Monday, March 22, 2010

RE: [Electric Boats] Do I have a battery issue?

 

Steve:
 
I have both an XBM and the Paktrakr monitoring the battery bank. Even with both operating the current draw is about .1 amps. But, I think that draw is handled easily between the solar and wind generator and an occassional use of the Zivan over the winter.
 
Capt. Mike


--- On Mon, 3/22/10, Steve Dolan <sdolan@scannersllc.com> wrote:

From: Steve Dolan <sdolan@scannersllc.com>
Subject: RE: [Electric Boats] Do I have a battery issue?
To: "electricboats@yahoogroups.com" <electricboats@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Monday, March 22, 2010, 6:16 PM

 
Mark and Mike,
Disconnect the PT only if the batteries are NOT on a charger for over a week. I assume it's because of the draw of the PakTrakr (I'm soon to be installing 12 of the little buggers along with the PowerChek Equilizers) which is around 9mamps on the first battery and 1mamp on each of the remainder of the pack.

Steve in Solomons MD

-----Original Message-----
From: electricboats@ yahoogroups. com [mailto:electricboats@ yahoogroups. com] On Behalf Of acsarfkram
Sent: Monday, March 22, 2010 2:06 PM
To: electricboats@ yahoogroups. com
Subject: Re: [Electric Boats] Do I have a battery issue?

Hi Mike,

Do the wind generator and solar panels keep the bank at a constant 56.1 volts? That seems high.

The PakTrakr web site has some info about leaving the PakTrakr hooked up unattended for long periods; Hi Mike,

Do the wind generator and solar panels keep the bank at a constant 56.1 volts? That seems high.

The PakTrakr web site has some info about leaving the PakTrakr hooked up unattended for long periods (page 2); http://www.paktrakr .com/files/ PakTrakr_ Remote_Installat ion_Guide_ 2-6-08.pdf

Mark

--- In electricboats@ yahoogroups. com, "dennis wolfe" <dwolfe@...> wrote:
>
> A few thoughts:
>
> Were the batteries balanced last fall?
>
> All connections 100% solid?
>
> Manually confirm the individual battery voltages with a DVM?
>
> Solar and wind chargers 48v or (4) independent 12v?
>
> The pack tracker has to be connected to individual batteries. Is there anything about it that would pull a little more current from battery B1 than the others? A tiny draw, spread over several months of winter storage can add up to a lot of amp-hours. Maybe the meter electronics run on 12v? If so, that could explain your situation. A Link 10 monitor, wired per the factory instructions, will create this same problem. Tapping one of the batteries for a 12v supply (lights, etc) would create this problem quickly.
>
> Denny
> www.wolfEboats. com
>
> PS: If you have Concorde batteries, they have excellent phone tech support.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Mike
> To: ELECTRIC BOATS
> Sent: Sunday, March 21, 2010 10:00 PM
> Subject: [Electric Boats] Do I have a battery issue?
>
>
>
> Well the snow has finally melted and I am beginning to think about the upcoming boating season. But, I am wondering if I have an issue with one of my batteries. Here is the background and some of the tests I have done:
>
> The batteries are 8A4D 12 volt 210 amp AGM's that were first installed in June of 2008. There are four of them in series making up the 48 volt bank. All were purchased at the same time from the same Mfg.
>
> Battery Lineup
> B1 is the most negative connected battery i.e. it's NEG post goes to the negative wire of the controller.
> B2 is the second most negative
> B3 is the third
> B4 is the most positive of the batteries i.e. it's positve post goes to the positive wire of the controller.
>
> So I go on board the other day and have had the solar panel and wind generator doing the charging over the winter. These are the readings
> BATTERY PACK VOLTAGE = 56.1 VOLTS (so far so good)
> B1=13.1 volts
> B2=14.1
> B3=14.1
> B4=14.9
>
> I am a little concerned about battery B1 as it seems to be reading constantly lower than the other batteries. So I put on the ZIVAN NG-1 48 volt charger that immediately goes into the second stage (pulsing) charge mode until it finishes the charging about an hour or two later. I notice that battery B1 does not go over 13 volts but, the Paktrakr is showing the other batteries being charged at up to 16 volts in this mode. Readings taken after the full charge are:
> B1=12.9 volts
> B2= 14
> B3= 14.1
> B4= 14.4
>
> I then let the battery bank rest overnight with no charging from either the wind generator or solar panels. The reading after 12 hours of rest are:
> Pack voltage 50.9 volts
> B1= 12.7 volts
> B2= 12.6
> B3= 12.9
> B4= 13.0
>
> Should I be concerned about battery B1? The batteries do seem to be close after resting and the Zivan does charge the bank ok but, I am concerned that the other three batteries do show charging voltages as high as 16 volts while B1 does not seem to go over 13 volts. I am considering buying another charger that will charge each battery individually rather than always using the Zivan which is charging the whole bank. I welcome comments as to what is going on here and how concerned should I be about battery B1.
>
> Capt. Mike
> http://biankablog. blogspot. com
>

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