Which Batteries ????? (1 Viewer)

do1977

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i have just fitted 4 x 110 amp batterys ( £70 each cheep ones ) for the living as it already has 2 x 6v batterys linked to make 12v

they have been charged up priply and the 230v & 12v charger are working
they dont hold much charge as they run out after 3 or 4 days and all the lights are LED and the tv is 12v and the only thing else i have is a laptop

i am thinking do i need to replace them with better ones or not??
 

scotjimland

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i am thinking do i need to replace them with better ones or not??

With the limited information I would say NO ..

first you need to check:

1. that they are being charged properly .. how do you know they are full ? Do you use a hydrometer ?

2. Calculate how many amps you are using over the time period..
add up the hours of TV + lappy etc and calculate the total amps used.

3. you say you have two existing 6v in series, they may be dragging the new batteries down.. if you are certain the new ones are being FULLY charged then I suggest disconnecting the old 6v and do further trials ..



as an aside. I have had 4 x 85 cheap FLAs ( £30 each) for four years and still going strong

hth

jim
 
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do1977

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the 6v batterys where new in july i was told if i was to get more battery which ones should i get and why??

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hilldweller

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they have been charged up priply and the 230v & 12v charger are working they dont hold much charge as they run out after 3 or 4 days and all the lights are LED and the tv is 12v and the only thing else i have is a laptop

Something very wrong there.

We get 3 or 4 days out of one 85Ah.

So:
1. Your batteries are not being charged properly.
2. There is something draining them you don't know about.
3. The batteries are no good.

I'd take this battery by battery. One faulty one could discharge the others. Just have one on line at a time. Monitor the charging which should hit about 14.5V. See how long it lasts.

Do you have any means of measuring the current out of the battery ?

I wouldn't think you'd been sold 4 duff ones but stranger things have happened.
 

MicknPat

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do1977,

Have you worked out how many parasite appliances or devices you have in your RV,
these can be all sorts of things from CO2 detectors, radio / cd player displays, clocks, fridge/ freezer, our fridge freezer fro example requires a 12 volt input even if run off gas.

I would suggest you when ALL 12 volt items are off that you check what current is being still drawn from the batteries.

Not sure how you do this :Blush: but I'm sure some one will know on here?

Mick
 

pappajohn

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i have just fitted 4 x 110 amp batterys ( £70 each cheep ones ) for the living as it already has 2 x 6v batterys linked to make 12v

they have been charged up priply and the 230v & 12v charger are working
they dont hold much charge as they run out after 3 or 4 days and all the lights are LED and the tv is 12v and the only thing else i have is a laptop

i am thinking do i need to replace them with better ones or not??

what is the max rated output of your onboard charger ?

you have 440ah of new batteries added to the other two which may total 110ah or, i suspect, even more.

thats a total of at least 550ah.
a standard charger will really struggle to charge those fully.

a 10amp charger may take over 40 hours to charge to 550ah if the batteries are just about flat.
you should aim for a minimum charge rate of 10% of your toal battery reserve...ie 55amp charger.

i would say you need at least an 80amp charger...preferably a 3 stage charger capable of a high charge rate of 14.4v at least.

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do1977

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i have a 40amp 3 stage charger high charge rate of 14.4v so i dont think the charger is the problem as i also hve 500w of solar that i hve tested for discharge at night

so it must be a battery whats the best way to test them apart from taking them all off and seeing how long they all last one at a time
 
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pappajohn

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i have a 40amp 3 stage charger high charge rate of 14.4v so i dont think the charger is the problem as i also hve 500w of solar that i hve tested for discharge at night

so it must be a battery whats the best way to test them apart from taking them all off and seeing how long they all last one at a time

i figured it was worth a mention incase you had a crappy charger...:winky:

i think you may have to check each in turn to be sure if one is iffy.

i think the best and quickest way would be to get a hydrometer and check the electrolyte specific gravity.
this way you know immediately and dont need to disconnect each battery.

hydrometers arent very expensive and you've get one for future use.


you may get a very slight difference cell to cell but any big difference will indicate a knackered cell/battery.

heres a chart showing different voltages and gravity's at different charge states.
 

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scotjimland

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so it must be a battery whats the best way to test them apart from taking them all off and seeing how long they all last one at a time

first you need to check:

1. that they are being charged properly .. how do you know they are full ? Do you use a hydrometer ?

as I suggested

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vwalan

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You could beg steal borrow or buy a drop tester .sealey do a nice one .there are some deals going on i got one for 32 quid the other day at tragomills in cornwall. means charging them up then individually clipping on and pressing the button but they work quite well.
 
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do1977

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You could beg steal borrow or buy a drop tester .sealey do a nice one .there are some deals going on i got one for 32 quid the other day at tragomills in cornwall. means charging them up then individually clipping on and pressing the button but they work quite well.

just got one off ebay and will see what they are like


if i ws going to replace and batterys has any one used these before Link Removed ???????
 
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do1977

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as i already hve 40 amp charger

i also have a 20amp 3 stage charger as well in the garge
can i conect both at the same time????????

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pappajohn

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i'd really want to know the age and history of the batteries first.
if they have been used as UPS batteries there would be a maintainance record on them.
they could have been used on electric forklift trucks and recycled many times.

i dont like the sound of this either...

charged by a standard 12v charger.

12v batteries can be charged up to around 14.8v then they start to gas badly.
a 6v could maybe be charged at 8 or 9v but at 12v it will gas and overheat badly and not last long at all.

i'v melted a 6v battery accidently put on a garage 12v 20amp charger and it didnt take long.

of course this wont apply as you would be fitting two to make 12v or multiples of two to up the amps.
 
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do1977

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i'd really want to know the age and history of the batteries first.
if they have been used as UPS batteries there would be a maintainance record on them.
they could have been used on electric forklift trucks and recycled many times.

i dont like the sound of this either...

charged by a standard 12v charger.

12v batteries can be charged up to around 14.8v then they start to gas badly.
a 6v could maybe be charged at 8 or 9v but at 12v it will gas and overheat badly and not last long at all.

so could the 2x 6v batterys not be to good

well i wont to get this sorted as i have room for more batterys so if i was to ad to them what battery should i get??
 

pappajohn

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as i said in my edit it will be ok as you will join two in series to make 12v then another two joined the same way and connect to the first pair in parallel to increase the amps but still 12v.

pos of 1st battery to neg of second to make it 12v

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do1977

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as i said in my edit it will be ok as you will join two in series to make 12v then another two joined the same way and connect to the first pair in parallel to increase the amps but still 12v.

pos of 1st battery to neg of second to make it 12v
yes that is done already

can i use 2 chargers??
 

pappajohn

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a lot of RVers use2 x 6v batteries in series as the ampage is usually much higher than one 12v

joining two banks of 2 x 6v in parallel will double the amps and still be 12v
 

bashers

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just got one off ebay and will see what they are like


if i ws going to replace and batterys has any one used these before Link Removed ???????

They are sealed batteries
They have been designed to last for 10 years
They can handle 600 plus cycles

So far in their four year life they may only been cycled a few times during power outages
It mentions that they are charged with a standard charger. What it means is that they have probably been float charged with a few hundred others with a very epxensive enterprise charger with controlled voltage and current .
(Enterprises would not be happy if their float charger cooked several hundred batteries on their UPS would they)

As far as I'm concerned, these are the best value, even though they may be pretty heavy.
I bought ten a while back at twenty pounds each. One was dud, one was iffy, eight were perfect.

Thats the price of one 200ampre elecsol cell and i get 700amps.
If they only give off 50% of their rated power, i'm quids in.
In fact i can now camp for over four days with scant regard for power usage or well over a week if I need to be careful.

In an RV you can find space for these cells, they are worth it

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do1977

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ok will the plot thickens

i have 6000w inverter powering the rv i think i could be draining the power
i am thinking for down sizeing the inverter if i do what type should i get and where and what power
( m-wave oven - phone charger - 2 laptops - sky box - 20" tft tv ) thats what it needs to power all the time
i also have a 250w washing machine and tumble dryer - is a small house hold type

or do i have i inverters one for the every day use and one on a switch
 

hilldweller

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do1977

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ok so if i went with a 1500w inverter for everyday use
so has any one got any idears on what inverter to use for everyday use??
i have seen lots on ebay but could have the same problem

and use the 6000w on switch

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hilldweller

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ok so if i went with a 1500w inverter for everyday use
so has any one got any idears on what inverter to use for everyday use??
i have seen lots on ebay but could have the same problem

and use the 6000w on switch

Why 1500 ? Why not 300/600 ? Keep the one you are going to use a lot to a reasonable minimum.

ebay is a minefield, you have no way of knowing how good the Chinese ones are. I bought a Sterling 300W sinewave one there for £100. Not used it yet but it is top spec. However sinewave ones are not as efficient as quasi-sinewave.

It's a difficult choice and on that basis look to buy where you can return it easily. In which case I'd try a 600W quasi-sinewave with a chance it may have to go back.

PS look at the spec of standby or quiescent current.
 
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gwyntaxi

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what batteries

:Eeek:sounds like a real hotch-potch u got wired up there. as i understand it (limited knowledge,mind you, ALL batteries in
the setup, should be of the same make,type,capacity,age, i
think the 2x6v arent really helping the problem here as the
4x110v alone should be more than enough power to last for
approx 5or6 days with the power consumption u describe i
would have it checked out PRFESSIONALLY asap as at a worse
case scenario your van could go up in flames,hope this helps:thumb:
 

pappajohn

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just a point of interest...

did you know if you use the 6kw inverter at full capacity it will use 500amps per hour. :Eeek:

you may need an even bigger battery bank.....:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:

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pappajohn

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ok so if i went with a 1500w inverter for everyday use
so has any one got any idears on what inverter to use for everyday use??
i have seen lots on ebay but could have the same problem

and use the 6000w on switch

add up all your appliance watts in total then double it....ie: 1000watts worth of appliances = 2000w inverter......plenty of reserve and the inverter will run cooler.
 

teensvan

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Hi.

Put a slow discharge asross each battery in turn. Connect a 12 volt 12 watt bulb asross each battery. An 85 amp battery should still be going strong after 40 hours, as it should still have half its charge left.

steve & ann. ------------- teensvan
 

pappajohn

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Hi.

Put a slow discharge asross each battery in turn. Connect a 12 volt 12 watt bulb asross each battery. An 85 amp battery should still be going strong after 40 hours, as it should still have half its charge left.

steve & ann. ------------- teensvan

easy test but a little 'time' intensive when you have 4 110ah batteries and a couple of 6v xxxah in series.

you just cant beat a scientific chemical analysis...AKA...a hydrometer.

:thumb:

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