Is my Battery Going Bad?

[Grampswrx]

Originally Posted by wltrmtty

Thanks, Shenrie. Who is iirc? Also, I want to know how these batteries went kaput. The PO struggled with the batteries, but I don't know if that was due to poor management/maintenance of the batteries or something in the house electrical system. I'd hate to replace them and find out they're bad in 2 years.

Thank you. Terry

iirc = "If I Remember Correctly"

Internet shorthand.

[Scalf77]

Going back to the original post, when you say you were plugged in for a week. Were you still plugged in when you made these first voltage check? If you were we need to step back and look at the charger. The charger should have stopped in float mode, and thus been reading around 13.3 volts. It does say that it will disengage from float after 10 days of constant plug in. You should connect back up, and check the read out. At some time you should get up to the absorption setting. I don't know how this charger decides it is charged, it basically talks about a timer from 1 hr to 12 hrs, doesn't say how the timer gets set. Doesn't look like it ask for battery bank size either. Maybe that info is in the remote or I just missed reading the manual. Do you remember setting any parameters when installing?

First you need to make sure the charger is working as one would expect. What was the previous owners battery management , what shore charger did it have prior to installing your new AIMs unit.

-greg

[wltrmtty]

Originally Posted by Grampswrx

iirc = "If I Remember Correctly"

Internet shorthand.

Ah, yes.

Terry

[wltrmtty]

Originally Posted by Scalf77

Going back to the original post, when you say you were plugged in for a week. Were you still plugged in when you made these first voltage check? If you were we need to step back and look at the charger. The charger should have stopped in float mode, and thus been reading around 13.3 volts. It does say that it will disengage from float after 10 days of constant plug in. You should connect back up, and check the read out. At some time you should get up to the absorption setting. I don't know how this charger decides it is charged, it basically talks about a timer from 1 hr to 12 hrs, doesn't say how the timer gets set. Doesn't look like it ask for battery bank size either. Maybe that info is in the remote or I just missed reading the manual. Do you remember setting any parameters when installing?

First you need to make sure the charger is working as one would expect. What was the previous owners battery management , what shore charger did it have prior to installing your new AIMs unit.

-greg

Hey Scalf77, yes, I was still plugged in when I first checked it. I just went out and checked again and attached a picture of the remote screen. I had plugged in, again, when I took the picture. It was jumping between 12.3V & 12.4V.

I did not install the inverter-charger or the remote. After your comments, I became curious about the settings on the inverter-charger, so checked it out. The battery selector switch on top of the unit was set to (1), Gel USA (ref. page 8 of the manual). The 180 degree position on the dial is (6), Open lead acid. Granted, that dial is very difficult to read, but there is an arrow at one end of the slot and the arrow was set to (1). As noted on my OP, the batteries are open lead acid batteries. I set the dial to the correct position.

Next, I checked the DIP switches on the end of the battery (ref 2.5.10, page 13). SW1 was set at (0) and all the rest were, as far as I could tell, kind of in the middle - neither 0 or 1. I set all switches to (1) and am curious as to your thoughts.

BTW, after about an hour, the remote still shows the batteries at 12.4. Interesting that the input voltage is 000V.

Many thanks! Terry

[wltrmtty]

Update: I pulled the input power cord from the inverter-charger (that comes from the house distribution system) and checked for power - nada. Just to make sure I was doing it right, I checked the power in a garage outlet and got a reading. So, no power is going to the inverter-charger. Hence, input voltage is 000V. I'll track that down tomorrow.

Thanks for your help! Terry

[Scalf77]

To be honest their power saving modes are a little confusing, but I would turn switch 5 to a zero AC Priority, and then I would try turning the inverter off to see if that forces battery charger to come on.

-greg

[wltrmtty]

Originally Posted by Scalf77

To be honest their power saving modes are a little confusing, but I would turn switch 5 to a zero AC Priority, and then I would try turning the inverter off to see if that forces battery charger to come on.

-greg

Hi Greg, I flipped SW5 to zero and the inverter fan immediately turned on (the remote switch was set to Power Saver Auto at this time). I then turned the Remote switch to Off and everything shut down (meaning screen turned off, lights went out, and the fan turned off). Attached is a shot of the Remote screen after I turned it back on.

I traced the power line into the inverter-charger back to a GFI outlet under the rear bench seat. This outlet is connected to a circuit breaker marked "GFI Outllet" in the main breaker panel. The shore power goes to this main. The pictures in the manual are so dark and fuzzy, they are useless and the artist rendering is not much help. So, I had assumed the shore power went directly to the inverter without a breaker, since the inverter has its own breaker. I was wrong. All this time I was plugged into 'shore power,' the main breaker and GFI breaker were turned off. I think I have it figured out, now.

Thank you VERY much, Greg. I'm sure you're shaking your head right now. I don't blame you. I couldn't get by without you and all of the good people on this forum. Terry

[Scalf77]

Glad to see it is up and running. It takes a while to sort out how these thing all work. What is your House battery capacity, a 20 amp charger is pretty small.

-greg

[wltrmtty]

Originally Posted by Scalf77

Glad to see it is up and running. It takes a while to sort out how these thing all work. What is your House battery capacity, a 20 amp charger is pretty small.

-greg

Two batteries at 88 amp-hrs each.

[moorefc]

Note some chargers are not "liked" by GFI outlets due to the grounding scheme....There are threads on that for the Tripp Lite installed by Sportsmobile....In my case, the GFI is tripped if the van is plugged in charge mode. If set to invert, and then plugged in the GFI does not trip....