small solar kit not working right, please help

[Mike90250]

there 3 15w panels just the harbor freight ones

Sadly, the cardboard boxes the panels came in, are likely more valuable than the panels.

[LETitROLL]

[QUOTE=lkruper;178794]

I will disagree that he should not spend a few dollars on a hydrometer at the same time that he gets a battery charger. How will he know if his batteries are really charged without measuring the specific gravity?

It is something everyone should have once they have a working system, we are not there yet, budget needs to go to production first, we do not know what budget is, just like we did not know what solar input was, only one person here asked that question before giving advice.

[lkruper]

[QUOTE=LETitROLL;178872]

It is something everyone should have once they have a working system, we are not there yet, budget needs to go to production first, we do not know what budget is, just like we did not know what solar input was, only one person here asked that question before giving advice.

A good temperature correcting hydrometer only costs $9 on Amazon. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...dp_o_pd_nS_ttl)

A year from now, that is probably the only piece of equipment he will still have that is useful. So, you tell me. After he buys a charger and charges his battery, how will he know if it is really charged without one?

[davemx90]

[QUOTE=lkruper;178875]

A good temperature correcting hydrometer only costs $9 on Amazon. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...dp_o_pd_nS_ttl)

A year from now, that is probably the only piece of equipment he will still have that is useful. So, you tell me. After he buys a charger and charges his battery, how will he know if it is really charged without one?

got a charger and are charging batteries, will let you know how they turn out, i hope i didnt destroy them.

[lkruper]

got a charger and are charging batteries, will let you know how they turn out, i hope i didnt destroy them.

Hope it works out. Are you charging them in parallel or charging them individually? It is possible that if one of your batteries is bad, or even one cell in a battery, that charging them together may cause the good one to approach the condition of the bad one.

Also, what kind of charger is it?

[davemx90]

Hope it works out. Are you charging them in parallel or charging them individually? It is possible that if one of your batteries is bad, or even one cell in a battery, that charging them together may cause the good one to approach the condition of the bad one.

Also, what kind of charger is it?

im charging them one at a time i figured that would be best, i didnt know you could charge them together, but the charger is a schumacher 8amp charger 2amp maintainer? i hope that will work.

[lkruper]

im charging them one at a time i figured that would be best, i didnt know you could charge them together, but the charger is a schumacher 8amp charger 2amp maintainer? i hope that will work.

That is good. You said you had them in parallel already and were charging them with solar that way. If your battery is the equivalent of 80AH, 8 amps would be 10% which is generally considered a good amount. If flooded batteries are cycled and then charged with a lower amperage they stratify. I suggest you read the stickies in the forum where batteries are discussed. Very informative.

It is possible that your batteries will need to be equalized, which is a higher voltage profile used when the specific gravity of individual cells have differences between them. Here is one link from this forum of many that will be helpful to you:

http://www.solarpaneltalk.com/showthread.php?16584-Troubleshooting-Batteries-Tutorial

[davemx90]

That is good. You said you had them in parallel already and were charging them with solar that way. If your battery is the equivalent of 80AH, 8 amps would be 10% which is generally considered a good amount. If flooded batteries are cycled and then charged with a lower amperage they stratify. I suggest you read the stickies in the forum where batteries are discussed. Very informative.

It is possible that your batteries will need to be equalized, which is a higher voltage profile used when the specific gravity of individual cells have differences between them. Here is one link from this forum of many that will be helpful to you:

http://www.solarpaneltalk.com/showth...eries-Tutorial

thanks, ya i charged one battery from about 6:00pm yesterday till 5 this morning and it still said it was charging, so i switch to the other one to give a break, i read that thread a little i have to read it again a few times to understand it, never realized how much goes into just charging a battery, but if my batteries dont end up getting charged with the charger would you say that they got trashed or should i still do a hydrometer test.

[lkruper]

thanks, ya i charged one battery from about 6:00pm yesterday till 5 this morning and it still said it was charging, so i switch to the other one to give a break, i read that thread a little i have to read it again a few times to understand it, never realized how much goes into just charging a battery, but if my batteries dont end up getting charged with the charger would you say that they got trashed or should i still do a hydrometer test.

That depends on your plans. Are you giving up on batteries or will you try again if they are toast? Personally I would want to learn as much as I can about what happened and do a post-mortem on the batteries. If you are going to replace the batteries with something else then I would definitely get the hydrometer as it will be useful for the next set.

It is possible a smart charger like the Optimate 6 could fix them. I forgot to ask if you checked the water level before charging.

Your 8 amp charger will take a while to charge the batteries. Do you know the AH rating? If they are only 80 AH (some Marine are 100 or 130) and you discharged them to empty, then it will take [AH Rating / 8 amps] + 4 hours (est) to charge one battery. So it is possible that even 11 hours will not fully charge the battery.

[davemx90]

That depends on your plans. Are you giving up on batteries or will you try again if they are toast? Personally I would want to learn as much as I can about what happened and do a post-mortem on the batteries. If you are going to replace the batteries with something else then I would definitely get the hydrometer as it will be useful for the next set.

It is possible a smart charger like the Optimate 6 could fix them. I forgot to ask if you checked the water level before charging.

Your 8 amp charger will take a while to charge the batteries. Do you know the AH rating? If they are only 80 AH (some Marine are 100 or 130) and you discharged them to empty, then it will take [AH Rating / 8 amps] + 4 hours (est) to charge one battery. So it is possible that even 11 hours will not fully charge the battery.

no i would like to try to salvage them if i can, i just checked it and it reads that one is fully charged so i will try the other now but like you said that wont read the exact charge level like the hydrometer will right, im not sure on the ah rating i dont think it said, and i didnt think to check water level before charging, i will see if the other one takes a full charge too, i hope so, and so should they get all charged up, is my ''system'' still able to charge 2 batteries or are those panels really only able to charge 1 battery.

[lkruper]

no i would like to try to salvage them if i can, i just checked it and it reads that one is fully charged so i will try the other now but like you said that wont read the exact charge level like the hydrometer will right, im not sure on the ah rating i dont think it said, and i didnt think to check water level before charging, i will see if the other one takes a full charge too, i hope so, and so should they get all charged up, is my ''system'' still able to charge 2 batteries or are those panels really only able to charge 1 battery.

Check water on both and use distilled water. Encouraging about 1st one. How long did it take?

[davemx90]

Check water on both and use distilled water. Encouraging about 1st one. How long did it take?

ok ya i thought that, i think it was close to 24 hrs.

[lkruper]

no i would like to try to salvage them if i can, i just checked it and it reads that one is fully charged so i will try the other now but like you said that wont read the exact charge level like the hydrometer will right, im not sure on the ah rating i dont think it said, and i didnt think to check water level before charging, i will see if the other one takes a full charge too, i hope so, and so should they get all charged up, is my ''system'' still able to charge 2 batteries or are those panels really only able to charge 1 battery.

This post in this thread seems to have things calculated for your battery size and panel size: http://www.solarpaneltalk.com/showth...l=1#post178784

[davemx90]

This post in this thread seems to have things calculated for your battery size and panel size: http://www.solarpaneltalk.com/showth...l=1#post178784

oh ya ok.

[lkruper]

oh ya ok.

If you have power to plug in a charger, why are you using solar?