habitation electrical puzzle

[Phill D]

I am far from a Luddite when it come to things electro mechanical but this has got me going around in circles;

so this is one for those of you that are upto speed on 12v hab electrics including solar.

i have an exide 80 ah Gel hab battery connected via schaudt electrobloc unit to the hab electrics and this has a schaudt 1218 solar controller( 140 watt ) which charges both Cab and Hab batteries when on solar or EHU. the Schaudt control panel display shows solar charge either to Hab or Cab as selected.

Ok... evrything seems to work as it should, use up some juice and you can watch the solar display both hab and cab charging current from the panel. both batteries are getting fully charged.

However, even when everything is fully charged ( and even if the EHU is connected i have a constant 0.2 / 0.3 amp charge from the solar panel to the hab battery, even with the hab electrics switched off at the control panel.

to me that seems to indicate that the hab battery has a parasitic drain. which i have tried to find.

in all of this the cab battery behaves as i would expect, gets its charge and then reduces until it takes nil from the EHU or solar,

i have puled every fuse! checked all hab circuits and still it shows a fluctuating 0.2 / 0.3 amp charge going to hab battery no matter what i do. if i switch stuff on then the charge from the panel changes as you would expect with the additional load.

any "Helpful"! ideas???

I am now really banging my head!!

 

[Off da Grid]

The whole time the sun is shining mine shows the same.
You are probably seeing the power that the solar controller is using to run, they all take power to actually work and record the information your displays are showing.

 

[Skipper43]

Do you have an alarm/tracker fitted to the Hab battery?

 

[Phill D]

The whole time the sun is shining mine shows the same.
You are probably seeing the power that the solar controller is using to run, they all take power to actually work and record the information your displays are showing.

i did think of that "HONEST"! but as it was fluctuating that put me off that track, although i agree a fluctuation of 0.1amp isnt exactly lots.

 

[Phill D]

Do you have an alarm/tracker fitted to the Hab battery?

both but they are fitted to the cab electrics.

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[Raul]

I see nothing wrong there, just normal behaviour of a solar charger. The 0,2a 2-3w, is your battery self discharge. When you hit float, does not mean zero charge. Unless is lithium. The battery still absorbs a small amount of energy to sustain the float voltage. Does not sit there by itself. Take it away and voltage drops.
Your fluctuation is because the accuracy of the equipment to measure current down to a limited probably 100ma 0,1a. Other monitors can measure down to 50ma 0,05a.

 

[Off da Grid]

Just to add, my Votronic controller has the ability to switch an aes fridge or small load on when the batteries are full so there must be a relay, probably solid state of some sort that is switched when this occurs, it is also on a 30 minute cycle.
The cooling fan comes on occasionally although it’s very quiet.
Even when it’s dark there’s still life in the thing.

 

[Phill D]

I see nothing wrong there, just normal behaviour of a solar charger. The 0,2a 2-3w, is your battery self discharge. When you hit float, does not mean zero charge. Unless is lithium. The battery still absorbs a small amount of energy to sustain the float voltage. Does not sit there by itself. Take it away and voltage drops.
Your fluctuation is because the accuracy of the equipment to measure current down to a limited probably 100ma 0,1a. Other monitors can measure down to 50ma 0,05a.

that seem very logical. its just i had not noticed it before ( probably had better things to occupy my mind )and not happenning with the cab battery. thank you for the input.

mind now at rest and i can stop going around the van circuits with my multi meter..