House batteries dead

[michael barimo]

my house batteries died after leaving it off shore power for 3 weeks , when i plugged back in to shore battery, nothing worked, how do i troubleshoot this? doesnt shore power immediatly supply power to the 120v applainces?I undersand the DC appliances will not work until batteries are charged.

 

[Neal]

Your inverter may have faulted. Try checking inverter settings, clear faults, ensure INV and CHARGER are ON.

 

[Chuggs]

In "pass thru" mode...you are correct. The catch is...both AC and DC power have to be present to establish "pass thru" mode. Once it is established...you can actually remove your batteries...and pass thru will keep working, unless AC power gets Interrupted. If that happens, you have to get both AC and DC power to reestablish it.

Your systems charger will not begin charging until the batteries reach a minimum level. This is to prevent the system from charging a shorted battery and boiling electrolyte everywhere. You’ll need a separate dumb charger to initially bring the bank back to the minimum. Once the charger kicks in…the voltage should be enough to establish pass thru mode.

 

[AbdRahim]

Not sure what kind, how many and the Ah of your batteries, but for my coach originally, with six 100 Ah 6V batteries that would be normal.There are many parasitic draws on the batteries. I keep mine plugged in all of the time.

 

[Chuggs]

You might be needing new batteries after letting them go dead.

There are ways to help prevent this.

An alerting system…to notify you when a minimum voltage is reached giving you time to respond.

Solar…Solar chargers run everyday. I can attest from observation…the SmartSolar charger will charge even if your coaches charger won’t … (My dad’s AGMs are dead…but the solar kicks in and brings the voltage back up…at night I see they go down to 2.1v. They have no capacity left)

If you are leaving the inverter on…set the LBCO higher. The LBCO is there to apply a tourniquet giving you a bit more time before damaging the batteries. If your batteries get low…it shuts off the inverter….which is a major drain if you have a fridge running.

Install whole bank cutoff switches. The salesman switch only cuts power to some circuits…there are still connections to the bi-directional relay, the inverter, and all house circuits designated continuous battery powered.

Are your cargo lights off?

 

[Kevin D Pem]

You might be needing new batteries after letting them go dead.

There are ways to help prevent this.

An alerting system…to notify you when a minimum voltage is reached giving you time to respond.

Solar…Solar chargers run everyday. I can attest from observation…the SmartSolar charger will charge even if your coaches charger won’t … (My dad’s AGMs are dead…but the solar kicks in and brings the voltage back up…at night I see they go down to 2.1v. They have no capacity left)

If you are leaving the inverter on…set the LBCO higher. The LBCO is there to apply a tourniquet giving you a bit more time before damaging the batteries. If your batteries get low…it shuts off the inverter….which is a major drain if you have a fridge running.

Install whole bank cutoff switches. The salesman switch only cuts power to some circuits…there are still connections to the bi-directional relay, the inverter, and all house circuits designated continuous battery powered.

Are your cargo lights off?

Thank you chuggs! You have given people something to think about!

I would like to add thoughts about solar controllers often under utilized.

The two terminals seldom used on solar controllers are the load terminals. I don't get this! When used in conjunction with a solid state relay, protects the batteries in the same way an inverter does. It cuts off the load before damaging the batteries! Roughly 10.5 or 50% discharge. I don't know if the voltage swing can be set for different battery chemistries or not, but for lead chemistry they are factory set.

 

[Chuggs]

Thank you chuggs! You have given people something to think about!

I would like to add thoughts about solar controllers often under utilized.

The two terminals seldom used on solar controllers are the load terminals. I don't get this! When used in conjunction with a solid state relay, protects the batteries in the same way an inverter does. It cuts off the load before damaging the batteries! Roughly 10.5 or 50% discharge. I don't know if the voltage swing can be set for different battery chemistries or not, but for lead chemistry they are factory set.

I probably needed to clarify that my experience is only with Victron charge controllers. I know many folks may have opted for Newmar Factory option there. The Victron charge controllers allow you to control all charge paramters and even customize temperature coefficients for lead acid or AGMs...or zero if using LiFePO4. I was shocked that my Dad's solar was still charging each day, even though the batteries themselves were so depleted each night.

Battery care can be a difficult task. Many folks go years with car batteries and do nothing. Suddenly, there are ongoing tasks with the coaches batteries...and understandably folks aren't all electricians or engineers. Would be nice if Owner's manuals had some techniques for different methods of storage. My dad parked his Sprinter under a carport. Rendering solar ineffective and the 120v connectivity failed. It wasn't something he checked up on regularly. There went $700 in batteries...less than yeobyears old.

 

[Rich W.]

I’ve always liked this for battery basics: How To Maintain Batteries - Deep Cycle Battery Store Maybe a bit off topic but I usually am…