W The

[Dot]

We are parked up in the open area at the Tolmer Reserve (on Vic SA Border) have been plagued with 1/ crappy TV (crackling up and mainly getting ABC and 1 or 2 of SBS , The tv does a tad more crackling when the trucks go by but we are well away off the road. 2/ The satellite dish goes round and round and round and round= 0, 3/ Continual low house battery readings even after a sunny day and some hrs travelling, even the diesel heater doesn't like starting up when the battery says 12.4 but if we run the big red genny for a few minutes the heater is only too happy to start and keep going. sick to bits of the whole thing.

[RobertNotBob]

Hey Dot how long have you had the batteries, they are either not getting charged or need replacing. If you have replaced them you may have to have them check as they could be faulty. Put a new one in the territory 6 months ago and had it replaced two weeks ago as it was stuffed.

[Dot]

Will get them tested when we get home, but they have been getting charged via sun all the time at home??

[RobertNotBob]

Bit like my system always showing full charge and 3 days travel and on the third night we lost power. Sick of it so took the batteries to be tested and both stuffed. Complete new system in with a bcdc unit. Take care and safe journey home. Robert

[supersparky]

Dot, if your house batts only show 12.4 then they aren't getting charged enough. You either need more dolar, or more time in the sun. If the weather has been overcast, like it has been where we are, then you won't get enough solar input. We went to a c/p yesterday and charged up computer, drill batts and everything else, to save loading up the house system.

[T1 Terry]

Discussed this with the G man at Taggerty. The battery starts out fully charged because it has been on mains charging for quite some time. The driving won't charge the batteries unless you have a DC to DC charger, the start batteries are not charged to a high enough voltage to fully charge the house batteries. The house batteries would need to get to 14.6v minimum, then hold 14.4v for 12hrs to 36 hrs to fully charge, just the way lead acid batteries work, the last 10% takes a long time to get in because as the battery ages the chemical reactions are slower due to the build up of sulphates on the plate surfaces. The sulphates build up because the battery wasn't fully charged each time ...... a spiral to unusable because the capacity drops each time it doesn't get fully charged. Even reaching 14.4v doesn't mean the battery is charged, it means it is some where between 85% charged when it was new down to 65% charged when it has suffered a number of periods not fully charged.

The switch to lithium batteries isn't just because it sounds fashionable, it is to overcome the inherent faults with lead acid batteries. In the past people just had to put up with it because there wasn't an option, lithium batteries solve this problem but the system and battery construction has to be designed to do the job required. Drop in lithium batteries simply can not meet this challenge and a lot of people are finding that out the hard way,
we have an A van motorhome in the yard now, brand new last July, 3 x 150Ah Solar King drop in lithium 12v batteries in parallel, it spends more time with the batteries shit down than it actually functions, forget about the 2000w inverter, it can't even run the toothbrush recharger without the batteries shutting down. poor people spent all the retirement funds on a system that was promised to work and it doesn't ..... So here I am, back at work trying to fix it so they can do their dream trip up through the centre .....

I've tried my best to get the knowledge out there so buyers aren't parting with their hard earned $$ and not getting what they had hoped for ....... unfortunately the message doesn't always get through, many still think there is a cheaper path to get the result they want, then complain when it comes back to bit then in the wallet.

T1 Terry

[Dot]

Yeah but, how come we had to have other peoples vans plugged into our genny power supply when they had all lith set up. When there is no sun there is no power no matter what batteries you have . Having a genny is a must if no sun. Re the sat dish prob, jd got it going but it stopped working when we were on our way home in clear areas it just kept spinning around.. Getting house batteries tested next week.

[jon_d]

Dot.

re Sat.

Did George follow my process. ie Show the signal strength on the screen as it tracked? Then turn off and turn on to start from the last spot?

[Dot]

Dot.

re Sat.

Did George follow my process. ie Show the signal strength on the screen as it tracked? Then turn off and turn on to start from the last spot?

Yes he did jd but there was No signal and the dish wouldn't lock on .

[T1 Terry]

Yeah but, how come we had to have other peoples vans plugged into our genny power supply when they had all lith set up. When there is no sun there is no power no matter what batteries you have . Having a genny is a must if no sun. Re the sat dish prob, jd got it going but it stopped working when we were on our way home in clear areas it just kept spinning around.. Getting house batteries tested next week.

Nice shoot there Dottie The mungrel MPP Solar inverter has its own MPPT solar regulator built in and that is what is giving all the trouble. Seems there is current at a boosted voltage back feeding into the input side of the solar controller. This is causing the sensed voltage to be higher than actual solar input voltage resulting in the unit shutting down any solar input ...... no solar charge controller was what was causing the lack of battery charging. As you (or at least George) had the generator running to recharge your battery as well as Brendon and Liu's battery (both lead acid batteries) we asked if we could plug in as well. We could have got by, but why do that is charging is available? The difference is, we managed to reach close to 100% recharge in the same period the two lead acid battery uses got enough to get them by for a day, keep in mind the Hino is full house electric, no gas at all, so cooking, hot water, fridge, lights, diesel heater, Margaret's huffer puffer machine and the coffee machine as well as phone and computer recharging etc .....
I did rewire the solar at the Seymour riverside rest area so it would recharge that battery for the rest of our trip away and is still doing it in our front yard, there was plenty of rain during that time .....

T1 Terry

T1 Terry