Hello everyone. I’m new to the forum and solar in general, but this seemed like a great place to get some help. I have a 600 watt solar system. Running 6-6volt gel batteries. I recently ran into an issue when I upgraded my controller. My first battery in is undercharging at 5v while the other one is trying to overcompensate it in that 12v bank. I have my trailer positive and controller positive running into that battery. I just replaced that battery as I thought it was bad only to find out that isn’t the issue. I have an inverter wired on the opposite bank terminals. Would that possibly be affecting it. Should I run them on consistent terminals? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I’ve searched all over the internet with no luck.
Battery undercharging
- Thread starter Slycaper
- Start date
MisterSandals
Participation Medalist
Happen to have a pic? Are you making several 12V batteries with 6V batteries in series, and connecting those in parallel?
Are all 6 of your batteries identical in size, age and condition? If not, the strong will cannibalize the weak.
MisterSandals
Participation Medalist
Here is a guide to wiring batteries into a balanced pack:
Indicates unbalance. For a single 6v gel, the CV should be no higher than 7.05v (running in 12v, that's 14.1v CV).
Like all lead-acid, temperature compensation from your SCC do best when attached to actual battery terminals, and not just ambient - and gel's especially so.
If you've been replacing batteries as they fail, it sounds like you have a mismatched set of batts in age/model/capacity - which is a crapshoot just to limp along as MisterSandals point out, cannibalize each other.
If you can, charge each battery individually, and then place back into whatever your parallel / series service you have set up.
Like all lead-acid, temperature compensation from your SCC do best when attached to actual battery terminals, and not just ambient - and gel's especially so.
If you've been replacing batteries as they fail, it sounds like you have a mismatched set of batts in age/model/capacity - which is a crapshoot just to limp along as MisterSandals point out, cannibalize each other.
If you can, charge each battery individually, and then place back into whatever your parallel / series service you have set up.
