[RE-wrenches] intermittent battery problem

[bob ellison]

I bet he has a cheap pointer type hydrometer, I have seen them be way off
from reality.

My guess is that the gravity is low the voltage changes quickly, specific
gravity changes slowly in a battery bank.

To fully charge a 24 volt bank you need to get it to 29 + volts and keep it
there for several hours, depending on the battery bank size.

Charging it to 25.4 is nothing in the long run.

Give them a LONG full charge, what are the inverters? Does it ever get an EQ
charge?

 

Bob Ellison 

 

From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org
[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Ron Young
Sent: Saturday, October 08, 2011 2:02 PM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: [RE-wrenches] intermittent battery problem

 

Howdy Wrenches,

 

One of my customers that lives 3 hours out in the back country is having an
intermittent problem that I haven't encountered before. The batteries drop
rapidly in voltage but hydrometer readings are in the green. Turning off the
inverter and just using DC doesn't change anything. Meters on the Mate,
Outback MX and Whisper controller are all the same so it's not a metering
problem. On the way to bed the batteries were at 25.4, overnight with no
loads they dropped to 22.9 then a short 15 min. charge with a generator
brings the batteries back up and two hours later they are at 25.8. This
scenario has occurred several times and then doesn't appear for a day or
two.

 

It doesn't seem to be sulfation as the batteries are reading good on the
hydrometer every time. All cells check out. The inverter doesn't seem to be
the problem. They have a Sunfrost on a separate DC circuit. It sounds like
an intermittent circuit problem or electronics issue. Customer has checked
and tightened all the connections he can get at but hasn't been inside the
components. Would appreciate any suggestions or clues before I make the
trip.

 

Ron Young

 

earthRight Products - Solareagle.com

Alternative Energy Solutions ~ Renewable Energy Products

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20111008/b84bfad0/attachment-0003.html>