Loss of leisure battery capacity

[centrehalf5]

Hi, I'm hoping someone might be able to shed some light on an issue we're having.

We have a 2014 autotrail mohawk with 2 leisure batteries that are both approx 12 months old. They've always stayed quite happily up towards 100% capacity just dropping a little when used. A few weeks ago I accidentally left the van on for about 8 days sitting on our drive. the capacity dropped to 27% and i fully recharged back to 100% as soon as I realised. However the capacity seems to drop about 5% per day with the van off and a solar panel charging it. It seems to still be offering 12V plus. Does anyone have a view as to why this might be? I appreciate a battery shouldn't be allowed to go below 50% but should it be functioning this badly after just one episode of it dropping below 50%? Would you expect the winter conditions we now have in the UK to impact to this degree? Many thanks for any thoughts you might have

 

[PhilandMena]

Solar panels at this time of year will not perform as well as you like. A top up charge from hook up when capacity drops to 80% is the way forward.

 

[Lenny HB]

Sounds like you have something turned on drawing current. Looks like you have a draw of around 720ma probably around 500ma more than you would expect.

Probably quite a bit more than that as you will be getting some output for your solar.

 

[Kannon Fodda]

Today my 100W solar, nicely out in the open, generated a paltry 10W. Yesterday must have been just a bit brighter and I got 20W.

With alarm systems and just background stuff that never quite shuts off, even when you've pressed all the buttons you can find, there is always a bit of drain on the batteries. Sooner or later I'll have to get the hook up connected to put a bit more juice in.

 

[Diabalo]

Shut the EC500 psu down with the black button and this will reduce the parasitic drain, all the solar will then be directed to the leisure batteries
You will need a battery master to keep the cab battery topped up. I do this with my AT Mohawk and the solar panels cope a lot better.

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[PhilandMena]

Sounds like you have something turned on drawing current. Looks like you have a draw of around 720ma probably around 500ma more than you would expect.

Probably quite a bit more than that as you will be getting some output for your solar.

How on earth did you arrive at this ? OP never mentioned size of his solar power or size and type of battery bank ! are you on the wine Lenny.

 

[deleted79651]

Sounds like you have something turned on drawing current. Looks like you have a draw of around 720ma probably around 500ma more than you would expect.

Probably quite a bit more than that as you will be getting some output for your solar.

Hi Lenny,

With the parasitic drain on our M/home traced to a wiring fault, the auto electrician reduced the drain to 15ma. But the dismal Scottish Winter [it never became 'properly'light today], we have had 4 days out of the last 10 with no Solar input, and even our brand new Yuasa Starter Battery, is struggling. Yesterday, we managed a peak Solar output of 3w over a power generation period of 3hrs 29 mins

Steve

 

[Lenny HB]

Hi Lenny,

With the parasitic drain on our M/home traced to a wiring fault, the auto electrician reduced the drain to 15ma. But the dismal Scottish Winter [it never became 'properly'light today], we have had 4 days out of the last 10 with no Solar input, and even our brand new Yuasa Starter Battery, is struggling. Yesterday, we managed a peak Solar output of 3w over a power generation period of 3hrs 29 mins

Steve

My 300 watts of solar is keeping my batteries at 100%

 

[deleted79651]

My 300 watts of solar is keeping my batteries at 100%

We only have 180w of Solar ... In our flat, I managed to turn the lounge light off at about 10:30am and it was back on again just before noon. There is a price to pay for 18 hours+ daylight in Summer!

Steve

 

[Lenny HB]

We only have 180w of Solar ... In our flat, I managed to turn the lounge light off at about 10:30am and it was back on again just before noon. There is a price to pay for 18 hours+ daylight in Summer!

Steve

Even we get that in the summer.

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[PhilandMena]

Hi, I'm hoping someone might be able to shed some light on an issue we're having.

We have a 2014 autotrail mohawk with 2 leisure batteries that are both approx 12 months old. They've always stayed quite happily up towards 100% capacity just dropping a little when used. A few weeks ago I accidentally left the van on for about 8 days sitting on our drive. the capacity dropped to 27% and i fully recharged back to 100% as soon as I realised. However the capacity seems to drop about 5% per day with the van off and a solar panel charging it. It seems to still be offering 12V plus. Does anyone have a view as to why this might be? I appreciate a battery shouldn't be allowed to go below 50% but should it be functioning this badly after just one episode of it dropping below 50%? Would you expect the winter conditions we now have in the UK to impact to this degree? Many thanks for any thoughts you might have.

Some more info would be helpful I think. do you know the size of your solar power and is the regulator set to charging both cab & hab batteries. Autotrial's usually have 4 hour cab battery charging per day.

 

[centrehalf5]

Shut the EC500 psu down with the black button and this will reduce the parasitic drain, all the solar will then be directed to the leisure batteries
You will need a battery master to keep the cab battery topped up. I do this with my AT Mohawk and the solar panels cope a lot better

 

[centrehalf5]

Shut the EC500 psu down with the black button and this will reduce the parasitic drain, all the solar will then be directed to the leisure batteries
You will need a battery master to keep the cab battery topped up. I do this with my AT Mohawk and the solar panels cope a lot better.

Thanks for this. So if i shut down the EC500 the solar panel will still charge the leisure battery, it doesn't shut down the solar panel aswell? I'd not heard of a battery master before. If I understand correctly, a battery master will take any charge needed from the leisure battery to the cab battery when the EC500 is shut down. Is that correct? Many thanks

 

[centrehalf5]

Thanks all for your responses, I'll do a bit more investigation and post again

 

[Gellyneck]

So if i shut down the EC500 the solar panel will still charge the leisure battery, it doesn't shut down the solar panel aswell?

As Dane Diabalo says shutting down the EC500 control panel "kills" all draw on the leisure batteries. To try this place the panel in shutdown and try to operate the EC480 over the hab door, or the radio \ media unit, etc. It does not "kill" power from the cab battery as this is needed to power alarms, trackers, central locking, etc, etc, etc. These items should place minimal draw on the cab battery however this varies by set-up.
The solar panel continues to charge the leisure battery whilst the panel is in shutdown however it does not charge the cab battery. An alternative set-up is required as Dane noted above.

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[Diabalo]

Thanks for this. So if i shut down the EC500 the solar panel will still charge the leisure battery, it doesn't shut down the solar panel aswell? I'd not heard of a battery master before. If I understand correctly, a battery master will take any charge needed from the leisure battery to the cab battery when the EC500 is shut down. Is that correct? Many thanks

If you have Sargent's Ec500 psu along with the Ec480 control panel then by default all the solar charging will go to the HAB battery/s It does not shut down the solar panel. A Vanbitz of similar battery master will keep the cab battery maintained but both are reliant on enough sun. The Sargent system has built in smart charging in the menu so it charges both the HAB and CAB batteries in turn but I find it's not very good in the winter months as the Ec500 needs to be on leading to more drain.

 

[Gellyneck]

The Sargent system has built in smart charging in the menu so it charges both the HAB and CAB batteries in turn but I find it's not very good in the winter months as the Ec500 needs to be on leading to more drain.

We tried it both ways - smart charge with EC500 not in shutdown and EC500 in shutdown - and as you say the former results in more draw. This additional draw appeared to impact the cab battery more than the leisure battery.