Should I be worried??

[TigerFan62]

Hi can someone please explain what the picture of our CP unit is telling me. We are off grid and a tad concerned we are about to fade into an electrical abyss
TIA

 

[David and Sally]

Looks like a flat battery. Solar not enough to cover use.

 

[JockandRita]

From left to right, is telling you that your leisure battery voltage is 12.6v, (almost fully charged), as you appear to be using 3% of it's capacity, and that your solar input is only 0.1 Amps. However, the last graph is showing an even balance, ie, neither a drain nor a charge.

That's just my honest opinion on what I see from the screen.

Cheers,

Jock.

 

[JockandRita]

Looks like a flat battery. Solar not enough to cover use.

From left to right, is telling you that your leisure battery voltage is 12.6v, (almost fully charged), as you appear to be using 3% of it's capacity, and that your solar input is only 0.1 Amps. However, the last graph is showing an even balance, ie, neither a drain nor a charge.

That's just my honest opinion on what I see from the screen.

Cheers,

Jock.

Well there we go, two different interpretations of what is displayed on the screen, however, if it is showing 12.6v, then I am not of the opinion that the battery us goosed.

Cheers,

Jock.

 

[Jim]

12.6 is fully charged

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[cmcardle75]

The anonmylous reading is the capacity. I think it is trying to say 3% left, rather than 3% used. However, the battery monitor probably needs reseting. But I'm not familiar with the unit and may be wrong. I think everyone agrees that there appears to be charge in the battery.

 

[TigerFan62]

Bit bemused as we use very little in way of power day to day. Watch a bit of tv on a night and one light on usually apart from toilet flush, hand washing… Only today with just a little sun, previous three days mostly sunny. Not sure if our settings are correct? 2 yr old AGM batteries on board.

 

[davidbaldam]

Hi and welcome to FUN.

 

[mickb3275]

Looks ok to me, using 3% of the 100% available ampheres, voltage is good.

 

[Jev88]

Looks fine to me assuming no sun out on solar.

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[Bessy765]

Turn a few 12 lights on and see if the % goes up?

 

[RobbyMClark]

Do you have the manual?
I know us guys don't read them usually but may be an occasion to do so.
We have a coded message in work for occasions like this.
RTM

 

[JockandRita]

We have a coded message in work for occasions like this.
RTM

Robby, I always thought it was RTFM.

Cheers,

Jock.

 

[rb62]

Robby, I always thought it was RTFM.

Cheers,

Jock.

He's being polite

 

[MobyDick57]

It seems to me the capacity % column is the one reading that is giving a false reading that should be ignored due to having AGM batteries. I think this column would only be of use if you had installed lithium batteries.
That’s my guess

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[Podney]

Turn it off,stop worrying,have a nice day!

 

[Darling]

It’s showing you only have 3% capacity left in your battery. In other words you’re about to run out.

 

[JockandRita]

It’s showing you only have 3% capacity left in your battery. In other words you’re about to run out.

How can that be when the battery voltage is showing full, ie, 12.6v/12.7v? If that were the case, the voltage reading would be nearer 11.0v.

Cheers,

Jock.

 

[Jim]

It’s showing you only have 3% capacity left in your battery. In other words you’re about to run out.

I'd agree with you if the volage was showing 10.5v

 

[Darling]

The voltage is showing that your solar panel is putting in 12volts. It’s the capacity next column that’s showing what’s left in your battery ie when fully charged it shows 100% capacity yours is only showing 3% which may indicate that your battery is on it’s way out.

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[JamesT@Dundee]

He's being polite

The polite version is Read The Fine Manual

 

[JockandRita]

The voltage is showing that your solar panel is putting in 12volts.

Not at a reading of 0.1A input it's not.

Cheers,

Jock.

 

[TigerFan62]

Hi can someone please explain what the picture of our CP unit is telling me. We are off grid and a tad concerned we are about to fade into an electrical abyss
TIA
View attachment 536822

Morning all
Thanks very much for all your replies. Update: read the Sargent manual and it states AH reading is approx capacity of battery= so 3% at that time. Does say more important reading is the V.
I checked the AH setting in the unit and it was on 0%. Although not sure why or if that was a true reading of the current battery status (x2 95Ah = 190 Ahrs??) I changed the setting to 60% as an estimate of its current charged status as we had been off grid for 4 days. Once done the AH display reflected new inputted measure ie 60%. Settled down for the rest of the day/night, usual tv, lights, water…. without crashing. Checked this morning and the AH is at 50%. So at my reckoning that is a 10% loss of capacity. As the initial reading said I had 3%, that’s a difference of 7% so would indicate AH reading was incorrect, set wrong for some unknown reason? Volts now12.5!
Plan: moving to ehu site today. Charge every thing up for 2-3 days. Unplug, note all readings, set AH on unit settings to 100%. See how get on from there as will be heading to Lincoln SG for 4 days shortly, test out again off grid!
Apologies if I have rattled on a bit, I do like to tell a good story.
If in the meantime anyone has any further advice, it would be gratefully received. Thanks again

 

[Darling]

Yes so that shows there’s not enough power going into the battery.

 

[David and Sally]

Well there we go, two different interpretations of what is displayed on the screen, however, if it is showing 12.6v, then I am not of the opinion that the battery us goosed.

Cheers,

Jock.

Going by the capacity it is empty. But as you all say the voltage is good. Go figure.

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[deleted79651]

The polite version is Read The Fine Manual

I read the impolite version of RTFM just before entering the brothel. It was really quite instructive, even if I did have to read some pages upside down ... Had to visit a chiropractor afterwards, though ...

Steve

 

[steve69]

Hi can someone please explain what the picture of our CP unit is telling me. We are off grid and a tad concerned we are about to fade into an electrical abyss
TIA
View attachment 536822

I'm no luddite, but does anyone really need the interior of their motorhome to look like something out of the starship Enterprise?.....I respect those of you with the intelligence to interpret these technologies, but really I have managed for decades without all this "hi tech" stuff..

 

[cmcardle75]

The % age reading will be based on an estimate calculated from how much current has been consumed/charged and the declared size of the battery. It should reset to 100% when it detects it is full. However, it is only a guess and can go very wrong. This is especially the case if power is interrupted and it forgets how full the battery is. You generally then need to manually set it to what you think the level of charge is, or fully charge and get it to auto-set to 100%. With lead acid, you can tell a lot from voltage, and this is a more reliable gauge. Lithium is much harder to determine charge level from voltage.

 

[EML]

I don't have an AGM battery, but...

1 - start by switching your meter over to the starter battery. You've got a button (the middle one at the bottom) that flips between the two. The display should change from 'leisure selected' to something else when you've done this. This is just a sanity check to show that your 'Capacity' bar shows something useful. It should (hopefully) show that the vehicle battery has a high capacity, ie. a state of charge near 100%.

2 - is 12.6V good or bad? We don't know, because you haven't told us what (exactly) the battery is, and what history it has. You say it's AGM, so it's probably somewhere between 60-80% charged. However, it might be less than 50%, so it might need charging. You need to find a graph for your own battery, and take into account its age and usage. A fully charged AGM, when open-circuit, should be somewhere between 12.7-13.0V, depending on manufacturer/etc.

3 - Your state of charge meter (the capacity bar) is meant to do all these sums for you, but it's not magic. You need to tell it all about your battery, and you will probably need to reset it occasionally, when you've fully charged your battery. Have you done any of this? Have you read the manual? Is it your van? How long have you had it?

If you really don't know anything about your setup, ignore the capacity bar, wait till the meter reads 12.4V, and then drive or hook up.

 

[paddymcc]

Morning all
Thanks very much for all your replies. Update: read the Sargent manual and it states AH reading is approx capacity of battery= so 3% at that time. Does say more important reading is the V.
I checked the AH setting in the unit and it was on 0%. Although not sure why or if that was a true reading of the current battery status (x2 95Ah = 190 Ahrs??) I changed the setting to 60% as an estimate of its current charged status as we had been off grid for 4 days. Once done the AH display reflected new inputted measure ie 60%. Settled down for the rest of the day/night, usual tv, lights, water…. without crashing. Checked this morning and the AH is at 50%. So at my reckoning that is a 10% loss of capacity. As the initial reading said I had 3%, that’s a difference of 7% so would indicate AH reading was incorrect, set wrong for some unknown reason? Volts now12.5!
Plan: moving to ehu site today. Charge every thing up for 2-3 days. Unplug, note all readings, set AH on unit settings to 100%. See how get on from there as will be heading to Lincoln SG for 4 days shortly, test out again off grid!
Apologies if I have rattled on a bit, I do like to tell a good story.
If in the meantime anyone has any further advice, it would be gratefully received. Thanks again

Yes I think that you have cracked it. The Ah setting had not been correctly calibrated. A good plan to be sure you are fully charged on EHU and reset to 100%. I set mine (a different system but does show Ah) to 2/3of the total lead acid capacity so I only ever go down to that level before being alerted. In reality with a good solar system and a B2B I rarely even get below 50%. My batteries are now 8 years old. I keep hoping they will fail so I have an excuse to buy lithium! If you have AGM I believe you can safely discharge them lower.