Yes it's my own D***N fault
First part of this was posted Sunday on the "What Did You Do to Your Class A MH Today" Forum.
Not really asking for help. Sympathy maybe. Just really a comment. Perhaps someone will learn something. Maybe even me.
It was going into the tech Monday to replace (on warranty) the Coleman basement heatpump. So since I would need an early start on what might be a drizzly Monday I decided to get things all ready the day before. The rig hasn't moved since winterizing in the fall.
Before pulling the shore power and storing the cords I thought to check things over: NO SHORE POWER incoming. The Maxx fan had been left on, as well as the ham radio in beacon mode. Neither were working, nor were the lights. Not even the LEDs. :E
Switch them off, go check the plug on the shore power extension: Plug hanging loose from the socket. Looks like a deer or a neighbour or what ever had bumped it and partially pulled the plug. It's under tall trees so the solar wouldn't have been able to keep up.
Batteries: 4 6V GCs, rated at 484 AH
Xantrex Prosine 2.0 Inverter/Charger (Max 100 A charging)
420 Watts of Solar, BlueSky MPPT controller.
The Xantrex charger voltmeter was reading nothing.
Plugged the shore power back in--nothing. (Tripped the breaker down by the house as I discovered later.) Started the Cummins, waited until I could see a decent (13V+) on the display and started the Onan 7.5 gen, checked that the Xantrex was charging.
Here is one interesting/puzzling thing:
It charged away at 80 Amps for several (4+) hours before tapering. Hmmmm. The max charge rate is set for 96 Amps, max voltage set at 14.8V. Never saw it above 14.0 but I didn't stay there watching it.
Once the charge current had reduced (around 30 A at 13.8V) I shut down the gen and moved the rig out of its parking pad into the drive, hooked up Wrangler for towing, ready for morning. After sitting for an hour or two, Xantrex voltmeter reading 12.9 We'll see what it says in the AM. (Forgot to check before starting it up.
On picking up the rig next day (Tuesday) about noon, the batteries were showing about 12.5 volts. The rig was parked under trees but the solar would have been on for a few hours.
Took the rig to the wash for a quick rinse (The solar panels were FILTHY)
Back home I pulled the solar controller input and killed all the internal loads to let the batteries sit undisturbed. About 6 hours later the batteries were reading 12.54V according to the BlueSky readout.
This morning (Wednesday) displayed 12.45V (Solar panels still disconnected).
Around noon today I plugged the shorepower in and energised the Xantrex charger. Charging at about 60 Amps. Solar still disconnected.
More later. I'll keep this thread going until I decide if I need to replace the GSs or not. We're likely going to Mexico for the winter so I don't want iffy batteries.
I know I have probably seriously damaged these 4 2 year old GSs, how badly remains to be seen. Batteries: 4 6V GCs, rated at 484 AH
:S
Not really asking for help. Sympathy maybe. Just really a comment. Perhaps someone will learn something. Maybe even me.
It was going into the tech Monday to replace (on warranty) the Coleman basement heatpump. So since I would need an early start on what might be a drizzly Monday I decided to get things all ready the day before. The rig hasn't moved since winterizing in the fall.
Before pulling the shore power and storing the cords I thought to check things over: NO SHORE POWER incoming. The Maxx fan had been left on, as well as the ham radio in beacon mode. Neither were working, nor were the lights. Not even the LEDs. :E
Switch them off, go check the plug on the shore power extension: Plug hanging loose from the socket. Looks like a deer or a neighbour or what ever had bumped it and partially pulled the plug. It's under tall trees so the solar wouldn't have been able to keep up.
Batteries: 4 6V GCs, rated at 484 AH
Xantrex Prosine 2.0 Inverter/Charger (Max 100 A charging)
420 Watts of Solar, BlueSky MPPT controller.
The Xantrex charger voltmeter was reading nothing.
Plugged the shore power back in--nothing. (Tripped the breaker down by the house as I discovered later.) Started the Cummins, waited until I could see a decent (13V+) on the display and started the Onan 7.5 gen, checked that the Xantrex was charging.
Here is one interesting/puzzling thing:
It charged away at 80 Amps for several (4+) hours before tapering. Hmmmm. The max charge rate is set for 96 Amps, max voltage set at 14.8V. Never saw it above 14.0 but I didn't stay there watching it.
Once the charge current had reduced (around 30 A at 13.8V) I shut down the gen and moved the rig out of its parking pad into the drive, hooked up Wrangler for towing, ready for morning. After sitting for an hour or two, Xantrex voltmeter reading 12.9 We'll see what it says in the AM. (Forgot to check before starting it up.
On picking up the rig next day (Tuesday) about noon, the batteries were showing about 12.5 volts. The rig was parked under trees but the solar would have been on for a few hours.
Took the rig to the wash for a quick rinse (The solar panels were FILTHY)
Back home I pulled the solar controller input and killed all the internal loads to let the batteries sit undisturbed. About 6 hours later the batteries were reading 12.54V according to the BlueSky readout.
This morning (Wednesday) displayed 12.45V (Solar panels still disconnected).
Around noon today I plugged the shorepower in and energised the Xantrex charger. Charging at about 60 Amps. Solar still disconnected.
More later. I'll keep this thread going until I decide if I need to replace the GSs or not. We're likely going to Mexico for the winter so I don't want iffy batteries.
I know I have probably seriously damaged these 4 2 year old GSs, how badly remains to be seen. Batteries: 4 6V GCs, rated at 484 AH
:S
