Power nightmare

[Toutvabien]

Best wishes Nathan, seems as if you are getting things sorted!! I have been following your problems in recent days, but as I was unable to personally contribute to solving them I am glad to hear that others on the East Coast have been more useful.

The learning curve is one we have all followed, one of the great things about sailing small boats is, IMHO, sorting out the sort of problems that you have faced and then getting on with the trip and at some point arriving somewhere (even if it was not where you intended to go). Meeting people along the way who help is great and there is equal delight in later being able to return the favour to others. It is usually done with good grace and a sense of humour, that is what makes it fun, and why we keep doing it.

Paul.

 

[davey]

I thought 12.75 was low for a sealed battery? The inverter decided there wasn't enough power to run anyway, and it usually does.

The solar cells are my main concern. I can afford a new battery if needs be, but not cells.

And the panels usually do kick out 13+volts, and it is sunny here, even if very windy, so I can only presume I've fried something if all I'm getting i 1.5 /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

There's solar panels and there's good solar panels. The good ones are actually several (3 or 4) small panels in parallel so a pigeon dropping only reduces the output to 3/4 instead of killing everything. (a friend is delighted with his 40 watt ACM panel that cost the same as some 20W panels - about £180). By 9am in summer both batteries are up to 14.2 volts. Solar regulator is a made-in-Germany Kemo dual output 16 amps max if fitted on a heatsink. About £25 new on eBay. I've no connection with either of these companies but would just like to mention products that really do work. The panel sure does save having to run the "iron sail" and even when the engine runs, the first few minutes are taken up replenishing the current taken by starting.

Is your multimeter accurate? Its probably the cheapest part to replace.

 

[davey]

Well thats good

As far as the original problem is concerned, something just isn't right with the inverter, or the wiring to it... as a few others said already 12.75v corresponds to pretty much 100% charge for a 12v battery and any 12v powered electrical device should be more than happy with that...soooo it loooks like there is some duff connection between the battery and the inverter to me which is causing some major voltage drop.

Prime candidate would be if there is a cigarette lighter socket or something that the inverter is plugged into, those are always crappy things that corrode and give a dodgy connection.

I'd bet that there is nothing much wrong with the solar panel regulator, I think these things aren't usually linear regulators but just a simple switch that shuts off when they decide the battery is full (which it is...). At least thats how the one I've got works. So measuring voltage on the regulator when its not connected to a partly empty battery might not be very meaningful. Yep did a quick search on Google and came up with this http://ludens.cl/Electron/solarreg/Solarr~1.htm

Which kind of confirms that solar regulators can work exactly the way I thought they do, they are supposed to short out the solar cell once the battery is full....more efficient when charging that way.

And how I'd love to be doing a round Britain trip myself (with paper charts of course /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif )

Chris

Re the "crappy" cigarette lighter sockets.
I'd just like to mention SUTARS sockets which are made with stainless steel contacts. OK they are a bit dear compared to the knackered car sockets obtained from MOT failures but quality costs. By the way chandlers charge more than the caravan and camping shops. Surely a few quid for a decent socket is money well spent.