Batteries and New Battery Technologies

hi battery guru's, here a real dumb question, got a starter battery and a interior battery that draws empty without using the starter
now i want to pop a deep cycle type in the cabin but..

think this circuit is losing power somewhere, got this uni meter below and only guess using ampere, maybe mili amp? to check for a leak ?

am i thinking correct, noway to use an acid meter on sealed batts to check condition, any advice? thanks!

 

Have you connected 2 batteries parallel?? If so, both have to be new and the same voltage and the same condition. If not, both could be discharging into each other. If your batteries are not connected parallel, your leakage current should be approx 8% of capacity per month i.e. within 6 - 8 month your battery will be discharged. However your latest model sealed Lead acid battery has probbably a discharge of 4 % per month i.e. up to a year. There are now Sealed Lead acid batteries which has a 2% discharge per month.

I personnaly do not believe in batteries parallel. Thus I use Shottky diodes and they are available up to 80 Amprere 60 - 100 Volt i.e. MBR8060
or alternative 10 diodes MBR10100 or MBR1060 parralel on a small printed circuit board.

There is not enough information to advise you otherwise. Use a small 12 Volt automotive globe and put it in series and measure in Voltage over the globe. It will tell you whether you have a leak and in which direction.
Give me a private mail and I answer you in Dutch.
Bert

 

Hi Bert
thanks for the reply, send you a PM
could not attach a wiring diagram so placed it here
think cabin battery leaks current, never tested such so plz advice, thx

btw, isnt this deep cycle one suspiciously low priced?
http://www.hoornweg.nl/nw-6154-7-32...cu_105ah_us-27tm_us_battery__80_netto_ex.html

 

Hallo Yipster,
Not a bad price for a 105 Ah battery, but you have to add 19% VAT (BTW) in your country. That makes it 95 Euro. Well maybe we are spoiled in South Africa, but that price is not that cheap. Seems to be a good buy for Holland.

I looked at your circuit. Are you sure you have switched the "heater" off ?
That is the only item I can see what may drain your secondary battery. The 2nd battery is isolated, when the generator is not charging. (Except if the contacts of the solenoid is sticking)
Did you try with a globe in series with the terminal of the second battery?
Was it glowing? With your multimeter did you have a reading ?
Bert

 

Quik reply from the mobil' what is a globe ?
How to use multimeter to test exess drain ?
And yes' have to take a closer look. Ill be back

 

I don't know what is meant by a globe either. You could use the "milliAmp" setting for your multimeter and measure. Remove both fuses E1 and E2 and apply the multimeter instead of each fuse to see through wich fuse the current is leaking.
Once I helped a friend to find the leakage current in his car. The cause was a less than brilliant installation of extra headlights, with a relay connected so the manouver coil drew current when the ignition was off.

According to the schematics the only component to be suspicious of is D1 (heater), but you should also mistrust any equipment that has been installed and is not in the schematics. Disconnect each equipment at a time until you find the problem. Some modern electronics draw current also when switched off, and if the leakage current is unacceptable you will have to add an extra power switch.

Erik

 

Eric, thanks! Bert reply'd in a PM with similar advice, also thanks!
still curious, and in a reply to Bert already asked:

cant be you mean a "globe" like this to check a leak eh?

 

I noticed that for some reason BertKu calls lightbulbs "globes".
Maybe a direct translation from a South African word?

 

That is what light-bulbs used to be called in "Kings and early Queens English", - before the corruption of the language by the "microsoft electronic dictionary", - where phonetic spelling and confusion reigned, - instead of tradition and acknowledging in part, the many derivatives of the English language...

 

Hi Mass, coming to my rescue ? Have a nice trip, as soon the window is there. I understand, back to smelly diesel instead of batteries?. Enjoy your trip thoroughly.
For a person who is not familiar with electrics, like Yipster, to use a light bulb, (American way of referring to a globe), to solve problems is often a better way then to blow the fuse in the multi-meter by not turning the meter to the highest setting and then moving down to 200 micro Ampere reading.
Just remove the one side of the battery, put a automotive globe, (you know those funny things which goes in the lights at the back of cars) , in between and one has an instant idée whether something is switched on. If it burns brightly, you know that something is really switched on. If it is glowing very weak. At least you have a simple way in identifying without too much trouble.
Bert

 

spend planty time in UK and USA but still mis out on my english
dug up my testbulb :idea: and with uni meter dig into the wiring
thanks all

 

Hi Yipster,

My problem is that If I use an LED, in automotive applications, because of the very low current of the LED, it can confuse me incredable. Secondly, I see there is no resistance in series of your LED. Should that be the case most likely you will blow the LED, if something is switched on. It is better to have a 12 Volt /12 Watt globe and also an LED with a resistor in series (1 KiloOhm 1/4 watt 5% for normal LED, 10 KiloOhm 1/4 watt 5% for a very bright 20.000 mcd LED. ( some sales jurk got a bright idee and instead of stating 20 Cd, 20.000 sounds better) Cd = Candela, the unit for light, mcd = milliCandela)
Bert

 

Did they even have electric lighting in those days?

 

And also divorcees as he married a lady from the USA after he abdicated... and he addressed the crowd using a microphone ... George V ... well at least in the recently released movie with Geoffry Rush as the elocutionist who taught him how to stop stuttering ??? - I guess that some of the gas-lighting could have been referred to as "globes"?, and when was Edison doing his thing with vacuum globes and various conductor filaments for his electric lights?

 

CDK, If I pass, looking out of a port window on this courteous cruise boat “Norwegian Jade” on the 3rd of July, your island, I will ask the Captain to switch;
"An energy efficient vanity bulb replacement using compact fluorescent globes" on.
One of the examples from Google.
Don’t tell me that we now have to educate Croatia ?
Bert