Hello everyone. Been camping and always connected to power for about 4 years now. I decided it was time to do some off grid exploring. I have an 18 foot bunkhouse and since the battery was already 4 years old, I put a large tongue box and loaded in a 200ah sealed Renogy battery. Checked it out when I received it and it was at 12.6 volts. Topped it off and installed it.
All was well the first couple of weeks while connected to power. Kept an eye on it using a Grape Solar charge controller that records voltage over time and it stayed at 13.4-13.5 volts. So before the big trip, I decided to unhook from power and test it out. Float was at 13.4 and within 15 minutes, I'm hitting 12.5 volts. Seemed odd. I isolated the battery and hooked a charger up to top it off...just in case. Charger showed 100 percent in about an hour. Reconnected to the trailer and had the same result of a quick voltage drop. All I had on was the refrigerator on propane and the propane detector. Nothing else, not even a light.
So, I isolate the battery again and top it off. Probably hit 100% in just a couple of minutes. I then left it disconnected from the trailer and hooked a 750 watt inverter directly to the battery and put about a 100 watt draw on it. Battery wasn't even phased. Left it connected for an hour and it only dropped from 13.4 float to 13.2. That is what I was expecting.
Could it be that the converter is back feeding in some way? Not sure that is even impossible as I'm not an electrician.
I tried to find this exact scenario in the forum before posting, so I apologize if this is a exact repeat situation that has already been answered. Any advice is appreciated. If you need more info, just let me know.
All was well the first couple of weeks while connected to power. Kept an eye on it using a Grape Solar charge controller that records voltage over time and it stayed at 13.4-13.5 volts. So before the big trip, I decided to unhook from power and test it out. Float was at 13.4 and within 15 minutes, I'm hitting 12.5 volts. Seemed odd. I isolated the battery and hooked a charger up to top it off...just in case. Charger showed 100 percent in about an hour. Reconnected to the trailer and had the same result of a quick voltage drop. All I had on was the refrigerator on propane and the propane detector. Nothing else, not even a light.
So, I isolate the battery again and top it off. Probably hit 100% in just a couple of minutes. I then left it disconnected from the trailer and hooked a 750 watt inverter directly to the battery and put about a 100 watt draw on it. Battery wasn't even phased. Left it connected for an hour and it only dropped from 13.4 float to 13.2. That is what I was expecting.
Could it be that the converter is back feeding in some way? Not sure that is even impossible as I'm not an electrician.
I tried to find this exact scenario in the forum before posting, so I apologize if this is a exact repeat situation that has already been answered. Any advice is appreciated. If you need more info, just let me know.