Strange Charging Problem
I am having a problem with charging my batteries at my campsite that I hope someone will have some ideas about. My setup: two GC2 6 volt batteries are charged from either the built-in IOTA converter/charger or 190 watts of solar through a Prostar 15 controller.
Everything was working fine before I left home, but in the campsite with shore power connected, the battery voltage never goes above 12.6. Normally when plugged into shore power the IOTA puts out 13.4v and in the sun the solar charges at around 14.4v. After a night with furnace use the Trimetric show about 5 amp/hrs used and voltage drops to around 12.3v, so only slightly discharged.
During the day the Trimetric shows that the battery has recovered the 5 amp/hrs and the amps input shows up to 1 amp (in a shady site) from the solar. All fuses are good and there is normal battery voltage at every point. The solar's Prostar controller never flashes its charge light - its always just on solid even when the battery is low.
These 2 systems should be independent of each other. I would suspect that either the IOTA or the Prostar has failed, but how could both be not working at the same time? And how can the battery be charging if voltage never rises above 12.6v? I have a a voltmeter with me but no hydrometer so I can't really properly test the battery.
And I forgot to bring my portable battery charger so I can't do a proper top off charge. I will not be returning home for a while so I need to figure this out with limited tools.
Everything was working fine before I left home, but in the campsite with shore power connected, the battery voltage never goes above 12.6. Normally when plugged into shore power the IOTA puts out 13.4v and in the sun the solar charges at around 14.4v. After a night with furnace use the Trimetric show about 5 amp/hrs used and voltage drops to around 12.3v, so only slightly discharged.
During the day the Trimetric shows that the battery has recovered the 5 amp/hrs and the amps input shows up to 1 amp (in a shady site) from the solar. All fuses are good and there is normal battery voltage at every point. The solar's Prostar controller never flashes its charge light - its always just on solid even when the battery is low.
These 2 systems should be independent of each other. I would suspect that either the IOTA or the Prostar has failed, but how could both be not working at the same time? And how can the battery be charging if voltage never rises above 12.6v? I have a a voltmeter with me but no hydrometer so I can't really properly test the battery.
And I forgot to bring my portable battery charger so I can't do a proper top off charge. I will not be returning home for a while so I need to figure this out with limited tools.
