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Paul Prusakowski avatar image
Paul Prusakowski asked

Batteries bad?

screenshot-20230705-215958.pngImage Captionscreenshot-20230705-215950.pngI have 2 house Gel Duracell batteries in my RV. I am trying to keep one electronic device on 24/7. I have solar panels, and DC-DC charger.

I am concerned that my batteries are not doing as well as they could and many need a replacement soon.

I took pictures of past 7 days from Smart Solar, and Shunt, as well as current snapshot and history from Inverter.

Can anyone interpret these for me and let me know what you think about my battery situation ? Thanks a ton!


Paul


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battery charging
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kevgermany avatar image kevgermany ♦♦ commented ·
It would be good to see the trend graph with volts and amps, the battery settings and the reason for the exclamation mark on the settings cog.

Looks as if the optional starter battery connection isn't there (but monitoring is on), or has failed.

What is worrying you in these screenshots?


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Paul Prusakowski avatar image Paul Prusakowski kevgermany ♦♦ commented ·
I will get an updated reading later today using those values. I am concerned that my batteries are not working well enough and not holding charge long enough. I am trying to figure out what I should expect the batteries to be able to handle if I am drawing 21VA 24/7.


I have a lot of good solar days in Florida, so I am trying to get the system as self sustaining as possible without needing shore power charging. My concern is that my batteries could be sub optimal.

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Paul Prusakowski avatar image Paul Prusakowski kevgermany ♦♦ commented ·

New data! I switched if to Amps and Voltage.


I have been on the road for almost 24 hours now. I'm working while my wife is driving. We plugged into shore power just before midnight last night and then started rolling again at about 9 this AM.


One picture is the yesterday and today while I was working using a laptop and other equipment.screenshot-20230715-140838.png


One picture is more days compressed, but not with me working at the same time.



screenshot-20230715-140734.png

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Paul Prusakowski avatar image Paul Prusakowski kevgermany ♦♦ commented ·
I updated all the firmware and the warning notices went away .


I am trying to determine if my batteries are holding charge as long as they should or if they are showing signs that it is time to replace or upgrade soon.


The 2 House batteries are:

Duracell Group Size 27

part number SLI27MAGMDC

100 ah/hr batteries

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1 Answer
mvas avatar image
mvas answered ·

Can you explain ...

Min Battery Voltage = 4.51v

Max Battery Voltage = 14.78v

Those voltages seem extreme, especially for a Gel Battery.

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kevgermany avatar image kevgermany ♦♦ commented ·
Min battery is an odd one. Can often be zero, or some strange value from when the system started. AFIK, no way of resetting it without resetting all the values. I've ignored it on my system.

Max voltage could be down to kicking off an equalisation cycle. Or could be the settings on a charger at some point. Or a temporary spike (e.g. a high load which switches off suddenly).

In general neither of these values is often useful imho.


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