Flickering TV

[iain26]

As our evening TV goes on we find the TV start flickering, particularly if we turn on an extra light or run the water pump.
I believe this is likely a low voltage issue, however, I have a NASA BM-1 fitted which is telling me the battery voltage is steady at 12.8-12.7 and has only been as low as 75% capacity.
At the start of an evening the Sargent panel is showing 12.8 v but by bed time it could be down to 11.7, but the BM-1 is not matching this.

Set up is standard AutoTrail Sargent Ec500 controller and AutoTrail wiring.
I have added 280w solar which goes directly to the leisure batteries only, the existing 100w solar fitted by AutoTrail is switched to look after the engine battery only.
No EHU and the batteries have been charging back up to 100% in the morning sunshine.

My assumption is that the battery does drop possibly .1 or .2 vv during an evening which is sufficient to drop the voltage at the Tv by even more given the thin wiring used by AutoTrail and adding an additional light or pump load is enough to cause the Tv to flicker.

I am not convinced that anything other than retiring the socket with properly sized cable would help the issue but open to any other ideas anyone might have.

Iain

 

[pappajohn]

Sounds to me like a faulty BM 1 as an evening of TV and a light or two certainly will drag the battery down.
The Sargent panel, while not 100% accurate, certainly seems nearer the mark.

 

[iain26]

Sounds to me like a faulty BM 1 as an evening of TV and a light or two certainly will drag the battery down.
The Sargent panel, while not 100% accurate, certainly seems nearer the mark.

I did wonder that but just checked and it is showing 14.1v, charge 1.0a, 98% charged, which as it is sunny looks about right.
I think I’ll get a meter out and check it later tonight and see if the meter correlates or not.

 

[Landy Andy]

Does it do it on EHU? Could it be interference? I

 

[iain26]

Does it do it on EHU? Could it be interference? I

No it is only without EHU.

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[NicM]

Test the volts at the tv, maybe volt drop at it.

 

[ctc]

Might be a poor connection and a small drop in battery voltage means the TV cannot pull enough amps.

 

[autorouter]

I presume the BM-1 is connected direct to the battery, but the Sargent panel is connected to the Sargent distribution/fusebox. If you confirm those voltage readings with a multimeter, then it looks like a bad connection somewhere. For example, it might get worse as it gets hot, then improve as it cools down. The resistance of the bad connection will cause a voltage drop, which will make it heat up and make the connection worse. I'd check the connections along the wire, including the push-on connectors on the back of the TV socket.