Texman 182g Mods

Originally posted by texman with the LED lights on the hall meter was showing about 80 watts when i was on batteries, which is nothing that should run batteries down.

80 watts is not an insignificant load on 12V batteries. That's roughly 6.6 amps. I would consider that a high parasitic load; especially if you don't know what's causing it.

+1 to GlueGuy, a battery hydrometer to check electrolyte specific gravity would be my suggestion as well. The issue with the battery load testers are that they are designed to test for cold cranking amps for starting batteries. Not really the right test for capacity on deep cycle batts.

temp in the mid 50s.  batteries are a about 2 years old.  i need to check the acid level.  maybe i have let them get dry.  don't know.  they are dual GC6 duracell from batteries and bulbs. What is the best way to test if they are junk?  Voltmeter with no load?

after i installed the DROK, i disconnected the shore power and attempted to set up the meter.  all seems good except i haven't figured out (been able) to set up the capacity and remaining amp hours.  by that i mean i set them up in the device, but i am not getting them to calculate yet.  But while i was testing this on battery power and working on the other stuff, i watched my voltage drop to 12.2v in less than an hour.  The pic is the reading while hooked up and charging.  So i don't know if i have fried the batteries somehow or not.  they have been plugged in and charged the whole time in storage and i have added distilled water a couple of times.  So i wouldn't think they are fried, but don't know why i would drop to 12.2 v otherwise. thoughts?   only load was a couple of LEDs and the base pod loads of detectors.