Battery Problem

[spiritcat]

I have 4x120ah AGM house batteries and a single 75ah AM start battery for each of my engines. I also have a 50ah Victron shore power charger and two 68 watt solar panels. The batteries are close to 4 years old.
Last week I asked my son to turn the 12v fridge on and the battery charger as we were going away for a few days and wanted the fridge cold before we left.
He turned the fridge on but instead of the battery charger, he turned the inverter on without the shore power.
When I arrived at the boat a couple of days later, the battery capacity was way down and I have not been able to get it back up even with the charger. The charger will start at around 50 amps but then cuts out and I cannot get voltage above 12.9.
Any ideas what I can do?

Peter

[Shelter]

What was connected to the inverter?

[spiritcat]

Shelter

Nothing connected to the inverter.

Peter

[smac999]

I would leave the charger on for a few days

[spiritcat]

smac999

I have, but it keeps tripping out and an alarm signal is triggered on the charger.

Peter

[Shelter]

Try a load test for each battery after they have been charged for sometime.

[sailinglegend]

I suspect this could be an emotional response and there is nothing really wrong!

You have some solar power so that should have kept the batteries up even with the fridge going and the inverter on.

What you are saying doesn't make much sense so please be more specific.

When the Victron was charging at 50 amps how long did that last and at what voltage. Measured by what kind of voltmeter?

What do you mean by "the charger cuts out"? Does it go down to "Float" or do all the lights go out?

Can't get above 12.9 v. If the fridge is still on then what are you worried about?

[smac999]

Originally Posted by sailinglegend

I suspect this could be an emotional response and there is nothing really wrong!

You have some solar power so that should have kept the batteries up even with the fridge going and the inverter on.

large inverters will draw 3-4a in standby so the panels wouldn't keep up.

still should have lasted a couple days.

what was the battery voltage before you turned the charger on?

it probably gives you an alarm code??... where are you reading the voltage? what is voltage with charger off and charger on?

[bill good]

I would disconnect batteries to reduce the load on the charger & charge the bank in stages.

Regards Bill

[sailorboy1]

turn everything off and check the voltage in a couple of hours, there let us know as I don't think there is anything wrong

[spiritcat]

Problem solved, I have a couple of dead batteries which is a bit surprising as they are only 4 years old, but used on a continuous basis.

Thanks for the responses.

Peter