Ed, you sound like me,,,what is going on with my batteries!
The only way I have found to actually watch what is happening, is with a battery
monitor.
Like this: Xantrex LinkPRO Battery
Monitor
You’ll be able to see the
current state of your battery (house and start) in voltage and -ah (amp hours used , ie -24=down 24 amp hours).
And you’ll be able to watch how many volts are being absorbed by the battery, and how many amps when
charging via shore,
alternator, or
solar.
Your solar controller may show it’s generating 18v and 14 amps, but the Linkpro will show actual at the battery like 14.1v and 2.2 amps, what the battery is really taking.
The other feature is doing an
electrical inventory. Turn everything off. Note the amps (maybe .01). Now turn on your
VHF radio and note the amps (maybe.05) so you know the
VHF radio takes .04 to operate. Now press transmit and note the difference between.05 and transmit amps, and you’ll know what the amps to transmit are.
Do the same with
chartplotter, with
radar on.
When I checked my
interior lights, I was shocked by the halogen light amp consumption! I switched all my
interior lights too LED!
Anyway, I find the monitor very useful. For example, my
boat consumes 19ah each night between 10pm and 7am. And my voltage drops to 12.65v.
I know if my ah get below a certain number (like-230) (I have 840ah)and the voltage drops to 12.34v, my
refrigeration will stop working (the
builder ran undersized wire to the freezer).
Having a
history of my battery levels, and a view of the
current condition, gives me a great deal of insight and clarity around the
batteries.
Will the Solar give enough charge, do I need to run the
engine, for how long?