Electrical Situation

[travelingdan]

Hello all:

I wonder if the following has happened to anyone else.

For some reason my battery charge drops from around 13 amps to 9-10 amps immediately after I use something in the camper, say the water pump or one of the fans, for a couple of minutes. The battery is around a year old, but something is discharging it quickly. The battery seems to charge quickly using my solar panel. I've pulled off the panel in the camper and I've checked the wiring to see if something is loose but haven't found anything. Any suggestions?

Dan

 

[MarkBC]

13 amps to 9-10 amps
Do you mean volts?

When it drops down like that -- after a tiny bit of use -- you mean it stays that low?

 

[travelingdan]

Yes, volts. (I don't know much about electricity.) Yes, it stays down around 9.5-10.

 

[K7MDL]

If the battery voltage stays high when you are not runnign anything, then drops below 10.5 volts with only a lighht or short load, and takes a while to recover back to 13V, your battery has gone south. If the battery is only a year old, and had a solar charger on it the whole time, either there is a fault in the charger(s), or more likely the battery has a defect. If it is a flooded cell battery make sure to check the water level. Otherwise take it out and have it load checked at service or auto store to confirm it had gone bad.

 

[cwdtmmrs]

K7MDL is correct, the battery has a dead/shorted cell. The age of the battery does not matter. A battery can and will go bad at any time.

CWD

 

[travelingdan]

Cool! I'll take it out and head on over to Sears where I bought it. Thanks.

 

[craig333]

Built in meter or portable? My voltmeter in the Jeep was giving me odd readings like that. Turned out it had a bad ground and my electrical system was fine.

 

[travelingdan]

I have a built-in meter.

Well, I took the battery to Sears and they tested it. As soon as they put a load on the batter it went from 13 to 6 volts. So I have a brand new free battery.

I'm wondering if the battery was a bad apple or if something in my charging system made the battery go bad. I have an 85-watt solar panel hooked up to the battery as well as the charging from my truck battery. Could something in the system be harmful for the battery? If so, any idea what it could be? As I mentioned in my earlier post, I know nothing about electricity, so be gentle.

 

[chnlisle]

The isolator and the solar electronics should shut down the charging when the batt is charged.

 

[pods8]

What type of battery is it?

Have you ever excessively depleted it and left it sit that way for a bit (like over a winter or something)?

 

[travelingdan]

It's a marine battery from Sears, they're top-of-the line.

I never depleted the battery because it's hooked up to my solar panel which is "on" all of the time. (I live in San Diego with lots of sun.)

 

[K7MDL]

I would keep an eye on the voltage with the new battery and ensure it is up over 13 (or even 14) volts when there is sun on the solar array. Going much further into analysis is probably not worth the attempt over the internet, most likely a bum battery, it happens. If you have the manual for your solar charger unit, that would be good to review. It usually has a troubleshooting section where you can try to verify it is working properly. As mentioned, it should cut off on high and low voltage.

I think the mostly likely non-battery source of failure would be that you are not getting charging voltage from your solar charger unit, perhaps a bad connection, blown fuse, defective unit, bad wiring on the solar panel side, or solar panel itself has a problem. If you are getting 13-14 volts on teh battery during sunlight, truck off, no AC power plugged in, then things are probably just fine and you had a defective battery, If you are getting less than 13VDC, then it might not be charging, or is undercharging, which which can lead to premature battery failure.

 

[travelingdan]

I have installed the new battery and out in the sun it charges up to 14 volts. I've been running fans, etc. in the camper and the battery seems to be holding its charge.

Thanks everyone for all of your help.