Having problem with new batteries going dead Fast!

[ulvik]

I just bought a new to us 2015 Big Country 3650RL. I changed the existing older 12 volt batteries for two new 6V golf cart batteries and wired them to 12 volts. I also installed 2 100 watt Renogy Panels, a Renogy Adventurer Li- 30A PWM controller with a Renogy BT-1 Bluetooth Module through a 1500 watt pure sine inverter. Well after charging all day I plugged in my campers shore plug into my inverter and turned off the converter inside on the breaker panel. All worked well and we watched about an hour of TV that night and run a small fan through out the night but woke up at 6AM to both batteries completely dead! What gives I run the exact same setup on my other camper with 12V batteries and it did great with a lot more usage. Everything inside was off and the Fridge was on LP. Anyone have any ideas what it could be or where I need to start looking? Also should I try and run 4 6volt batteries or go to 412V batteries which will let me boondock longer and give me more sustainable power?

[Almot]

Monitor-shmonitor... It will do a lot of good when you don't use it. Or - when there is not enough charging for given loads.

You have a tiny solar. Get a 12V fan. Convert lights to LED if the factory haven't done so. Look at the battery voltage - on controller display - in the morning and later from time to time, until you get the idea of what is going on.

Did I mention to look at the display? :)... Broken controller input wire - or output, the OP has gone cryptic again. It would read zero amps on display and battery voltage would not be rising. Your solar was not working, you would've known this yesterday if you had checked the display.

For pure academic thrill, if you really must know current drawn by each and any of your devices, turn them On, one by one, when sun is shining and battery is in Float. Pump not running - X amps on display, turn the pump on - Y amps, subtract one from another. Elementary school math, 2nd grade (or is it 1st grade?). If this is too difficult, then look at the voltage in the morning and correct your energy use accordingly.

You added 2 more 6V - now you can (and will) conserve energy less than before, while still having no idea how your charging is going. Happy camping...

[pnichols]

The above problem that the OP had is a good example of how much faster trouble-shooting would have went with a built-in ammeter for their RV's battery system.

An ammeter shunt in the battery bank's negative or positive main cable to the RV with the shunt's digital readout on a wall in the RV would have indicated that too much negative (-) current flow from the batteries was occuring ... showing that the problem was entirely due to either no charging taking place at all, or due to too little charging taking place.

We've had a built-in ammeter in our RV for years, and it's readings have helped save our bacon a few times when things went haywire in it's 12 volt system. It shows (+) readings when the batteries are overall receiving current and (-) readings when the batteries are overall delivering current.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

A monitoring station is self-explanatory.

A station to be monitored

Not a who-goes-there guard post 🙂

But something you look at twice a day to minimize surprises

"Hmmmm. Batteries have low voltage. No incoming amps"

"From either the converter or the solar panels"

"What wire is common to both?"

"Must be this little gizmo here in that wire"

"Let's grab the meter and see"

One thing a recreational vehicle is not, is a hand's off piece of recreational equipment.

It's like owning a horse. You have to know a little about horses, or you'd better have a lunch packed or never venture far from the corral.

[Dtank]

theoldwizard1 wrote:



I am get SICK AND TIRED of people asking fr help on electrical issues when they WILL NOT HELP THEMSELVES !

SICK: Take two aspirin & some of the pink stuff.

TIRED: Get a good night's sleep.

You should be happy!..:)
The OP found help, so in essence he did help himself..:C

If none of that helped *YOU* - try an anger management class..:R

.

[ulvik]

Thanks for all of your comments! Sorry I didn't get back sooner we have been tearing into it to find out the issue. Ended up being a bad auto-resetting fuse or breaker near the battery from the onboard converter to the battery so the batteries were not getting any charge from shore power or generator. Also had a break in a wire to the controller that would not give an adequate charge. Changed all the issues and put all of the batteries on a slow charge even added 2 more 6v. Thanks to some of you as always for your incite and knowledge! Happy camping!

[red31]

(User: 12.6-16 V), not much control I'm told.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Long distance fortune telling without the palm or tea leaves

[mike-s]

Almot wrote:
A working solar and some other charging source, both running all day, and battery is still not near full?

That, and his controller doesn't have much control - 14.6V absorption voltage for FLA. A T-105 wants 14.82. A Sam's Club Duracell (Deka) wants 14.64. Costco Interstate (JCI?), higher than either.

And, that 95% is almost certainly based on just voltage, so even that 14.4V likely wasn't achieved, let alone for the hours needed.

[Almot]

Mr Wiz, they watched TV for one hour only.

110V fan, with inverter losses could indeed use half of their full charge (if it was full, which we don't know). Get a 12V box fan.

[Almot]

Another possibility, - he says that fridge was on gas but was flashing "Low AU".

My fridge doesn't talk, it's only flashing the lights, so I don't know what AU means. Fridge left in "Automatic" mode could choose 110V instead of gas. Then it will drain the battery in a matter of hours, and then it will be flashing lights and refuse to start on propane either, because there is no 12V to feed the thermostat.

To prevent this, fridge should be set in LP, not Auto.

[MrWizard]

box fan was off
inverter shut off point has been reached, 11v ?, 10.5v ?
fridge was giving a 'fault' alert

my 12" desk fan draws 33w of 120v, 4-5 amps inverter power

that 20" box fan can draw 100w easy depending on the setting
i 'think' low is around 60w

its not hard to use more power than you think you are using

how large is the TV, how bright the is the display
i know i have the ambient light sensor 'turned off' on my TV so the brightness is always at the same level
not full bright but not low, i don't like a dull picture when watching a movie

[2oldman]

Almot wrote:
What does it mean "battery dead", - there is no such reading on this controller :).

I'm thinking the answer will be "oops, I was wrong."

[Almot]

Let's not get distracted, hopefully the OP still reads this. Fridge was in LP mode - or so he says.

Need to know volts. What does it mean "battery dead", - there is no such reading on this controller :).

I would not trust 95% evening charge or 10% morning charge on the controller either - not clear what this is based on.
Morning voltage before solar kicks in is more informative. Tell us the volts, please.

[Almot]

mike-s wrote:
I didn't assume anything. I asked how he charged the batteries.

A working solar and some other charging source, both running all day, and battery is still not near full?