Battery life |
Post Reply | Page <123> |
Author | |
Fishflies
Newbie Joined: 28 May 2014 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5 |
Topic: Battery life Posted: 21 Oct 2014 at 2:00pm |
Thanks I'm going to try it today and see how long my battery will stay charged. Switching to gas just to see. Had problem with loose connection before. Thanks.
Also was wondering if you have a link for winterization ,I'm in utah so it will be freezing soon,if so I would appreciate it. Thanks
|
|
CharlieM
Senior Member Joined: 23 Nov 2012 Location: N. Colorado Online Status: Offline Posts: 1797 |
Posted: 21 Oct 2014 at 2:18pm |
Well, it depends. The lights are set to certain voltage levels, but these vary with time, temperature, mfg. tolerances, etc. And, if you look closely at the display, you'll see the battery scale is different than the water tank scale, at least mine was. Nominally I've found the top light to be around 13.2 or higher. The converter will maintain at 13.2, absorption charge at 13.6, and bulk charge at 14.4. If you disconnect a fully charged battery from the charger it will start at 13+ volts and gradually drift down to 12.6-12.7. Again, depending on temperature and battery condition. It's really an imprecise art unless you measure the SG of the battery. My main point was the absence of the top light does not always mean you've lost 25% of the charge. It's a bit unnerving to think the battery went from 100% to 75% just by disconnecting the charger. Again, it's really imprecise. You'll get a much better, but not yet perfect, indication by using a digital voltmeter under minimal load conditions. Camp on! |
|
Charlie
Northern Colorado OLD: 2013 RP-172, 2010 Honda Pilot 3.5L 4WD PRESENT: 2014 Camplite 21RBS, 2013 Supercharged Tacoma 4L V6 4WD |
|
hogone
Senior Member Joined: 09 Apr 2013 Location: St. Louis Online Status: Offline Posts: 1043 |
Posted: 21 Oct 2014 at 2:38pm |
thanks for the clarification charlie. yes my scale is different for tank levels and battery. i'm a freak when it comes to checking my battery level, doing it all the time. one thing i noticed (and this might be what your referencing), is when i would fire up the furnace it would drop to 3 lights, but when the furnace (I guess i should say heater!) turned off, it went back to 4 lights. hope that made sense! hogone
|
|
Jon & Pam
2013 RP177 2010 F150 2017 HD Streetglide 2009 HD Lowrider CHEESEHEAD |
|
Outbound
podders Helping podders - pHp Joined: 19 Nov 2009 Location: Oshawa, Ontario Online Status: Offline Posts: 767 |
Posted: 21 Oct 2014 at 2:48pm |
According to the KIB Micro Monitor manual:
If you take a look at that manual, you can see that KIB has reduced those voltage milestones over time. For the 1998 model, Charge was 14.5v, which would definitely only light when charging. Of course, measuring a battery by resting voltage only provides a rough estimate of remaining capacity anyway. But, its good enough for most of us.
|
|
Craig :: 2009 RP171 towed by a 2017 F150
|
|
CharlieM
Senior Member Joined: 23 Nov 2012 Location: N. Colorado Online Status: Offline Posts: 1797 |
Posted: 21 Oct 2014 at 3:01pm |
Hogone: Yes, that makes sense. The heaer load on the battery will drop the voltage temporarily.
Outbound: Thanks for the research. Looks like they changed their settings because folks were complaining. The Charge=12.7 is probably OK, but the rest of them???? 11.9 is better than 50% down under low load; at 11.2 you've probably damaged the battery, and at 6V you forgot to bring the battery along |
|
Charlie
Northern Colorado OLD: 2013 RP-172, 2010 Honda Pilot 3.5L 4WD PRESENT: 2014 Camplite 21RBS, 2013 Supercharged Tacoma 4L V6 4WD |
|
techntrek
Admin Group - pHp Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Location: MD Online Status: Offline Posts: 9059 |
Posted: 21 Oct 2014 at 8:20pm |
I wouldn't trust the monitor to show my anything. Only an at-rest voltage reading with a voltmeter, which is just about impossible since you'll always have some load going.
Fishflies, see the link in my signature.
|
|
Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual
|
|
CharlieM
Senior Member Joined: 23 Nov 2012 Location: N. Colorado Online Status: Offline Posts: 1797 |
Posted: 21 Oct 2014 at 9:36pm |
So, Doug, are you going to put a SeeLevel monitor in the new (old) Salem? if you connect it electrically close to the battery it even provides a decent voltmeter function. |
|
Charlie
Northern Colorado OLD: 2013 RP-172, 2010 Honda Pilot 3.5L 4WD PRESENT: 2014 Camplite 21RBS, 2013 Supercharged Tacoma 4L V6 4WD |
|
hogone
Senior Member Joined: 09 Apr 2013 Location: St. Louis Online Status: Offline Posts: 1043 |
Posted: 22 Oct 2014 at 6:48am |
i have let my batterys get down to one light (L) a couple of times; i guess thats not good!! hogone
|
|
Jon & Pam
2013 RP177 2010 F150 2017 HD Streetglide 2009 HD Lowrider CHEESEHEAD |
|
techntrek
Admin Group - pHp Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Location: MD Online Status: Offline Posts: 9059 |
Posted: 22 Oct 2014 at 11:22am |
Charlie, I'm definitely considering my options. I never got around to adding a good monitoring option on my pod but should have.
|
|
Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual
|
|
fwunder
Senior Member Joined: 04 Oct 2013 Location: New Jersey Online Status: Offline Posts: 1676 |
Posted: 22 Oct 2014 at 3:46pm |
Speaking of energy usage, here's a question to ponder when cold weather dry camping...
Is it more efficient to run furnace w/12 volt and propane, or run generator (yammy 2400iSHC) w/electric heater? Consider lot's of 12 volt capacity (dual Duracell 230 egc2). Yammy and electric heater is definitely quieter. fred |
|
2014 RPod 178 => MyMods and Buying Habits
2008 4Runner Limited 4.0-liter V6 Yes, those are wild ponies dining on grass while dumping tanks! |
|
Post Reply | Page <123> |
Forum Jump | Forum Permissions You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot create polls in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum |