Battery query (1 Viewer)

[GWAYGWAY]

I have put another battery on to my system I now have three 80 amp hour leisure batteries but I now not that th voltage on the hymer contoller no longer ventures up to 13.5 vols when under solar charge an never in fact go over the lower mark under engine or solar even both.
They used to live on the top point nearly all the time.
I thought that the third battery would only add total capacity not drop volts. The controller is the proper one added to the homer box, same make??? Can't remember the name.
Any comments on what has happened, all the same batteries an not much in age between of any of them.

 

[Boringfrog]

Are all the batteries charged to the same voltage? Don't know if it helps but I remove my 3 batteries and give them a good days charge each before reconnecting.

 

[DavidG58]

I am always worried about multiple batteries, effectively they will all only be as good as the worst battery, we took a failing second battery off earlier this year, been quite happy with a single battery since

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[tonyidle]

I have put another battery on to my system I now have three 80 amp hour leisure batteries but I now not that th voltage on the hymer contoller no longer ventures up to 13.5 vols when under solar charge an never in fact go over the lower mark under engine or solar even both.
They used to live on the top point nearly all the time.
I thought that the third battery would only add total capacity not drop volts. The controller is the proper one added to the homer box, same make??? Can't remember the name.
Any comments on what has happened, all the same batteries an not much in age between of any of them.

Connect the batteries one at a time and give each one 24 hours to charge. Once you have determined that each one will do what is expected you can connect them all together again. At the moment either you haven't allowed enough time for them to attain full charge or one of them is faulty.

 

[PhilandMena]

I suspect it's to do with capacity! My intelligent on-board charger can not maintain a battery bank bigger than 210 AH. I suspect the same principal applies to all charging devices in that they are limited by the size of the battery bank they can efficiently maintain.

 

[Pausim]

I think voltage drops with load and perhaps your charging systems are struggling to cope with the large load demanded by 3 batteries. My concern would be that if the full charging voltage is never achieved all 3 batteries will be permanently undercharged. If it were my system I would want to charge them separately and when one is fully charged move on to the next i.e install a battery switch over. An alternative might be to bolster the charging system. A battery to battery charger which would enable a hefty alternator charge to the leisure system once the starter battery was up to voltage would be something I would consider.

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[Richard n Ann]

The charger will simply take longer to charge more capacity, you're right it shouldn't effect voltage as long as they've been on charge long enough.
Years ago I emailed Optimate because I wanted to use a tiny motorcycle maintenance charger to charge my caravan leasure battery, the response I got was "there is no time limit on bulk charge mode, so it will charge your leisure battery but it will take much longer". It worked fine.
I think you've got a duff battery. As mentioned above, separate them and test voltages, one may be down.

 

[GWAYGWAY]

The two batteries were on the maximum voltage at 13.5 when I received the new one I put it on a steady charge for 24 hours then fitted it. The voltage dropped to the maximum of 13 volts and it has never been higher since. I was considering putting a second solar panel on but it think the attached shauldt controller has a maximum capacity., I got it as it is the same as the main controller on the van.
I do not know if a second non dedicated solar unit could work as an independent unit or if they would compete with each other.

 

[Lenny HB]

I know you said the problem was with solar but are the batteries charging OK via the Elektroblock? I've outlined how the EBL works below as if the EBL is blown up it could be the cause of your low voltage readings.

Am I right in assuming you changed the original AGM battery for a couple of Gel's and have now fitted a 3rd Gel? I ask this as the AGM's Hymer fit are 95a/h.
Do you have the auxiliary charger? When fitting an additional battery you should fit the Schaudt auxiliary charger which doubles the charging capacity to 36 amps although not strictly necessary depending on how you use your batteries. If you charge the batteries from a fairly low state with the basic Elektroblock (without auxiliary charger) there is a high chance you will blow it up. I have 3 batteries and I don't have the auxiliary charger as I have 200 watts of solar and rarely use a hook up so the batteries are hardly ever charged by the EBL.

The Elektroblock should bulk charge until the voltage reaches 14.4v for Gel batteries (14.7v for AGM) and hold at 14.4v for 16 hours (8 hours on older EBL's) or for AGM's hold at 14.7v for 4 hours. Voltage should then drop to 13.7v for a float charge. It you turn on the charger and the batteries are allready fully charged it will still hold at 14.4v for 16 hours (or 14.7v for 4 hours).

You say it is the proper Hymer solar regulator, so it will be a Schaudt LR1218 or a LRM1218, also need to know what size are your solar panels, if you have 300 watts of solar panels that could overload an LR1218, also the LR1218 is not suitable for AGM batteries it will slowly kill them.

I would do what @tonyidle suggests and ensure each battery is OK, I would be inclined to do it on mains with the solar disconnected, once you have established they are charging OK on mains I would partly discharge each battery and repeat the charging test on each battery just with the solar.

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[Lenny HB]

The two batteries were on the maximum voltage at 13.5 when I received the new one I put it on a steady charge for 24 hours then fitted it. The voltage dropped to the maximum of 13 volts and it has never been higher since. I was considering putting a second solar panel on but it think the attached shauldt controller has a maximum capacity., I got it as it is the same as the main controller on the van.
I do not know if a second non dedicated solar unit could work as an independent unit or if they would compete with each other.

Battery capacity won't make any difference to the solar regulator it is the size of the panels that dictates the size regulator you need.

 

[hilldweller]

The two batteries were on the maximum voltage at 13.5

Maximum voltage ? You should see 14+ occationally.

 

[tonyidle]

It doesn't matter how many charging sources are connected to your bàttery - the one(s) with the highest voltage at any given time will do the work. So-called trickle or maintenance chargers will, on there own, just take a very long time to charge the battrry completely from a low level.

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[Lenny HB]

Any updates, have you managed to sort it? @GWAYGWAY

 

[GWAYGWAY]

We were away for four days at the Lincoln show and they kept up with all the deamnds only dropping a bit to 12.5 At home I put it on ehh and the voltages went right up to where they usually reside at 13.8
It seems ok but I would like a bigger solar input but 120 is probably the limit.
When Hymer sell the second and third battery option there is mention of a second charging unit but no information as to what or where supplied from what.???? They are not very forthcoming with help at the dealers I asked, but it might be they do not actually know.told it is confidential information not for customers to know about.
I will leave alone now unless a problem manifests itself in the near future.

 

[tonyidle]

I'm pleased it worked out. If you are interested in the additional charger try:

http://www.aandncaravanservices.co.uk/schaudt-elektroblock.php

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[Lenny HB]

We were away for four days at the Lincoln show and they kept up with all the deamnds only dropping a bit to 12.5 At home I put it on ehh and the voltages went right up to where they usually reside at 13.8
It seems ok but I would like a bigger solar input but 120 is probably the limit.
When Hymer sell the second and third battery option there is mention of a second charging unit but no information as to what or where supplied from what.???? They are not very forthcoming with help at the dealers I asked, but it might be they do not actually know.told it is confidential information not for customers to know about.
I will leave alone now unless a problem manifests itself in the near future.

Hope it's all OK. The 13.8v is the float voltage and it should go up to 14.7 volts if you have AGM batteries or 14.4v for Gel's before reducing to 13.8 worth checking to make sure the batteries are getting a full charge.

If you have a 2nd battery factory fitted Hymer fit the auxillery charger, dealers don't usually bother most UK dealers don't appear to have a clue. In theory the max size battery bank should be no more than 10 times the charger output and you should include the engine battery in the calculation according to Schaudt who manufacture Elektroblocks. I take that with a pinch of salt as the engine battery only receives a 2 amp trickle charge and I reckon it is safe to ignore it.

 

[GWAYGWAY]

Thank you all, I checked ALL the batteries separately and they are all at 12.8 on my AVO so I take it they are all fully charged. The 13.8 is the figure inside on the Hymer Controller box above the door and it says that because that is what they put on it, it may actually go higher but is not shown.. I am happy now all seems to work OK.

 

[MitchandJenny]

Are the chargers connected to the Pos on the first battery in the circuit and the Neg on the last battery in the circuit ??
Mitch.

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[Lenny HB]

Are the chargers connected to the Pos on the first battery in the circuit and the Neg on the last battery in the circuit ??
Mitch.

With the batteries next to each other it won't make much odds, more important on big battery bank and when the batteries arn't next to each other, however I did wire mine like that.

 

[MitchandJenny]

Well apparently it DOES work better when on the Pos of one and the Neg of another.
I did read up on-line before connecting mine up.
But each to their own.
Mitch.