Battery Charging Hell

[guy99]

Originally Posted by Wabbiteer

Wow - for someone who quotes the Dali Lama in their signature you are quite the all-purpose bully! It took me close to an hour to research and compose my first response but here you are again expecting pre cognizance and someone tell you what you want to hear...

"...consistent and on the border line between white and red... So, that doesn't explain anything." HUH? thats not a measurement! (resembles a 'my car is red & white, what size tires do I need' answer!)

For specific gravity a reading of 1.270 is fully charged, if you are serious with ensuring your batteries last you need to invest in a precision meter - well, maybe not, but you did evade two outright diagnostic questions asked among the others asked of you in these posts. Imagine that, someone asking details! Dialoug is give and take...

To better follow the "taa la’i bla ma", apologies if you felt uncomfortable...

Lets look at the problem again from a new perspective. You have 240+ pounds of batteries - It is January, and you have had some problems since Novemeber. If the batteries are not in a conditioned atmosphere (75°F is ideal) you need temperature compensated charging, even 20°F lower you need to boost voltage by almost 2/10ths volt (27mV/°C is common) to make up for the lowered activity; otherwise your charger will run and run and never bring the SOC (state of charge) up to even 90%...

Your charger puts out ~1000 watts of energy and if you lose 10% charging current due to resistance heating it would take close to two hours charging to raise battery string core temperature 1 degree celcius - so don't count on charging to help keep battery temperatures up since it IS shedding the heat almost as fast....

Suggested reading - The 12volt Side of Life (Part 1) not to be taken as gospel; but should help you make better educated observations... living with 12 volts. (I knew I'd seen 87MH's chart somewhere before, but many charts are 2/10ths of a volt higher on all points so following that one could be very hard on batteries!!)

And another source of charge wizardry

"a rough estimate of the actual SOC"

% of Charge - - - - - - Charging - - - - - - - At Rest - - - - Discharging

100 - - - - - - - - - - - - 14.75 - - - - - - - - 12.70 - - - - - - 12.50
90 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 13.75 - - - - - - - - 12.58 - - - - - - 12.40
80 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 13.45 - - - - - - - - 12.46 - - - - - - 12.30
70 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 13.30 - - - - - - - - 12.36 - - - - - - 12.25
60 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 13.20 - - - - - - - - 12.28 - - - - - - 12.15
50 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 13.10 - - - - - - - - 12.20 - - - - - - 12.00
40 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 12.95 - - - - - - - - 12.12 - - - - - - 11.90
30 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 12.75 - - - - - - - - 12.02 - - - - - - 11.70
20 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 12.55 - - - - - - - - 11.88 - - - - - - 11.50
10 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 12.25 - - - - - - - - 11.72 - - - - - - 11.25

Source: Photovoltaic systems and renewable energy: Measuring Battery State of Charge

Sorry if you felt I didn't properly respond to you earlier post. I think I didn't understand some of your questions.

You asked about water, I have added a little water to a few cells, but not much, maybe an ounce to 4 cells (out of the 24)

As for my comment about the specific gravity. I was looking for a bad cell, when I found the specific gravity was the same in them all and that all the batteries tested good, I thought that meant that I didn't have bad cells or a bad battery. When I posted that result I didn't have access to the Hydrometer I used, so couldn't report the value. That value was a little above 1.225. I'm not using a precision meter and don't think I could get one here. I'm using a hydrometer of the sort with a weighted float where you read the specific gravity based on where the meniscus hits the scale. The scale is green then white then red. I assumed (always a mistake I know) that when I said all the cells were between the white and red, that I would be understood.

I have, and have read the book you recommend.

With respect to how the batteries have been treated since I got them. When I installed them my MH was plugged in to 30 amp power at home until we left on this trip. That means my WFCO converter was doing what ever it does. The voltage I noted was 13.6 and then after a while it decline to 13.2. If I shut off the power and ran some loads and then turned the power back on, it would go back to 13.6. The weather was cool - some nights a little below freezing, day time in the 60's.

The we left on this trip. The trip has consisted of 4-6 hour periods of driving with my alternator voltage in 14.2-14.8 range. Followed by being plugged in overnight and until departure. When we arrived here the batteries seemed to be fully charged they would showed a voltage of around 13 which declined steadily until it hit 12.7 when the decline flattened off.

My problem arose after a week or so of operating on a few hours (3-5) of generator time. Each successive day the state of charge I was able to achieve after running the generator longer and long kept declining. Finally I ran the generator for 4 hours in the morning and 5 hours in the evening I still didn't get the batteries state of charge above 12.4 and my Trimeteric said my net amp hours was becoming more negative every day.

If I've failed to answer any other question, please bring it to my attention, I'm not evading anything, why would I?

Please point out where you feel I was being "quite the all-purpose bully!" . I had no such intent and I would like to understand how what I said came across that way.

[alan]

I tend to agree with those who suggest a hydrometer check of the batteries. As a first cut, I wouldn't worry about temperature compensation but would look for one (or more) cells reading significantly lower than other cells. I have a recent experience with a well-known AGM battery brand where a bad cell in one battery caused all of the other batteries in the system to discharge into the bad battery. I'm not suggesting that you are experiencing the same, but a single bad cell could be bringing down your system.

[TitusLivy]

I think it will be easier to solve your problem if you simplify it. For example, you said, "Finally I ran the generator for 4 hours in the morning and 5 hours in the evening I still didn't get the batteries state of charge above 12.4..."

This observation could be explained if:

1) the batteries were unable to hold a charge or
2) the converter wasn't providing sufficient current to charge them, or
3) the generator wasn't producing sufficient voltage/current to operate the converter properly.

If I were you, I'd try to examine each of these subsystems separately. In other words, look for evidence that will tell you whether each component is working properly.

Also, I'm confused by your statement that "...my Trimeteric said my net amp hours was becoming more negative every day."

Although I just bought a Trimetric, I haven’t installed it or even read the manual, so I’m not clear about its operation. I think that after you set it up, it estimates the remaining AH’s by measuring the very small voltage that develops across the shunt as current flows into and out of the batteries. If that’s true (an assumption that should be double checked), then when the Trimetric says the remaining AH’s are declining, that presumably means there is no net current flow into the batteries even though you’re trying to charge them. That would be a very big clue. But like I said, I’m no Trimetric expert, so it would be good to dive into the user’s manual for yourself. And there are many others on this forum who will know more about this than I do.

Hope these suggestions are helpful. Good luck!

Titus

[campadk]

Sounds like you have what we have... a newer power sucking Airstream.

What I have learned...

Long gone are the days of Airstream being 'self sufficient', as Airstreams have often been toted as for decades previous. Unfortunately the 'new' Airstream has abandoned any hope of newer units being self sufficient... unless you count 'full hookup' as making them self sufficient. Sounds like you have the same issue as us...

Then again... I ponder if you are having the same problem I had once last year with my battery plunging into the red after I mistakenly pulled out the emergency brake away switch.. which applies current to the brakes and draws the batterys down to nil in a few hours... oops! I had the same issue desperately try to keep the batteries up with the generator, to little avail.

But back to my rant about newer Airstreams and power management...

I ended up buy a Link 10 monitor to assist me... all I can say is... EXCELLENT!!!! Gave me the complete scoop on what appliance/device draws what current, rate of AH usage, as well as generator charging current. Also let me know when you forgot to turn the stereo off, or left the propane detector fuse in when 'storing'. Best accessory I have bought to date for the AS.

Firstly that dam fridge is a MAJOR power sucker... stupid little cooling fan draws us down about 25AH a day. A fridge that works on propane should use nil power! And if its spring or late fall.. forget about using the heater! I had to run the generator for 4 hours on average every day in the middle of a summer just to be able to use the fridge and watch a bit of tv at night... not much else. We typically were using 30AH+ a day. In spring/fall, I had to hang around the campground and run the fully allotted campground max of 5 hours, and still had to be careful of power usage... sometimes even turning off the fridge for 1/2 day at a time to give the poor batteries a rest.

Older Airstreams do not need power to run a propane fridge, or propane heater.

Meanwhile I hear other campers talking about running for days without charging.

So my solution for next summer is likely to replace the fridge fan, or disconnect it altogether and to purchase a 130W solar panel for topping up the batteries without wasting gas or polluting the campground with noise.

I don't have my data handy, but what I found using the Link 10 was that the first hour of generator charging yield about a 10-12AH charge rate with the battery down about 50-70%. After an hour or so the charge rate naturally reduced so the effective charge rate was more in the 5AH range. So most of by bulk charging was done in the first 1 1/2 hours. I am using, by the way, a 1000W generator which was more than sufficient, although if the 2 batteries were really low, the generator would work up a sweat for the first minute or so, then settle in to a smooth run.

Considering I was running the generator for 4-5 hours, my goal is to charge with the generator for 1-1.5 hours, then let the 130W panel do the top up.

Sure has been a lot of effort to keep our beautiful Bambi 'self sufficient'.

[guy99]

Originally Posted by alan

I tend to agree with those who suggest a hydrometer check of the batteries. As a first cut, I wouldn't worry about temperature compensation but would look for one (or more) cells reading significantly lower than other cells. I have a recent experience with a well-known AGM battery brand where a bad cell in one battery caused all of the other batteries in the system to discharge into the bad battery. I'm not suggesting that you are experiencing the same, but a single bad cell could be bringing down your system.

Alan,
Thanks. I had the same thought, so I checked all the cells with a hydrometer, they were very consistent, all of them reading 1.225 or a hair more. I believe this indicates that the batteries were somewhat discharged but since no cell(s) was(were) deviant I don't think it is a bad cell or two. Also, I loaded tested each battery independently and they all tested good.

I still suspect that my WFCO converter is not charging at a high enough voltage to quickly bring my batteries back to a 90% or so level of charge. Based on my discussion with the fellow at WFCO tech support the converter is not designed to charge at a voltage above 13.6 unless the batteries are 50% or more discharged.

[guy99]

Originally Posted by TitusLivy

I think it will be easier to solve your problem if you simplify it. For example, you said, "Finally I ran the generator for 4 hours in the morning and 5 hours in the evening I still didn't get the batteries state of charge above 12.4..."

This observation could be explained if:

1) the batteries were unable to hold a charge or
2) the converter wasn't providing sufficient current to charge them, or
3) the generator wasn't producing sufficient voltage/current to operate the converter properly.

If I were you, I'd try to examine each of these subsystems separately. In other words, look for evidence that will tell you whether each component is working properly.

Also, I'm confused by your statement that "...my Trimeteric said my net amp hours was becoming more negative every day."

Although I just bought a Trimetric, I haven’t installed it or even read the manual, so I’m not clear about its operation. I think that after you set it up, it estimates the remaining AH’s by measuring the very small voltage that develops across the shunt as current flows into and out of the batteries. If that’s true (an assumption that should be double checked), then when the Trimetric says the remaining AH’s are declining, that presumably means there is no net current flow into the batteries even though you’re trying to charge them. That would be a very big clue. But like I said, I’m no Trimetric expert, so it would be good to dive into the user’s manual for yourself. And there are many others on this forum who will know more about this than I do.

Hope these suggestions are helpful. Good luck!

Titus

TitusLivy,

I agree with your break down of possibilities. I think the batteries can hold a charge based on the service they provided the first couple of days of the current boondocking stint.

I'm pretty sure the generator has plenty of power (6000 watts) which is supported by the fact that I can run any type of AC appliance when it is running and not have the AC voltage vary.

Your understanding of how the Trimetric works is the same as mine. One of its functions is to measure amp hours in and out. So if you start with a fully charged 100 amp hour battery and run 30 amp hours out so that it has a 70% charge and recharge it to 90% you would get a reading on the AH scale of -10 (10 amp hours net down from fully charged). This is only an estimate based on some settable parameters and I don't have much experience with it.

What was happening was I would use the batteries using say 75 amp hours, I would then run the generator and partially recharge the battery replacing say 50 amp hours. The trimetric would give a -25 reading on the AH scale. Repeat this the next day and I would have a -50 reading, repeat I'd have -75. At this point I ran the generator for an extended period but was still unable to achieve a high state of charge.

What I observed was that when I started the generator and the converter started charging the batteries I would see a charge rate of around 40 amps or so but within 15 minutes that rate was down to 20. By a half an hour it was in the 10-12 range. After an hour it was always well under 10 and declined from there.

I think this is the problem.

Please let me know if I haven't been clear or provided some information you would like.

[azflycaster]

With all the checking and eliminating you have done, it sounds like your converter thinks the batteries are charged more then they are. Too bad that Randy from bestconvertors has not found this thread yet, he knows this stuff. Didn't you replace the converter last year after you had issues at 29 Palms?

[NevadaGeo]

Don't know a thing about those converter Trimetic thingys, but is there a way to reboot it or reset it to thinking you are at a net zero or 100%, so the thing will start?
I've had several field equipment tools that lock up and need to be disconnected at the computer cables in order to restart them. Most annoying when the contractor foreman is staring at ya and saying, well, does it pass?
Does your generator have a 12V output, and charge direct to your battery of batteries?
Look for a ham radio operator there at Quartzite named Bill, W7IND@msn.com. He'll probably have a table of little dodad parts, led lights, magnets and pliersand stuff. He might have an idea about batteries. will certainly try to sell ya some led lights.
Good luck
Perry, N7YS.

[TitusLivy]

Guy99, your additional info is helpful.

First, your analysis of the batteries and the generator seems sound. But if you have a good voltmeter, (and you understand the hazards and can handle them safely), then I'd measure the output voltage of the generator, just to be sure. As for the batteries, I'll have more to say in a minute. First, a few questions.

You say, “What was happening was I would use the batteries using say 75 amp hours, I would then run the generator and partially recharge the battery replacing say 50 amp hours. The trimetric would give a -25 reading on the AH scale. Repeat this the next day and I would have a -50 reading, repeat I'd have -75. At this point I ran the generator for an extended period but was still unable to achieve a high state of charge.”

Are you saying that every day you “replaced” 50AH of the 75AH you used? If so, then you would have a deficit of 25 AH per day, and it would be normal for the Trimetric to read -25, -50, and -75 on successive days.

But if this were occurring, I’m sure you wouldn’t be alarmed. So obviously I’ve missed your point. Can you please clarify.

You also say, “What I observed was that when I started the generator and the converter started charging the batteries I would see a charge rate of around 40 amps or so but within 15 minutes that rate was down to 20. By a half an hour it was in the 10-12 range. After an hour it was always well under 10 and declined from there.”

I don’t understand this statement, because I don’t know how the Trimetric works. Are you saying that it gives a “real time” reading of charge rate, and that you can observe it dropping from 40A down to 10A in an hour? If so, that is a big clue that probably implicates the batteries more than the converter.

I am very suspicious that your batteries have lost their capacity to store a charge, and so I strongly encourage you to test them again. You could do that by disconnecting them from the WFCO and by charging them directly from a good battery charger.

My concern is motivated by the fact that you’ve been only partially charging the batteries. That’s a common practice, but it is known to be one of the surest fire ways to shorten a battery’s life. Experts strongly recommend that batteries be fully charged before they’re used again. I’m also suspicious of your batteries, because I know so little about them (did you say you got them at Costco?). I’ve had my share of problems with inferior batteries that made extravagant claims about their quality, and I’m afraid you may have ended up with some of the same.

I have a final comment to make about WFCO converters, but I’ll post that separately, since message length on this forum is limited.

Hope these suggestions are helpful! Good luck!

Titus

[TitusLivy]

Back again, Guy99!

I have a final comment about WFCO converters.

Converters and battery chargers are poorly understood. That’s because the manufacturers’ advertising material is sometimes confusing, and their manuals are incomplete and poorly written. Worse, their “support technicians” do not generally understand the issues, and so they inadvertently mislead customers…just as you were apparently misled when you called WFCO for help. But if you carefully cross-check the details, the facts become clear.

Here’s the big misconception: The WFCO (or name almost any other popular 3-stage charger) measures the batteries’ voltage, and if it’s low, then the converter jumps into “bulk charge” mode, during which it applies a voltage of 14.4V. After the battery is suitably charged, the converter then switches into “absorption mode”, during which it applies a voltage of 13.6V. Finally, when everything is neat and tidy, the converter settles into “float mode” with a voltage of 13.2V.

Bottom line: It just ain’t so!

It’s best to think of the WFCO (etc) as a “current limited” device. So if you have a model rated for 55A, then it is limited to providing a maximum of about 55A. Now here’s the point that’s generally not understood: the voltage produced by those 55A will depend on the resistance through which they flow, and the “effective resistance” of batteries depends on their state of charge (and other complex stuff). So even though your WFCO has shifted into “bulk charge mode” and is pouring a full 55A into your batteries, 14.4V usually will not be measured across the batteries’ terminals.

This fact is clear from a graph on page 4 of the WFCO “Installation and User’s Manual”. It shows that a WF-9855 will provide about 55A while raising a battery’s voltage from 12V to about 13.2V. Then the current slowly decreases while raising the voltage higher. And at about 14V, “bulk charging” stops.

Although the WFCO manual is chock full of confusing and semi-indecipherable language, it eventually states this fact explicitly. Bear in mind that “buck mode” means “bulk charging mode” as you read this quote from their manual: “Under Buck mode when the power converter senses that out put voltage is at 14.4VDC, it will change back to absorption mode.”

In other words, bulk mode does not begin with 14.4 VDC. It ENDS there.

So what’s the point? Lots of people have thought their charger wasn’t working properly because it didn’t produce 14.4VDC even though the batteries were very discharged. And so they ask for help because they “…can’t get the converter to switch into bulk mode.” But measuring the voltage across the converter’s terminals while it’s charging is not the proper way to assess its performance.

Even though the voltage across your converter may not be 14.4VDC, the odds are high it’s functioning properly. To be sure, follow “Procedure #3” on page 7 of the WFCO user’s manual: disconnect the output cables from the WFCO, and measure the voltage. It should be 13.6VDC (+/- .3V).

Hope this is helpful.

Titus

[guy99]

Originally Posted by azflycaster

With all the checking and eliminating you have done, it sounds like your converter thinks the batteries are charged more then they are. Too bad that Randy from bestconvertors has not found this thread yet, he knows this stuff. Didn't you replace the converter last year after you had issues at 29 Palms?

Yes, last year at 29 Palms I had my second Progressive Dynamics PD9180 fail. That is when I replaced it with the 65 amp WFCO.

[guy99]

Hello everyone,
Sorry to have not responded to all of the posts here recently. I spent most of yesterday in the ER. Turned out not to be serious but a real time consuming undertaking.

I am working on a post which I hope to send today which will tell you all what else I have observed and learned?

Contrary to a suggestion made in this thread, I do understand that your posts here represent an investment of time and effort.

I appreciate every attempt to help.

[68 Overlander]

Originally Posted by azflycaster

With all the checking and eliminating you have done, it sounds like your converter thinks the batteries are charged more then they are. Too bad that Randy from bestconvertors has not found this thread yet, he knows this stuff. Didn't you replace the converter last year after you had issues at 29 Palms?

I did just find this thread as I was gone this weekend but have actually been corresponding with Guy for a week or so on this. Titus above has given a pretty fair accessment of how these units work and quite frankly, there is not a lot of difference between manufactures in terms of automatic mode changing.
I understand from Guy this morning that all is well and his unit is working properly but I'll let him elaborate at his leisure.

[Yonner]

I have had the same conceres re WFCO not charging at expected Amps. This site has an indepth study of the WFCO converter. www.dudesrv.com/wfcothe real dirt Hope this helps. I concluded that I do not have enough battery capacity to ever get the full amperage available.

[guy99]

Hello everyone. Sorry I am so slow getting this posted. I have had some medical issues that required attention and haven't had a lot of time to compose this.

It occurs to me that some unstated assumptions and some background information which I have not made explicit may be helpful for this discussion.

First let me explain the basic functionality of the Trimeteric 2020. From my point of view the key data which it provides is battery volts and amps. Discharging amps are reported as negative, charging amps as positive. It also tracks cumulative net amps. So if you discharge the battery by 50 amps and then charge it by 40 amps, the cumulative display would read -10. I believe that the volts and amps measurements are accurate within measurement error. The cumulative net depends on what charging efficiency you assume and how you define a fully charged battery. (When the "fully charged" criteria are met, the cumulative net amps is set to 0 and the percent full is set to 100%). The cumulative net amps is kept until the batteries are fully charged.

In summary the Trimetric gives near real time measurements of battery volts and amps (in or out), it also estimates net amps in or out and percent of charge of the battery bank using some assumptions. It also tracks a number of other items thought to be useful in managing a battery bank such as total amp hours ever withdrawn from the battery bank, time since last full recharge, etc. Here is a link to Randy's website: TriMetric Battery Monitor
and here is a link to the manual: http://www.bogartengineering.com/TM2Instrpt1.pdf

What I was expecting

In preparation for this current trip I increased my battery capacity from ~ 230 amp hours (2 group 27 marine deep cycle batteries) to ~ 460 amp hours (4 group 27 marine deep cycle batteries) by buying 4 new batteries moving my chassis battery out of the battery drawer, wiring the drawer to support 4 batteries, and shoe horning the batteries in. I used the group 27 batteries rather than golf cart batteries because there is not enough height to allow the taller batteries to fit.

From prior trips with two batteries I knew that we could get by with just two batteries by running the generator as needed to recharge but I felt the batteries were discharging overnight further than was good for them and my old batteries had been run very low in 29 Palms when my converter failed while I was plugged in and I didn't realize it until the batteries were very discharged. So I figured they should be replaced anyway.

With the new configuration I expected to be able to boondock indefinitely by running the generator enough on a daily basis to bring the batteries up to 90% charge or so and then every week or 10 days running the generator longer so as to fully charge the batteries. This is what the fellow who I am traveling with does with his SOB motorhome. He has approximately the same battery capacity in amp hours although he has golf cart batteries and he has an inverter charger with 100 amp charging capacity (compared to my 65 amp WFCO). I expected that I might need to run my generator a bit longer than he because of the lower charger capacity.

What actually happened was that my WFCO converter was never putting out more than 13.6 volts with the consequence that the rate of charge declined very quickly from around 45-50 amps to 15 amps and less (It took less than 15 minutes for the charge rate to fall to below 15). This is when I started with batteries around 12.3 volts with a very light load of 1.8 amps (approximately 70%).

My research suggested that it was going to take forever to charge my batteries if the charger never put out more than 13.6 volts. For example the article on this link says that a fully dischrged battery can be brought back to a 90% state of charge in 3 hours at at 14.4 volts but that it takes 40 hours to achieve 90% state of charge at 13.6 volts. Charge Wizard

This is when I made the first post in this thread.

Based on suggestions here I decided to connect a battery charger. So, I fired up the generator and then started the converter with the batteries disconnected. I then plugged in the battery charger and hooked it up to my batteries. After about 6 hours of charging the batteries were up to around 12.5 volts and the charger (which unfortunately is automatic) shut off. I noticed however that during the time the generator had been running the converter was supplying 14.4 volts to the rig. Never before had I seen this converter put out more than 13.6 volts! I hypothesize that because the converter powered up with the batteries disconnected, it went into "bulk" mode.

Since I 'tricked' the converter into going into 'bulk' mode, it seems to always start there. So, for example, this morning my batteries were at about 12.3 volts when I started the generator, when the converter came on, the voltage started at 12.8 with a charge rate in the 40's. Over the next 2 hours the voltage climber to 14.4 and the charge rate fell slowly to about 14 amps. It has been an hour since I shut down the generator and the batteries have been supporting a 4 amp load (with briefly higher loads when the water pump or furnace runs). The Trimetric reports battery voltage of 12.8 and amperage of -3.8.

This is the performance I expected from the converter in the first place.

It seems to me that once the WFCO convert gets in to a state (bulk, normal, float) it really tends to stay there until it gets 'reset' somehow. When I first got the WFCO I noticed that once it went into 'float' - 13.2 volts it never came out even when the batteries were discharged to 80%. I spoke to Randy about this and he advised me to disconnect the batteries and shore power for a minute, then reconnect. Sure enough when I did this the converter started up in 'normal' - 13.6 volts mode. I have had to follow this procedure several times when the rig has been plugged in and not in use. It also as happens during extended stays in camp grounds when we were plugged in and not using a lot of power.

The following link documents some extensive testing of the WFCO converter which produced results which are pretty much consistent with what I have experienced. Yonner posted this link earlier but it seems to have a space inserted into the url so it is not complete.

WFCO Testing and results.

Bottom line. I have escaped battery charging hell. I don't really understand why the WFCO acts as it does but I seem to know how to get it to do what I need it to, so I'm OK.

Thank You all for your suggestions and concern. I know that it took an investment of time and effort.

Guy

[pmclemore]

When you disconnected the batteries, what did you do (how did you do it?)

Pat

[guy99]

Originally Posted by pmclemore

When you disconnected the batteries, what did you do (how did you do it?)

Pat

I have two battery disconnect switches on the rear of my battery drawer (I don't know if they are stock). I flipped the switch for the coach batteries. This disconnects the positive line from the battery bank to the coach.

[danesh]

Hello Everyone.
Today when I was trying to get our AS ready for a trip I noticed that the battery is dead and charger/converter is not working. I cehcked the voltages, battery was 4.3 volts and the charger/converter was 4.3 volts. The system must have been in this condition at least for a few weeks(I checcked the AS two weeks ago when we had a bad freeze). I disconnected the battery and took the converter out. The battery reads 6 volts (I guess it is dead for good!!!) and converter read 4.3 volts. But it seems that the converter is comming back to life. After I pluged it in again the voltage went up to 11.4 volts and now it is at 14.4 volts. By the way i forgot to mention that the converter is a WFCO WF-8855.
My question is: what has happend? Why did the converter voltage went from 4.3 to 11.4 and now 14.4 volts? And, why the voltage without any load is 14.4 volts? I thought the converter voltage without being connected to anything should be around 13.6 volts. Is converter damaged too?
Thanks for any reply.

[danesh]

Hello Everyone.
Today when I was trying to get our AS ready for a trip I noticed that the battery is dead and charger/converter is not working . I checked the voltages, battery was 4.3 volts and the charger/converter was 4.3 volts. The system must have been in this condition at least for a few weeks(I checcked the AS two weeks ago when we had a bad freeze). I disconnected the battery and took the converter out. The battery reads 6 volts (I guess it is dead for good!!!) and converter read 4.3 volts. But it seems that the converter is comming back to life. After I pluged it in again the voltage went up to 11.4 volts and now it is at 14.4 volts. By the way i forgot to mention that the converter is a WFCO WF-8855.
My question is: what has happend? Why did the converter voltage went from 4.3 to 11.4 and now 14.4 volts? And, why the voltage without any load is 14.4 volts? I thought the converter voltage without being connected to anything should be around 13.6 volts. Is converter damaged too ?
Thanks for any reply.

[danesh]

It is me again.
I just checked the converter once more. It is back to 11.4 volts. I guess I need a new converter . Any comments?
Cheers