Good Morning- I just completed a project putting a 150 Watt Poly Panel on my Camper Van and I have an older RV Battery it is charging- my concern is with the voltages and the battery type.The battery is a Les Schwab Deep Cycle RV- I'm sorry, but I do not know the Amp Hour rating it has a part number of 24DC-550, The battery was used and I had a trickle charger keeping it at around 12,6 Volts only.Here is a pic of the batteryThe Solar COntroller is an inexpensive 10 Amp PWMAnd here is a battery monitor screenshot of the chargning output As you can see- the controller is putting a little over 4 amps in and cycling up to aroung 14.9 volts according to its screen.My concern is if this is overcharging the battery and should I be worried?Sorry, I know I should have a better grasp on this stuff, but my intention was to be using a new 100 AH AGM battery- just haven;t bought it yet.....Thank you for checking this and helping me!

Update- I just checked it and the battery is cool too the touch, but I definitely hear some sounds like a soft bubbling or gurgling.

The battery appears to be a 12v wet cell, and looking at your screen, the battery is at 97% SOC (state of charge) and climbing, thus the continuation of the 4+ amps charge... A quick check of my system (in operation now with two wet cells) at 100% SOC shows 14.55v solar charging volts @ about 2.0 MPPT charging amps...BTW, what is the make and manufacturer of your screen?? Very nice!3 tons

I might add that even though my battery SOC is at 100%, it is still connected to the camper, thus a small amount of parasitical drain is occuring (refer, CO, smoke and LPG detectors, various logic boards)3 tons

Traveler7 wrote:Update- I just checked it and the battery is cool too the touch, but I definitely hear some sounds like a soft bubbling or gurgling.Depending on your battery specifics your voltage could be a tenth or two too high, and your controller may offer an adjustment for such.... As far as the soft gurgling goes, the recharging process is knocking sulfates off the plates and properly returning them back to solution (actually a mixing of the solution)...The slow chemical process of Sulfating of the plates occurs each time you extract power from the battery - charging undo’s this chemical process....

3 tons wrote:The battery appears to be a 12v wet cell, and looking at your screen, the battery is at 97% SOC (state of charge) and climbing, thus the continuation of the 4+ amps charge... A quick check of my system (in operation now with two wet cells) at 100% SOC shows 14.55v solar charging volts @ about 2.0 MPPT charging amps...BTW, what is the make and manufacturer of your screen?? Very nice!3 tonsThe monitor screen is just a fire tablet running software that is driven by a bluetooth connected battery monitor. here is a link to the product Accutire MS-51 Amazon is out, but you may be able to find one somewhere else if you want it.Yeah, I think the controller is working properly- thanks for the assistance!

^^^^^New Solar Install Battery Safety Question^^^^^

Traveler7
Explorer
May 28, 2018
Last post although I will check responses if you have a comment- comments are appreciated!

I reconnected the panel and the battery voltage was over 16! I had read about someone who was using the GEL setting on his PWM Controller because it didn't overcharge the battery, so I changed my setting on the Controller while the panel was connected. Immediately the Voltage shown on the Controller changed to read the correct Voltage in the battery and the Controller shut off the panel.

I turned on everything electric I could to start dropping the voltage and I changed the Battery Setting back to OPEN and the Controller still gave the correct voltage reading and kept the Panels off.

Because of this uncertainty with this Controller I bit the bullet and ordered a Victron BlueSolar 75/15 MPPT Controller and the Bluetooth Dongel from Amazon. Should get here Friday and be ready to put on my new 100 AH AGM Battery that is on the way. Too much money, but in the long run worth it!

Thanks to everyone who commented, I truly appreciate your experience and knowledge.

Pics
Traveler7
Explorer
May 28, 2018
Ok- I just turned the panel off. The internal Battery voltage is 13.3 now so I really don't know if this is working out. The only load on it now is the absorption fridge- which I put on yesterday and ran all night. It is only at 63 degrees now, but I know 12 volt is not the best way to chill it down- just wanted to see what the load was.

I'm going to leave the panel off for awhile and see how the battery tracks and maybe pull the covers off to check fluid level in a few hours.
3_tons
Explorer III
May 28, 2018
Its the voltage at the battery that matters.... If you disconnect the battery and wait and hour or two (to allow time for the misleading ‘surface charge’ to dissipate), a fully charged good battery should read in the vicinity 12.6x volts...
Traveler7
Explorer
May 28, 2018
red31 wrote:
time2roll wrote:
Why are you even reading panel voltage? Just making this confusing.
Panel voltage is irrelevant.

I believe the OP is suggesting that at the battery the voltage jumps (rises) to 16+v.

'Even under charge', the OP should only see max 14.4 or 14.6v at the battery.

Yes. My readings are all off the battery post where the controller is attached.
red31
Explorer
May 28, 2018
time2roll wrote:
Why are you even reading panel voltage? Just making this confusing.
Panel voltage is irrelevant.

I believe the OP is suggesting that at the battery the voltage jumps (rises) to 16+v.

'Even under charge', the OP should only see max 14.4 or 14.6v at the battery.

The OP keeps becoming the controller by disconnecting the panel!!!!
red31
Explorer
May 28, 2018
panel voltage is irrelevant at this time. Are you suggesting that the bluetooth meter connected to the battery is a couple of volts off?

Below is what my ole cotroller did, PV and battery volts near identical till battery V = 14.4v (AGM). Battery voltage stayed constant 14.4v for 2 hrs then the controller droped its output to 13.? FLOAT, of course I did not cut off the time scale!

It seems you controller is not controlling the voltage properly.
time2roll
Nomad
May 28, 2018
Why are you even reading panel voltage? Just making this confusing.
Panel voltage is irrelevant.
Traveler7
Explorer
May 28, 2018
grizzzman wrote:
Are all your voltage testing at the battery posts?

Yes and it is pretty clear that the 16 volts I am reading is the INPUT from the Controller and not the Batteries internal volatage.

The Battery is reading 13.8 at the posts and on the Controller with the panel off and when I turn it on the reading immediately ramps up to 16.2 volts. I don't have another way to read it, but I think we are good and the internal Battery voltage is actually only 13,8 even under charge.
Traveler7
Explorer
May 28, 2018
3 tons wrote:
Traveler7 wrote:
Ok- so battery ran all night with a light load and maintained 12.6, This AM the controller is putting 2.2 amps avg. in Float Mode and cycling the battery to 15.5 or so and then letting it drop to 14.4 or so....seems effective?

The 15.5v seems too high, but I wonder if this is actually the controller input voltage?

You may be right about this- all my readings are off the screw posts so and that is where the Controller is attached as well.

I'm going to move the MMeter to the other terminals to get a "Clean" reading now.
grizzzman
Explorer
May 28, 2018
Are all your voltage testing at the battery posts?