A question of Battery power ..
Submitted: Monday, Jan 25, 2010 at 19:00
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Mandrake's Solar Power
This has me stumped so I hope someone can advise ..
I have a battery box containing 3 X 7 aH UPS batteries which I use in my camper for internal lighting ..
I also have a 26 aH UPS battery which I use at
home for testing polarity etc etc ..
I tried to run my Waeco CF50 on the 26 aH and it kept going into red flashing error mode BUT the 3 X 7 aH powered it no problem at all ..
All of these batteries hold charge and appear to be OK but I can't figure out why the bigger one fails at running the fridge ... It has a 7.8 Amp rating stamped on the side so that should be OK for a 4 Amp fridge ...
And before you all jump to the wrong conclusion - I run the fridge from a 100 aH in the back of the Jeep under normal use..
This was just a
test I was doing ....
Any ideas ? I assume the 26 aH is unwell ?
Cheers
Steve
Reply By: Member - Allan B (QLD) - Monday, Jan 25, 2010 at 20:22
Monday, Jan 25, 2010 at 20:22
Those cigar-lighter sockets are bad news. The main problem is that the positive centre contact does not have a wiping action to clean the contacts. It simply pushes the spring-loaded pin against the contact in the socket. Any oxide or dirt on the contact faces is simply compressed but remains to interfere with a good contact connection. Best to get rid of them.
Merit type sockets on the other hand, although similar in appearance, do have a wiping action of both the positive and negative contacts. They are more reliable but do have limited current-carrying capacity.
AnswerID:
401002
Reply By: olcoolone - Tuesday, Jan 26, 2010 at 14:42
Tuesday, Jan 26, 2010 at 14:42
I would say you may have one cell failing.
Try doing a load to maximum discharge
test and see how many amps you can pull out of the battery.
Try it with a 2 amp load and then a 10 amp load and calculate the average or work it out from the SOC and discharge load spec from the battery supplier.
Or use a electronic battery tester.
AnswerID:
401115