HELP: Inverter is draining battery almost instantly! Why?

[inetdog]

Given a limit on safe charge and not enough sun hours in the day to recharge the battery at that rate, on thing you could do is point your two panels in different directions, one east of south and the other west of south so that instead of doubling the peak current, which you cannot use, you extend a high current over a longer period of time. There is a limit on how much that can help though.
If your daily needs cannot be met by one (or two) panels charging at the maximum rate of the battery, you have no choice but to get a larger battery bank or a different kind of battery (i.e. AGM) which can be recharged at a higher current.

[spoon]

Given a limit on safe charge and not enough sun hours in the day to recharge the battery at that rate, on thing you could do is point your two panels in different directions, one east of south and the other west of south so that instead of doubling the peak current, which you cannot use, you extend a high current over a longer period of time. There is a limit on how much that can help though.
If your daily needs cannot be met by one (or two) panels charging at the maximum rate of the battery, you have no choice but to get a larger battery bank or a different kind of battery (i.e. AGM) which can be recharged at a higher current.

I do have 2 of these batteries. If I linked them in parrallel it would be 220ah @ 12v, would the bench charge rate stay at 8a or increase because of two units.

[Raul]

If you paralel the batteries the ah will increase as yourself said it already , it will be a 220a bank so your charging ah will double aswell with the capacity increased.
Look on eBay UK for a DC power analyser watt volt amp meter. They're about 9 quid delivered and wire it between the array and cc , it will give you a inexpensive idea of the power production/harvest and then you can adjust your system accordingly.
Check your mail.

[lkruper]

I do have 2 of these batteries. If I linked them in parrallel it would be 220ah @ 12v, would the bench charge rate stay at 8a or increase because of two units.

The C20 AH rating is 110AH. With those two batteries in parallel that makes 220AH. 0.1C or 10% of that rating is 22 AH. For some reason the chart showed lower at 8. You can safely double that to 16 for input amps. I would call the manufacturer and ask for the acceptable RANGE of input amps. I am fairly certain 10% would work too.

This could help you if you keep your discharge low and don't use all the capacity you have. If I recall you were going down to 20% DOD with one battery. Going to 90% with two batteries would mean you can charge 2X as fast. However, with your low insolation, it is unlikely you will have enough hours in the wintertime to fully charge your batteries. Unless you can hook up to mains power the only other alternative is to have a small generator to supplement power. Does your location ever have clouds for a week? If it did, you would have enough capacity at 10% DOD to make it through the week, but then it would take two weeks to charge back up which would likely risk sulphating your battery.

[spoon]

The C20 AH rating is 110AH. With those two batteries in parallel that makes 220AH. 0.1C or 10% of that rating is 22 AH. For some reason the chart showed lower at 8. You can safely double that to 16 for input amps. I would call the manufacturer and ask for the acceptable RANGE of input amps. I am fairly certain 10% would work too.

This could help you if you keep your discharge low and don't use all the capacity you have. If I recall you were going down to 20% DOD with one battery. Going to 90% with two batteries would mean you can charge 2X as fast. However, with your low insolation, it is unlikely you will have enough hours in the wintertime to fully charge your batteries. Unless you can hook up to mains power the only other alternative is to have a small generator to supplement power. Does your location ever have clouds for a week? If it did, you would have enough capacity at 10% DOD to make it through the week, but then it would take two weeks to charge back up which would likely risk sulphating your battery.

Point taken, I have emailed Numax about it.. But I've also started looking at alternative battery banks for when the time comes.

So the victron charge controller does not have a 'load' input, like my old cheap PWM unit. Does this mean I will need to add an in-line fuse, after battery on the 'load out' cables if that makes sense... If so, what ampage should that fuse be? 30a same as the CC?

[lkruper]

Point taken, I have emailed Numax about it.. But I've also started looking at alternative battery banks for when the time comes.

So the victron charge controller does not have a 'load' input, like my old cheap PWM unit. Does this mean I will need to add an in-line fuse, after battery on the 'load out' cables if that makes sense... If so, what ampage should that fuse be? 30a same as the CC?

Are you referring to running DC loads directly (ie led lights?) There was a discussion recently and I believe inetdog had a formula of sorts. The fuse needed to be a bit larger than the legitimate load (??? 20% or so ???) to prevent nuisance blowing of the fuse but protect against a failure.

[spoon]

Are you referring to running DC loads directly (ie led lights?) There was a discussion recently and I believe inetdog had a formula of sorts. The fuse needed to be a bit larger than the legitimate load (??? 20% or so ???) to prevent nuisance blowing of the fuse but protect against a failure.

Yep, the caravan wiring was all in situ when I bought it. The only load we use straight off the battery like that is the LED lighting. The inverter will have it's own fuse.

So I'l really only need a 5 or 10a fuse max. Even with all my lights on at once, thats only 18w.

[lkruper]

Yep, the caravan wiring was all in situ when I bought it. The only load we use straight off the battery like that is the LED lighting. The inverter will have it's own fuse.

So I'l really only need a 5 or 10a fuse max. Even with all my lights on at once, thats only 18w.

18w is 1.5amps at 12v. 10 amps sounds high for a fuse. But this is not my forte, hopefully someone with experience will weigh in.