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I have an issue when running off battery power. Whenever we turn too many things on ( a light and water pump or 3 lights ... ) the whole electrical system shuts down. We then have no power at all for ~ 1 to 5 minutes and then the power comes back.
I have two new deep cycle batteries fully charged. I've confirmed with a multimeter. It runs fine with one or two lights but as soon as I turn on more or try to run the pump for more than 5 seconds, everything shuts down.
Sounds like your batteries are on their last leg. Can you tell me what the battery volts are when fully charged and the reading of your battery volts are when the lights go out. Sounds like wet cell batteries, fully charged should read 12.8 and low 12.1 volts. I'm thinking when the lights go off the charge in the batteries are very low and in 5 minutes the batteries can come back up in charge and you have lights again, am I close? or you could have a loose battery wire. When we get on the road, as soon as our business sells I will be doing electric troubleshooting on RV campers, will also be doing large and small battery bank installs and inverters and maybe pressure cleaning black and gray tanks so your sensors will start working again.
Lonney
-- Edited by Lonney Wade on Monday 25th of August 2014 01:30:11 AM
-- Edited by Lonney Wade on Friday 19th of September 2014 09:12:33 AM
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Lonney & Angel and our fur kid a Sheltie (Wyatt) 2010 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD 4x4 Duramax
2010 Keystone Everest 345S 37' 5th wheel 50 gal. Aux Fuel Tank
Rear 5000 pound Air Ride
25K Air Safe Hitch Powerupdiesel tuner or EZTurner
Thanks Lonnie. I don't think it's the batteries since these are brand new deep cycle batteries. According to my multi-meter, they did not go below 12.4.
I do however think I should probably replace the wiring to remove that variable. It sits out in major rain all winter being on the coast and there is a substantial amount of rust on the ends.
As long as you have eliminated the batteries, then I would say a breaker has gone bad. The first thing I would do is find the breaker that is opening, and put a new one in there.
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2012 Voltage 3600 2014 RAM 3500 DRW 3 Honda Valkyries
A simple test would be to disconnect the batteries and put a load on each. They may be new but things happen. Testing each cell with a hydrometer before and after would show a bad one. Also if you have rust on the connections, you may have corrosion running up the wire too. I helped a friend that couldn't get his car to start. he tried jump starting it, charged the battery, and even replaced it.
I notice the cable was slightly bulged and cut back the covering only to find it green inches beyond the bulging. Trimmed it back to clean wire, put a new end on and the car started right up.
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2011 Amerilite 25bh pushing a 03 Expedition up the hills. 750w of solar, 675 Ah battery bank, 1250fc inverter, Champion 3500/4000
Measure the battery voltage with several lights on so that they dim at the battery and at the DC input on the fuse box. If the voltage drops at the fuse box and not at the battery you have a bad connection somewhere. I doubt a breaker because the DC system is primarily fuses with the exception of the internal overload sensor of your water pump. Ground connections in a lot of wet weather often get loose and or corroded.
Thats my 2 cents worth
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Larry and Jacki-belle Linley with Taiga our minature dachsund - 2011 34 ft Montana towed by a 2014 Silverado Durmax Allison 4x4.
