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mikakuja's avatar
mikakuja
Explorer
Sep 12, 2016

New Cruiser MPG 2400BH battery draw issues...

So we recently purchased a new 2016 Cruiser MPG 2400BH trailer...... And the fun begins, first day home and the batteries are so low that the awning will barely move. Figuring that the dealership forgot to charge the new dual 6v 210ah Interstate batteries I plug it in. after a few days I check the trailer and everything seems ok. later that week I install a 260 watt solar system with a remote display, transfer switch and 1500 watt inverter. Now things all seem good as the batteries have been charging all week and both the inverter and solar displays read fully charged. A week later we load the trailer and head out on our first 6 day trip in the new unit.
I should mention that this is our third trailer running a dual 6v battery setups. The solar and inverter setup were transferred from our previous rv and had no issues keeping our batteries topped up during days off grid camping with the family charging every conceivable electronic device.
First day in camp all seems good until we are wakened by the low voltage alarm going off on the co detector and inverter. Day two consisted of running the generator a total of 6hrs and full sun hitting the panels peaking at about 14.5 amps peak. Evening hits and we are not fully charged but above 90 percent which I figure will be more that ample power...... Nope wrong again... roughly 4am and low voltage alarms going off again, and so on for the rest of the trip.
We pretty much tried every form of power saving that we could think of with no positive results...
As soon as we arrived home the batteries were removed and taken in for testing... Next day I returned to the dealership and they replaced the batteries with two new 225ah batteries. Figuring the problem was solved I installed the batteries, made sure they were fully charged and headed out the next week for another week of camping.. While marginally better we found we still couldn't make it through a night without the batteries dropping to 12-12.2 volts by morning, without the furnace running... Running the furnace minimally would only insure the alarms would go off between 3 and 4 am...
Week number 2 I am now angry, and I have another three day trip planned and no time to look for problems.. Yup those three days all with low batteries in the am. I could not run the furnace at all during the night without the batteries being completely depleted even with solar and as much generator time as I could get during the day...
So now I am home and the trailer is going to go back to the dealership for testing and repairs. But not before a little investigative work of my own.
What I did find out so far is that the difference in power between the charge controller and batteries is roughly .8vdc when charging.
When the furnace is being run or the slide or awning are being operated the voltage reading on my charge controller drops to 11.8 -11.9 volts even when the batteries are near fully charged.
Any use of the furnace basically sets off the low voltage alarm on the CO detector if the batteries are anything under 90% charge.
I have also found that there is a condensation heat strip on my fridge that can't be turned off that is always drawing power... What a stupid frickin idea that is..
I am also assuming that the wiring is not adequate to run the trailer without running into a low voltage situation whenever running higher draw items...

Anyway, this is getting long winded so I will stop for now.
I am going to pick up a proper multi meter for measuring draw sometime this week and will post my results.

Any other ideas or suggestions of things to check would be greatly appreciated..

Thanks
  • Thanks, the booster is off for the TV, and the TV is unplugged as I generally don't use it on inverter power. What I did find interesting is that the stereo uses the TV antennae and will not pick up stations with the booster turned off.... I am thinking that I may change that in the future. The only 12v ghost draws I am expecting to find are the stereo memory, fridge and whatever the converter/power center uses. The power center/converter are high on my suspect list for being faulty. I will also check for draws when running the inverter, but so far that doesn't appear to be what caused any of my original issues.
  • Just to clarify for the last post.... I am running 12 AWG PV wire from the panels to the 20A solar controller. This should be more than ample for the system I am running.

    voltage drop calculator
    It all depends on how much power you're willing to lose. Wire loss will exist no matter which size you choose to install.

    FWIW, I have a 15 amp MPPT controller with a 235W panel. I pulled 4 AWG from the roof top to the controller (less than 10') and 4 AWG from the controller to the batteries (less than 3'). All of my 12 V hookup wire is a minimum of 4 AWG.

    You don't have to do it like me. I choose to get as much power between devices and batteries as possible. I figured wire cost is a one time event and harvesting is a daily schedule.
  • Wow... 4 AWG!!! you certainly shouldn't get much loss with that. I certainly can't fault you for under doing things.... I considered going with 8 or 10 but so far the 12AWG seems to be doing fine for me. I am running about 14ft from the panels to the controller.
  • mikakuja wrote:
    Wow... 4 AWG!!! you certainly shouldn't get much loss with that. I certainly can't fault you for under doing things.... I considered going with 8 or 10 but so far the 12AWG seems to be doing fine for me. I am running about 14ft from the panels to the controller.
    Yeah, you probably have in the neighborhood of a 2-3 percent loss with 12 AWG and that length. I didn't run the calculator since it's not my wire.

    I used 4 AWG throughout since I have a fairly sophisticated distribution panel and it was easier/more efficient for me to buy a 100' roll of 4 AWG welding cable, terminate it all with the same lugs, and have low loss of harvest (I'm what some call a "ma counter"). I have one double run of 1/0, to connect a separate bank of 2 X 6V's, run of 6', to the distribution panel. ATM, all my batteries are inside the trailer. I don't plan to change that, it works too well for weight distribution and security. I know what I have is unique and I'm not advocating anyone do the same. I just hope others know how wire size can influence the efficiency of their 12V charging systems. Too often, what is in place from the factory is not efficient or desirable to the RV hobbiest.

    Btw, here's a capable meter for measuring amperage in the range for most RV systems: Tenma meter
  • Smaller wire between solar panels and battery will reduce charging efficiency, but won't prevent a full charge - as the battery approaches full, the current and therefore voltage drop goes down. It helps to have a controller which has remote voltage sensing, but that's minor. If the difference between good and bad is a few percent, you're going to be in trouble during extended cloudy periods anyway. Remote temperature sensing is more important, since it effects the lifetime of the battery.

    Beyond looking for unexpected high loads, it may just be a matter of voltage drop between the battery and the loads, and where the LPCO detector/Low Voltage alarm is wired in. You mentioned it going off even when the battery is at 90%, so maybe you don't have a real battery drain issue.

    LPCO detectors draw minimal power (<100 mA), so it may be a simple matter of wiring it in so it connects as close to the battery as is practical so it doesn't see the voltage drop when large loads kick in. 18 or 20 ga. wire should be fine.
  • Following yesterdays work on the trailer I decided to camp out in the driveway and see if I had in fact resolved any of my dead battery issues...
    I am happy to say that things have drastically improved!!
    I was able to run the furnace all night, and warmer than I normally would for testing purposes. left a couple lights on, charged my dead cell phone and laptop, surfed the net and watched a few movies all with no low voltage alarms or issues.
    I am happy to say that the batteries were still holding above 12.4 at 7am..
  • For the sake of data, what is the charging voltage at the controller and at the batteries, now?
  • At the current time 1030am my controller is charging at 8.5A. Voltage at the controller is 13.9, voltage at the batteries is 13.1. Overnight the voltage was the same at the batteries and the controller which was nice to see as this was not the case prior to the repairs. I am thinking about running a dedicated line from the controller to the batteries which should eliminate any excessive line loss.