Bad Batteries?

[NWIP]

Thanks for your view/input. I can’t convince DW on solar, so unless something changes there it is not in my future. When I did ME-BMK on 2017, my cousin who has solar with lithium batteries tried to get me to go with Victron. He doesn’t have AGS on his 5er and I just couldn’t see need for redundancy. Getting ready to install ME-BMK on new coach and looking for different viewpoint. Very helpful.

 

[Chuggs]

Glad it helped...

I installed ME-BMK originally. It showed SOC, (State of Charge) and allowed me to reset the aH used counter so, that I could make a record of use over a period of time. This was very useful, both for future planning...but more importantly helping me decide how much solar to install.

I was flabbergasted to find...I could not use the ME-BMK SOC as a trigger for the ME-AGS-N, unless I also upgraded the remote from the ME-RC that came std. and the Advanced ME-ARC remote. So, I changed out remotes as well.

I’m not sure how much reading you’ve done...forgive me if you already know...but just to warn you. Magnum Inverters will attempt to ground themselves thru sensitive network devices if the NEG - lead to the Inverter is removed while the POS + is still attached. To prevent damage, whenever you need to remove cables from the battery, such as installation of the Shunt for a battery monitor...PLEASE remove the Inverter POS + lead first...and reattach it last. It’s easy to do by removing the cable from the 350A catastrophic fuse and wrapping the terminal carefully with electrical tape. If the inverter tries to ground itself thru the BMK, or AGS module...it can fry their brains...

 

[Neal]

Great option and easy mod to install a cutoff switch on the inverter line for this reason as well as others.

 

[NWIP]

I may look at doing the cutoff at the same time as ME-BMK. I was able to remove ME-ARC from 2017 coach so I already have that. This will be second one so hope to improve on first install.

 

[Jim]

So yes, I turned the shore power off and then turned some lights on/off until I found the 20 amp draw I was looking for. (I suspect the inverter was 5-6 amps by itself.) I took a battery voltage reading off the meter, and then came back 4 hours later to take another reading. It' was just math from that point on although I'm going to go back down in a few minutes and get another reading as 4:45 will be the actual 6 hr mark.

Bad batteries?

I sent the data (that I had compiled over the last couple of days) to the manager of the store I bought the batteries from. He in turn, sent it to then manufacture. This morning I got a call from a representative of Crown Batteries. I'm not going to say he was rude, but he was quite direct and through a barrage of quickly asked questions, he determined (in his mind anyway) that the batteries were damaged because I was charging Flooded Acid batteries on the AGM setting.

I hadn't considered this. From what I've known about AGM batteries, they want to be charged with a lesser amperage so that they will charge slower. But I can't see how a lower amperage would damage a flooded acid battery.

At the end of the conversation, he offered to refund my money, which is good. (I hadn't asked.) But for future reference, and to make sure I understand as much as I can about batteries, does anyone feel his theory has merit?

 

[Chuggs]

it’s a give or take...too much current you erode plates prematurely, ....not enough and you allow sulphate deposits to remain on the plates, robbing you of storage capacity. I’m not a battery engineer, somI just try my best to follow they mfg. settings.

 

[Jim]

it’s a give or take...too much current you erode plates prematurely, ....not enough and you allow sulphate deposits to remain on the plates, robbing you of storage capacity. I’m not a battery engineer, somI just try my best to follow they mfg. settings.

The other part of this story is that the batteries were in my previous coach, and the charger was set for flooded acid batteries. When I sold the coach, i moved the batteries to this coach, and they were only in this coach for 3 weeks. During this time they did nothing except sit there on float mode.

I told him this but he wasn't impressed. He also mentioned that the size of my battery bank was 860 ah and the charger probably wasn't putting out enough amperage to keep them happy. I can see how this might happen, but still not sure...

 

[Jim]

OK, I looked at the specs and my Phaeton has a 100amp converter, so I doubt it would have any problem keeping the battery bank charged. So I'm left to wonder, what would make 4 of these batteries fail in such a short time?

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

In your first post, @Jim, you said you bought the batteries for your solar conversion project but now say you removed them from your previous coach. How old are these batteries?

These are big batteries...much larger capacity than used in most coach applications. I'm now wondering if the charging system in your previous coach was actually keeping them properly charged. If not, it might only take a relatively short period for them to sulphate up. Because of their large capacity, the undercharging might be disguised until serious damage was done.

Since it appears that you will be reimbursed by the manufacturer, this might be a good time to start afresh and engineer a new battery system that includes a charging system designed specifically for high-ampacity batteries.

TJ

 

[Jim]

In your first post, @Jim, you said you bought the batteries for your solar conversion project but now say you removed them from your previous coach. How old are these batteries?

Yeah, I guess that sounds a little contradictory, doesn't it?

I bought the battery's on April 2nd 2019 and put them in my first coach. As that was an older coach with no inverter, I bought a inverter/charger to maintain them and to use in the planned conversion. Link to the inverter here.

The solar conversion was originally planned for that coach., but after pulling some of the 8% grades out here, I decided i needed a DP over the V-10. So i took all the solar stuff out and moved it over to the new DP.

I guess it's possible that the inverter/charger wasn't keeping that batteries charged but I seriously doubt it. It was a good inverter/charger and should have maintained the batteries well.

In your first post, @JimI'm now wondering if the charging system in your previous coach was actually keeping them properly charged. If not, it might only take a relatively short period for them to sulphate up. Because of their large capacity, the undercharging might be disguised until serious damage was done.

Perhaps, but again, I doubt it. We were in a "rehab" state with the coach at that time so the coach remained stationary and the batteries never saw any use. They remained connected to shore power and should never have discharged enough to need the inverter/charger to "catch up".