Monday, March 22, 2010

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

 

Denny:
 
I did check the connections and checked voltages with a DVM independent of the Paktrakkr. Solar and wind chargers are both 48 volt systems. The battery bank is used exclusively for propulsion. I have an independent 12 volt house bank.
 
Mike


--- On Mon, 3/22/10, dennis wolfe <dwolfe@dropsheet.com> wrote:

From: dennis wolfe <dwolfe@dropsheet.com>
Subject: Re: [Electric Boats] Do I have a battery issue?
To: electricboats@yahoogroups.com
Date: Monday, March 22, 2010, 12:53 PM

 
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
 
PS: If you have Concorde batteries, they have excellent phone tech support.
 
 
----- Original Message -----
From: Mike
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
 

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