Thread: Battery problem?

Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

Yes Thanks Trout...
Never seen one before...


at least two reasons why Crusader didnt use them--
They cost extra money
and
They cost time (money).

If you spent this amount of money on a new BMW Merc etc you would NEVER accept half the things that go on in new vans...

(maybe after bootlacing the crimp wouldnt fit in a 6awg hole anymore??)

These crimps are dirt cheap, they are faster to use than twisting the wire and struggling to feed it in the hole and Yes with the correct size crimp fitted it will easilly fit

I guess That I haven't been clear on what I recommend.
The reason that I want Op to disconnect the solar panel and controller is that is is the beginning of troubleshooting systematically.
if the batteries stay up, great the solar panels or controller are the problem.
If not then next step is to disconnect all of the loads then add them back in one by one.
All the electronic doodads will tell you what is happening but not WHY. The why or identification of the problem can only really be done by systematically going through the inputs and loads to see where the problem lies and then addressing that issue.
Regards PhilipA

Yes Phillip, I agree your way is simple and probably foolproof.



ATM the batts are losing maybe .25V overnight, I think thats pretty reasonable considering the accumulated draw of items.

While I'm not happy with the voltage drop theres little I can do except check the crimps.

will a bad crimp put a hard limit on volts transferred?
or just lose a ( if ever increasing) percentage?

I think ( and I know very little, hence why we are all here-- ) the main problem is the seemingly hard limit the batts reach, around 13.1V that no amount of sunshine will increase. I dont think a bad crimp or voltage drop is the culprit..

The controller is putting out 14V and the batts are at 13.01


and just one more finger in the pie--
what would you trust more? a $500 Victron solar controller or an $11 multimeter.....

anyway its beer oclock...

Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

The controller is putting out 14V and the batts are at 13.01

That makes no sense.

You either have a very long cable run of thin wire between the solar controller and battery or you have a massive load.

Otherwise, you have some bad connections somewhere in your system.

A near one volt drop is a massive difference, and your batteries loosing 0.25v overnight is also unusual.

Lithium batteries, in good condition and state of charge, should have next to no loose of voltage over night, even with a good load applied.

BTW, if 13.1v is the highest voltage you see while charging a lithium battery, you are never going to fully charge it.

You need to maintain a charge voltage of at least 13.6v to 13.8v at the battery, to be able to fully charge a lithium battery and even then, at 13.6v, just like lead acid batteries, lithium batteries will take a very long time to reach a fully charged state.

Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

Yes Phillip, I agree your way is simple and probably foolproof.

Which is probably why so few people follow it.

Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

and just one more finger in the pie--
what would you trust more? a $500 Victron solar controller or an $11 multimeter.....

anyway its beer oclock...

The multimeter. Far fewer things in the way. Difficult to test without a known voltage at hand though.

When looking for the cause of a voltage drop the multimeter doesn't have to be particuarly accurate whereas using the same meter at both ends is very important.

An earlier picture suggests to me that the controller is in auto-detect mode. If this is true then best to set it specifically to lithium mode.

The cable run is long and because it's not reaching charge the load is high too.. so it's all bad on that front.

If you have a bad connection , crimp or whatever it will usually heat up and discolor the wiring around or even melt nearby plastic.

Regards PhilipA