I recently converted from a single 12v crappy walmart battery in my work and play trailer to a 2x6v setup from sams, ran all new 1/0 wiring, and changed over to a boondocker charger/converter and installed a xantrex prowatt 2000 inverter at the same time.
With all that said, I don't seem to be getting the voltage-longevity out of these new, big, 6v batteries that I think I should be...do I need to do anything to them when I buy them new...charge them for x amount of hours, or just hook them up and use them?
The converter is working as confirmed by putting a meter on the batteries while it's running....everything in the 12v distribution panel works, and the inverter works...but I don't get any longevity out of the batteries while running even very small loads on the inverter, such as a vizio 26" tv.
The reason I say I don't think I'm getting the capacity out of it is: As soon as I turn the inverter on, it shows voltage of 12.2 on the front panel, within just a 10 minute period of having a few led dome lights on, and the vizio and tv booster, it says 11.6.
I agree, your inverter is really drawing a lot of power. My guess is that the converter is still plugged in, and the inverter is supplying over 1,000 watts to the battery charger, and it is trying to recharge the battery.
Is the inverter feeding the whole RV? Then it must do so in a way that it does not feed the battery charger, or the charger might go up in smoke.
Also running a 2,000 watt inverter with a 120 watt load is not very efficient. I sometimes would watch TV with my 1,500 watt MSW inverter, but it would draw about 10 amps (lights, 19" tube type TV, and Direct TV receiver). Plug in a 150 watt inverter, plug TV and direct TV into that, and amps dropped to about 7.5 amps.
This is a reading from my E-meter. It is the same thing as a Link 10, but about 5 years older.
The usual culprits are the converter, the fridge and the (electric) water heater.
Turn off or unplug the converter
Set the fridge to run on propane
Turn off the water heater (if it has an electric option).
BTW a 2000 watt inverter running "flat out" would favor 12 volt jars not six volt. Why? Because it may draw 200 amps per cell, or 8 times what is often used for testing batteries.
Thanks for the replies. The inverter is wired into a transfer switch and only powers leg1 of the breaker box, and the converter is.on leg 2. I've confirmed this by double checking the wiring. I.don't have an electric hot water heater, its gas, and fridge is off entirely. I feel like there may be a problem with one of the batteries or I haven't charged them long enough?
How many amps does the converter put out? If you take the batteries down to a resting voltage of 12.0 volts they need about 110 amps to fully recharge.
You can read battery voltage while they are under load but that is not the true voltage. If you have stuff running on the inverter and it gives 12.2 volts you have to turn everything off, let the battery rest a while and then look at the voltage. This is more of a correct voltage reading.
If there is a difference in voltage readings in different locations this is a function of wire size and load on the circuit. More load, smaller wire equals lower voltage.
Charge the batteries up and leave the inverter off to see what the battery voltage does and check for other 12v loads that are on.
2000 Sea Breeze F53 V10 - CR-V Toad
Some RV batteries live a long and useful life, some are murdered. Get a Digital Multimeter and Learn How to Use It
Check the batteries with a hydrometer. That will tell you if you are fully charging them and/or if you have a bad battery or one or more bad cells in the batteries.
Bill Simonds
'99 Winnebago Ultimate Freedom
330HP "Yellow" motor
'94 K5 Blazer 4X4 toad
garym114 wrote: How many amps does the converter put out? If you take the batteries down to a resting voltage of 12.0 volts they need about 110 amps to fully recharge.
You can read battery voltage while they are under load but that is not the true voltage. If you have stuff running on the inverter and it gives 12.2 volts you have to turn everything off, let the battery rest a while and then look at the voltage. This is more of a correct voltage reading.
If there is a difference in voltage readings in different locations this is a function of wire size and load on the circuit. More load, smaller wire equals lower voltage.
Charge the batteries up and leave the inverter off to see what the battery voltage does and check for other 12v loads that are on.
The converter is a a boondocker 60amp from best converters, He specd that unit with full knowledge of my setup, I hope it's correct.
I have read the battery voltage with a meter at the back of the converter while it's on, and it's charging, and when it's off, the voltage on the meter is the same within .05 volts at the distribution block/inverter/converter/dc pane/battery, 12.7volts.
I left the shore power plugged in overnight and left the converter's breaker on, so it presumably charged all night. The results were the same this AM, just the inverter running tv and the dc side powering 2 led overhead lights and the voltage as read on the inverter front panel and on a meter attached to the DC side continued to slide from 12.7 initially to below 12 within just a short period.
According to my math, and according to xantrex, and my electrical engineer friend, the inverter setup I have should supply that vizio alone for a VERY long time, and in a pinch, should be capable of running a 800w toaster for the few mintues required to toast bread, a 700w coffee maker for the 10 minutes required to make coffee, or even the 800w microwave for long enough to warm up canned corn or beans. (not at the same time). In actuality, the microwave will start but only run for 3 seconds before the inverter signals low voltage and shuts off. The coffee maker will not even start, as soon as you flip the switch the inverter goes to low voltage and shuts off. I haven't even tried the toaster.
Thanks for the tips guys, I'll pickup a hydrometer, but am unfamiliar with the process...I guess it's basically let the batteries rest for a few hours, unhook them and pull the ganged plugs on the water and check it like that?
What is the voltage reading at the batteries with the converter turned on and charging the batteries?
If the batteries are new then it sounds like the converter is not putting out enough voltage to charge the batteries.
1995brave wrote: What is the voltage reading at the batteries with the converter turned on and charging the batteries?
If the batteries are new then it sounds like the converter is not putting out enough voltage to charge the batteries.
The batteries are brand new from sams 2 weeks ago. Checked at the back of the converter and at the batteries themselves, depending on which "stage" or charging the charger is in, I suppose, I get 13.6v or 13.2v, with the charger off, I got 12.7 this AM.
I'm going to pickup an amp meter from my engineer friend to see what amp load is going through the dc cable into the inverter when it has a small load, like the tv, or when it has a large load like the microwave (if I can check it within the 3 seconds it takes to turn itself off).
I was wondering on this one - how long is the cable between the batteries and the inverter? And what AWG is it? When running those big loads there is a fair amount of amps being pulled across that cable and it may be undersized?
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