Ron:
Have you checked the voltage on the individual batteries during a low
voltage incident? You need to know if all the batteries have equally low
voltage or if there is a specific battery with this problem.
Another possibility is a connection that is intermittently resistive. We
spend a lot of time cleaning battery connections. We don't make a
connection without wire brushing all mating surfaces. Finding a resistive
connection can be difficult. I'd like to hear how other wrenches check for
resistive connections.
William Miller
At 11:03 AM 10/8/2011, you wrote:
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
_______________________________________________
List sponsored by Home Power magazine
List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org
Options & settings:
http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
List rules & etiquette:
www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
Check out participant bios:
www.members.re-wrenches.org
