Solar or AGM battery problem

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by SvenG

We're very happy.

We dug down to the batteries and redid the connections, tightening some and re-doing a couple of crimps.

drumroll ... the panels are charging just fine again.

Great!

Well done

[Bash]

Originally Posted by SvenG

We're very happy.

We dug down to the batteries and redid the connections, tightening some and re-doing a couple of crimps.

Damn! Now you've made Markj look like a genius.

[sabray]

No worries. Mark is still only rated as brighter then pine sap. Sometimes being dim in genetic brilliance is a plus. Mark went right after the lesser problem. Those with higher intelligence were thinking a flawed or blown resistor or bad os code. Primate thinking was immediately about commitment of fasteners and surface contact. Just keeping mark in check and rubbing my knuckles on the floor. Smiles

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by sabray

Mark went right after the lesser problem.

I went for the solution of the lesser wallet!

[witzgall]

I have a hard time believing that you are in fact only discharging the bank 15% max. Have you double checked your Amp/hour meter (link or some such) settings? These things can slowly get out of sync with reality, especially if you never fully charge your batteries.

I think Nigel Calder wrote that a very common death of batteries is they are slowly charged a little less then the day before, and fail as the actual state of charge is much lower than what the owner thinks it is - to the point of being completely discharged. You may be able to get your daily charging up if you exercise some power discipline ( no/little computer, etc) for a week or so?


Chris

[SvenG]

Originally Posted by witzgall

I have a hard time believing that you are in fact only discharging the bank 15% max.

With all LED lighting and all of the rest of the Amp saving measures it actually makes sense (I was going to say it adds up but that didn't look right ).


-Sven

[SvenG]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

Read about AGM Battery maintenance here.

With 250 Ah per day usage I think they are out of our league by almost an order of magnitude (given their bank capacity) ... but I still appreciate the post and may ask Lifeline to use us as a counterexample in the depth of discharge spectrum for research purposes.

Thanks,



-Sven

[SvenG]

It's been 8 months and I'm happy to report that the "fix" was not temporary.

I have no argument with the reports about Lifeline AGMs not living up to their specs but in our case they seem to be doing what we hoped.

Since we are now in La Paz (Mx) we have more sun than we know what to do with. We have still not hooked up to shore power since May 2012 and have only started the engine once since then to help bring the charge back up (60+ hours of running all instruments and radar and nav lights and the water maker and the Frigoboat refrigeration under way).

Down in La Paz our 270W panel capacity is also charging the two 55 Ah Lifeline batteries we use to power the Minn Kota on the dinghy. This is solar power heaven and it won't last as we head South to avoid the hurricane season and run into cloudy days but we're enjoying it while we can. We are getting much of our RO water from the (Marina De La Paz) marina in the slip but are powering the Katadyn 160E when we are on the hook.

BTW, we also use the solar power and charged batteries to charge the computers and handhelds and AA & AAA batteries as well as the 2000W inverter to run the Sailrite and power tools as needed.

With shorter days and more clouds we won't be doing this well but for now we're doing much much better than I ever expected.

Sorry to make Mark seem like a genius



-Sven

[senormechanico]

Sven,

Good to hear your problem is solved.

If you have too much sun, be thankful, as everything in our neighborhood is in need of a pressure washer to get rid of the green fuzz.

When we cruised Mexico, I was the one called upon to help other cruisers with their electrical problems.
99% of the time it was reversed polarities in installation, corroded or loose connections or cheezey, too small gauge wire for the job.
It was almost never the actual equipment at fault.

Mark knows where to look !



Steve