12v system issues

[Paul T]

But if he thinks unplugging shore power shuts down the entire camper he is not using his 12 volts system. There is a disconnect somewhere in the camper and his thinking.

Lol, well you are right, I’m not using the 12v system because without sufficient battery the inverter goes into a fault mode. Once the shore power is reconnected I can turn on the inverter. It’s a seamless system that just takes over automatically once a power outage hits but without the batteries operating the inverter it is not possible for the inverter to power on. I’m going to follow the advice of resting my batteries and then taking the voltage. Thank you for your reply though, I appreciate the thought.

 

[Paul T]

Or his house batteries are to weak to provide sufficient power when unplugged. That’s why I suggested he test them at their resting voltage (since he just has a multi-meter) to determine the relative health of the house batteries. It may not be a disconnect at all but simply bad batteries although if this were the case he should at least have 12v lights.

Thank you for the idea, it makes sense to me considering the batteries are 6 years old. They have been active since day one but never ever used. I appreciate the reply and will let you all know the final resolution.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

This is a current life reality at my rig right now!!!

My system!

24volt system and 12volt system 500w solar on 12volt system. 2000w solar on 24volt system.

At this time the 12volt system needs a battery, or super capacitor. This is how it is behaving!

The batteries must be jumped in the morning due to an under 8 volt reading that the solar controllers won't calculate proper system voltage, therefore shuts down. So you may think the battery would require hours to give a 13.× reading. However the battery reads full charged in only one hour! The system functions as would be expected with a quality bank all day, but if I do any water pumping greater than let's say fill a 3 quart pot! The charge controller shuts down with a battery voltage under 8 volts. At this time nothing on the 12 volt system works including the light's.

So my battery charger is connected and plugged into my 24volt system. All is well!!! Now if I unplugged the fuses in my 12volt system, I would be able to use my 12volt light.

To clarify! I took the converter out several years ago when it failed, and did not replace it! They don't play well with off grid installation, so they are worthless to me.

Battery plates plate with antimony as I have discussed in other threads, and load testing is the way you see if that is the issue!!!

 

[TheLooks]

If the batteries were so bad that the lights did not even work, it would be killing the ability of the converter to supply power when on shore power even. They can run the rig for the most part on their own, but add dead batteries and they will not power slides and such and many times the lights are dim.

 

[TheLooks]

This is a current life reality at my rig right now!!!

My system!

24volt system and 12volt system 500w solar on 12volt system. 2000w solar on 24volt system.

At this time the 12volt system needs a battery, or super capacitor. This is how it is behaving!

The batteries must be jumped in the morning due to an under 8 volt reading that the solar controllers won't calculate proper system voltage, therefore shuts down. So you may think the battery would require hours to give a 13.× reading. However the battery reads full charged in only one hour! The system functions as would be expected with a quality bank all day, but if I do any water pumping greater than let's say fill a 3 quart pot! The charge controller shuts down with a battery voltage under 8 volts. At this time nothing on the 12 volt system works including the light's.

So my battery charger is connected and plugged into my 24volt system. All is well!!! Now if I unplugged the fuses in my 12volt system, I would be able to use my 12volt light.

To clarify! I took the converter out several years ago when it failed, and did not replace it! They don't play well with off grid installation, so they are worthless to me.

Battery plates plate with antimony as I have discussed in other threads, and load testing is the way you see if that is the issue!!!

If you are off grid, you are not having access to limitless 120ac so a convertor makes no sense.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

If the batteries were so bad that the lights did not even work, it would be killing the ability of the converter to supply power when on shore power even. They can run the rig for the most part on their own, but add dead batteries and they will not power slides and such and many times the lights are dim.

So you have never had batteries that were fully charged, but could not supply a reasonable load!!! Amazing!!! That is how batteries on constant charge give up the ghost in most off grid systems.

They don't put a load on the converter/charger, they just won't give up their charge.

 

[TheLooks]

That would be a dead battery.

 

[TheLooks]

I had one last week that was failing faster the more 12v loads were activated. I pulled the battery leads and tested it a 6.7 volts. Which came first? The failed battery or failed converter? Both were ruined.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

I had one last week that was failing faster the more 12v loads were activated. I pulled the battery leads and tested it a 6.7 volts. Which came first? The failed battery or failed converter? Both were ruined.

Guess that would depend on which one failed first!!!

If the battery just would not give up the charge, the converter would not be guaranteed to fail. If however the battery puts a load on the converter, both could be bad, and likely the battery would have failed first.
If the converter failed first and the owner didn't abuse the battery then the battery may be recoverable.