generator time unless you have a high amp charger (60 amps say) that can do 14.8.
It seems you have no solar, no shore power, and no fast charger? Up the creek with no paddle--? :(
"However, when I check the batteries while I am using them, they quickly get below 11.9 (to 11.6 or so), but later, when not in use, seem to be OK again at low to mid 12. They are BRAND new. Like one day old!"
In a previous reply I said:
"With a pair of 6s in good shape, being drawn down from full steadily at their "20 hour rate" (of about 11 1/4 amps for 225AH), in 10 hours you will see about 11.6v when they get to 50% SOC. Remove all loads and the voltage should bounce back to about 12.1 (Trojan spec) after a couple of hours"
We now know your voltage readings are ok.
Conclusion is that those two 6s must be about 50% SOC (no idea how they got so low--another story?) so your recharge has to be a biggie.
You want a charger that can do 14.8 volts to get them done right, but on your converter, expect it to take half a day or so to get them sort of charged up. Too long for generator time unless you have a high amp charger (60 amps say) that can do 14.8.
It seems you have no solar, no shore power, and no fast charger? Up the creek with no paddle--? :(
