12' Series Battery & Solar Issues - 12ft Expanda

[mbe]

Hi there,

We've just purchased an older 2005 12ft Expanda. It is set up with Solar & 2 batteries and a 1000w Projecta Power Inverter.
I've towed it home from Vic to NSW only to discover - having just had an auto electrician in Vic (near my family) tidy things up & replace a wet battery (that the previous owner had installed) with a dry battery - that the batteries are flat or not working. It almost seems like the whole system isn't working. I've run the basic fuse & circuit tests & all OK & it seems the batteries have about 6V in them. The Inverter is sending out it's alarm signal & showing the red fault line. I understand that this can be from too little charge among other things. Sadly I'm now 10hrs from the auto-elec who did the work so, having just shelled out $600 for the electrical tidy up & new battery, I'm wondering if there's anything obvious I'm missing before arranging to get the van to a local auto-elec & yet more $$.

The Van is set up with solar (solar panel about 3x3 ft) & the solar charge controller Panel is completely dead/blank not showing any LCD screen/reading (Solar 30). Also the battery LCD display is dead - not lit up or showing anything on screen. I've come home - parked the van in the garage so no sun for the solar - & plugged the van into 240V & turned the battery switch on. It's now been on for 24hrs but the batteries haven't charged at all & all the displays are still dead. I'm wondering if the previous owners would've disconnected the 240v charge when they set the solar up? The solar is set up to charge the batteries while driving. I did turn the fridge on for the drive (it never seemed to cool down at all) so not sure if the combination of the fridge on (10hr drive home with approx 50% sunshine during trip) and lower sun levels would've drained the batteries? Regardless, I would've thought the solar 30 display panel would've stayed on & showing what was happening with charge - even if no charge I would've hoped the display shows zero charge coming in? Similarly, even if the batteries are low (I ran a meter over them & they're putting out 6V) I would've expected the battery LCD display to be giving me some kind of reading?

Any thoughts from anyone would be soooo very welcome. I feel like something's amiss & perhaps I'm missing a switch?

Thanks!
Benita.

 

[WHHEMI]

Fridge should draw power from the car while traveling, never the van batteries, do you have a 12v supply from car to the trailer plug.

 

[NoWorries]

Have you got a multimeter ?
If not invest in one, best thing to own when trying to troubleshoot electrical issues.

Before that
Check all fuses
Check all circuit breakers
Then test using a multimeter

Do the lights switch on in the van when plugged into 240 ?

 

[mbe]

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, have a multimeter & have checked all fuses, checked all circuit breakers & tested using the multimeter.
Batteries are showing about 3V and all the fuses are intact. Have pulled the Setec out to check all the wiring & fuses & it seems there's input but no output going to charge the batteries. On speaking with the auto-elec who put in the new gel battery & tidied up the wiring he mentioned that sometimes, when the voltage on the batteries is too low, the Setec charger won't work. He suggested charging the batteries with a separate battery charger to see if we can kick-start things. Here's hoping. Still doesn't quite complete the picture for me given the battery display is not reading anything or the solar display... Anyway, really appreciate you coming back to me. I'll let you know if it does end up being that I've effectively run the batteries flat on the drive home with the fridge on DC and that's meant the usual 240V charger thru the Setec isn't able to work.

The good thing is that hopefully, I'll come thru the process having a better knowledge of batteries & vans. It's our first van so there's lots to learn. Despite growing up caravan-ing I had a super-dad who sorted everything! Time to sort it myself

And yes, I'll make sure there's no DC charging via the batteries of the fridge while travelling & will rely on an Anderson Plug. I did actually ask the auto electrician if I needed to get this sorted or would solar do the job - he said solar should be OK while I'm in the sun driving to keep things cool - so long as the fridge was cold (from 240V) to start... sounds like Anderson Plug a bit of an essential tho?

Thanks!
B

 

[mbe]

Sorry, forgot to say that all electrics in the van working off 240V - lights, Microwave, extractor, fridge etc.

Cheers.
B

 

[NoWorries]

Yes the Setec will not charge a battery that is drained, use a different charger to get it back to 12v
saying that a 3v battery may now be stuffed

 

[NoWorries]

With the multimeter check the charge direct from the panels (take the van out of the shed)
Put the multimeter on the two left screws

Then you will see if there is charge coming from your panel (should be around 19v)
If there is charge there then check the next two screws (volts to battery) you have to have it connected to the battery for this to work.
Again you might find that it will not work with totally flat batterys so charge them up fully first.
If you have volts in but non out then buy a new controller (a better brand is worth the money, I use Victron and can't fault them)

If the fridge is 3/way you should not have any draw from the batterys at all as it only takes charge from the car (but again check this as someone may have changed the wiring)

PS turn the inverter off until you sort out the power charging issues they suck power even when not being used so it is a good habit to turn them off when not being used (is there anything plugged into it?)

 

[mbe]

Thanks so much for the generous feedback & suggestions. I did confirm today - having borrowed a small battery charger from the neighbour - that the batteries were so low (3V) that the Setec won't kick in. As soon as I hooked up the charger my battery moitor panel & Solar 30 panels lit up again & began displaying Voltage. I spoke to Jayco today & they confirmed that the Setec won't work if the Volts drop below 11V. I now need to get myself a good quality battery charger to complete the job as my neighbour's little Martec 8AMP is surging up & down btw 0-8A... I'm hoping it hasn't done any damage & that, once I get a decent charger I can complete the process & get the batteries back up to full charge. My 2 gel batteries have indicated I need a 20A charger. I can see some seemingly good 7 stage digital charger options. Is there a battery charger that everyone seems to love & recommend?

Thanks too for the Solar maintenance & checking tips. I have checked the battery charge on the Solar 30 (screws per your picture) which was consistent with what the mutimeter was reading from the batteries so all seems to be consistent there.

My goal in the next few days is to get things sorted so that we're ready for our first close-to-home test run of the van next weekend. At least the pantry's already packed!

Thanks again. Really appreciate all the advice!
B

 

[mbe]

Yes the Setec will not charge a battery that is drained, use a different charger to get it back to 12v
saying that a 3v battery may now be stuffed

Thanks. I think the gel batteries I have are OK to be run flat without affecting lifespan/performance too much. While I have no intention of allowing it to happen again I do hope the info about them being able to revive after being flat proves to be true.
Thx again.
B

 

[mbe]

With the multimeter check the charge direct from the panels (take the van out of the shed)
Put the multimeter on the two left screws

Then you will see if there is charge coming from your panel (should be around 19v)
If there is charge there then check the next two screws (volts to battery) you have to have it connected to the battery for this to work.
Again you might find that it will not work with totally flat batterys so charge them up fully first.
If you have volts in but non out then buy a new controller (a better brand is worth the money, I use Victron and can't fault them)

If the fridge is 3/way you should not have any draw from the batterys at all as it only takes charge from the car (but again check this as someone may have changed the wiring)

PS turn the inverter off until you sort out the power charging issues they suck power even when not being used so it is a good habit to turn them off when not being used (is there anything plugged into it?)

With the multimeter check the charge direct from the panels (take the van out of the shed)
Put the multimeter on the two left screws

Then you will see if there is charge coming from your panel (should be around 19v)
If there is charge there then check the next two screws (volts to battery) you have to have it connected to the battery for this to work.
Again you might find that it will not work with totally flat batterys so charge them up fully first.
If you have volts in but non out then buy a new controller (a better brand is worth the money, I use Victron and can't fault them)

If the fridge is 3/way you should not have any draw from the batterys at all as it only takes charge from the car (but again check this as someone may have changed the wiring)

PS turn the inverter off until you sort out the power charging issues they suck power even when not being used so it is a good habit to turn them off when not being used (is there anything plugged into it?)

Thanks for the pictures & reply! I have had the inverter turned off. Nothing plugged into the inverter except an extension cord for the times you want to run something up to a 1000W appliance from it. As soon as I can pull the van out from the garage I'll check the Solar charge. Thanks again! Benita.

 

[Bellbirdweb]

It's highly likely that the batteries will have been damaged being allowed to run that flat.

See if they hold charge, which they may, but even if they do, their capacity may be less.

Hopefully it won't have killed them.