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New house batteries

rickvikki
Explorer
Explorer
Hello once again
We have a 2006 tiffen phaeton 40 ft.
We have just replaced our 4 deep cycle house batteries.
Question - when we are dry camped and running power thru the inverter how many DC volts should we see?

We currently see 12.5 which is what we saw with old batteries?
Rick and Vikki Landry
Ottawa, Canada
Tiffen Phaeton 2006 (40 ft.)
6 REPLIES 6

pnichols
Explorer II
Explorer II
pianotuna wrote:
And my 566 amp-hours of surplus acid AGM's with a load of 276 amps exhibit voltage drop to 11.7. If I cook a scrambled egg (1 minute, in the microwave), and make toast (6 minutes), I have to drive for one hour at highway speed to replenish the battery bank.


Don .... fancy seeing you here in the Class A forum!!

Boy, one hour of driving seems a bit much just for 1 egg and 1 piece of toast. Are you sure of how well your engine's alternator and rooftop solar recharging systems are working while driving down the road? :h
2005 E450 Itasca 24V Class C

crasster
Explorer II
Explorer II
12.5 is good especially if there is a load on new batts. There are variables but sounds ok to me.
4 whopping cylinders on Toyota RV's. Talk about great getting good MPG. Also I have a very light foot on the pedal. I followed some MPG advice on Livingpress.com and I now get 22 MPG! Not bad for a home on wheels.

wa8yxm
Explorer III
Explorer III
How many volts should we see... (I wish I saw 12.5) Depends on where you measure (I'm using the voltmeter inside the inverter).

IF measuring at the battery 12.5 is fantastic 12.6 is resting voltage full charge and with the kind of amps an inverter pulls 0.1 volt drop is amazing (on the good side).

If measuring at the inverter... Put inverter in standby (no load or minimal load) and note voltage... Then enable inverter and note voltage.. The difference is your "line loss" consisting of internal resistance in teh batteriesm, Wire loss, and connection loss.. this is your "Loaded" full charge voltage. Mine can go down rather far (I show 0.02 ohms resistance.. If I'm sucking say 1,000 watts (roughly 100 amps) that is 2 full volts drop. I'm still working to lower that resistance.
Home was where I park it. but alas the.
2005 Damon Intruder 377 Alas declared a total loss
after a semi "nicked" it. Still have the radios
Kenwood TS-2000, ICOM ID-5100, ID-51A+2, ID-880 REF030C most times

pianotuna
Nomad III
Nomad III
And my 566 amp-hours of surplus acid AGM's with a load of 276 amps exhibit voltage drop to 11.7. If I cook a scrambled egg (1 minute, in the microwave), and make toast (6 minutes), I have to drive for one hour at highway speed to replenish the battery bank.
Regards, Don
My ride is a 28 foot Class C, 256 watts solar, 556 amp-hours of Telcom jars, 3000 watt Magnum hybrid inverter, Sola Basic Autoformer, Microair Easy Start.

dahkota
Explorer
Explorer
It depends on the load.
If my fully charged batteries have no load and nothing putting in amps, they read 12.6.
If my fully charged batteries have a 5-10 amp load and nothing putting in amps, they read 12.5
If my fully charged batteries have a 90 amp load (coffee pot) and nothing putting in amps, they read 12.2. They go back to 12.5 or 12.6 when the pot stops brewing.

All of this is normal.
2015 Jeep Willys Wrangler
2014 Fleetwood Bounder 33C
States camped: all but Hawaii
more than 1700 days on the road

corvettekent
Explorer
Explorer
12.5 is a fill charged battery. The inverter will draw that down depending on what you are powering with the inverter.
2022 Silverado 3500 High Country CC/LB, SRW, L5P. B&W Companion Hitch with pucks. Hadley air horns.

2004 32' Carriage 5th wheel. 860 watts of solar MPPT, two SOK 206 ah LiFePO4 batteries. Samlex 2,000 watt Pure Sine Wave Inverter.