Van using a lot of Power

[bhl]

Hi,
we have a van (North Trail 27BHDS) connected to an external solar system with 6.6KWH of batteries.
The van is pretty much draining those batteries from when the sun drops until it is up enough to start charging again.
I have tried running the fridge on LP overnight and that helps but there is still something else using a lot. The hot water is off, not running AC or heating.
I have also tried turning off the odd breaker to no effect (not even sure from the labels what all the breakers are).
The 12v battery seems ok. It runs the lights fine and only drops to about 98% over night when the fridge is on gas. So I don't think the charger is trying to charge a dud battery.
Any ideas on trying to nail down what is happening?
Thanks,
Bryan

 

[bhl]

I should have mentioned, we have 230V mains and the van has had some outlets changed to our type. There is still 110V at the original outlets. I am guessing there is a converter that drops the voltage to 110V. I wonder if that converter may be quite inefficient. Also, correct me if I am wrong, but isn't there a converter / charger that supplies 12V from the shoreline connection to the 12V systems and to charge the battery?

 

[Dan54]

Not sure about your issue but I recommend getting a tester to determine which circuits your breakers control. Makes life a lot easier in the long run. I also got a lightbulb socket adapter which made it easier to test the electric outlets that aren’t associated with appliances, overhead fans & lights, etc that you can easily tell if they are powered down.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[david-steph2018]

Hi,
we have a van (North Trail 27BHDS) connected to an external solar system with 6.6KWH of batteries.
The van is pretty much draining those batteries from when the sun drops until it is up enough to start charging again.
I have tried running the fridge on LP overnight and that helps but there is still something else using a lot. The hot water is off, not running AC or heating.
I have also tried turning off the odd breaker to no effect (not even sure from the labels what all the breakers are).
The 12v battery seems ok. It runs the lights fine and only drops to about 98% over night when the fridge is on gas. So I don't think the charger is trying to charge a dud battery.
Any ideas on trying to nail down what is happening?
Thanks,
Bryan

What type of batteries do you have AGM, flooded or Lithium batteries?
What size are the batteries? Group 24, 26, 27 for AMG or flooded?
How many AH are the batteries? AH Amp hours.
How old are the batteries?
Have you had the batteries load tested, results?
How are the batteries wired for your RV, are the batteries hooked up to run into the breaker panel and power the complete RV?
If so, what else are you trying to run while on battery power?

What type of external solar system do you have installed?
How many watts of panels? Where are the panels installed?

If you are wired to run the whole rig on battery power: A converter will pull allot of power from the battery while you are on battery power. You would be trying to charge the batteries while on battery if the converter is not turned off.

 

[bhl]

What type of batteries do you have AGM, flooded or Lithium batteries?
What size are the batteries? Group 24, 26, 27 for AMG or flooded?
How many AH are the batteries? AH Amp hours.
How old are the batteries?
Have you had the batteries load tested, results?
How are the batteries wired for your RV, are the batteries hooked up to run into the breaker panel and power the complete RV?
If so, what else are you trying to run while on battery power?

What type of external solar system do you have installed?
How many watts of panels? Where are the panels installed?

If you are wired to run the whole rig on battery power: A converter will pull allot of power from the battery while you are on battery power. You would be trying to charge the batteries while on battery if the converter is not turned off.

The solar batteries are 2 x 48V 3.3KWH LiFePO4 in parallel. The system is basically brand new.
There are 16 x 385 or 400W panels on a separate standalone roof.
The solar system has a Victron Quattro II 5KVA 230V inverter and MPPT 250 | 100 - Tr VE.Can charger.
The solar system is connected to the RV via a 230V shoreline cable.
There is nothing else connected to the solar system.

Disconnecting the shoreline power overnight and running the fridge on LP, the solar batteries are fine. There is another unknown load in the RV that is pulling 4 or 5 KWH per day (maybe more) - and as I said, no AC, hot water or known load.

We are NOT trying to charge the solar batteries via whatever converter is in the RV. The RV does have it's own 130AH gel lead acid which is running the 12V system in the RV overnight, when disconnected from shoreline, with no problems (i.e. the fridge continues to run on LP all night, the water pump works etc).

 

[david-steph2018]

How is the battery in the RV? If you put a load on it, is it still okay?
Running the 12VDC overnight would probably be the Co detector and radio, what is on overnight?
If the battery in the RV is not hooked to the 120VAC panel and just 12VDC, check the battery in the RV. The converter in the RV would be charging the battery on shore power.

 

[Bogie]

I would suggest you invest in a Multimeter with clamp on ammeter similar to this. You can test individual circuit to investigate which circuit(s) are pulling current and how much. That may help you narrow down what is happening.

Also, just a reminder that unless you are turning it off, the Victron inverter still pulls some current in the idle state causing some battery draw down.

https://www.amazon.com/MESTEK-Multi..._g_5011680011_sccl_8/147-7915249-1138668?th=1

 

[wdk450]

Any chance you are accidentally trying the "perpetual motion machine" setup by having your battery charger/converter running off 110 vac from your battery supplied inverter : That is the battery supplying power through the inverter to charge itself. Since the inverter and charger both are not 100 % efficient, they both lose power in doing their conversions.

 

[bhl]

I would suggest you invest in a Multimeter with clamp on ammeter similar to this. You can test individual circuit to investigate which circuit(s) are pulling current and how much. That may help you narrow down what is happening.

Also, just a reminder that unless you are turning it off, the Victron inverter still pulls some current in the idle state causing some battery draw down.

https://www.amazon.com/MESTEK-Multi..._g_5011680011_sccl_8/147-7915249-1138668?th=1

Hi Bogie,
yes I have been wanting a clamp meter for a while.

It is true there is a small draw from any inverter when idle but nowhere near what we are seeing here.