Leaving batteries unattended while being charged by solar. Charge controller failure.

[andrewssteve]

I screwed up.

I installed solar in the spring and camped all summer and fall with great solar results. Batteries stayed charged all season. Loved it.

I live in Minnesota and haven't retired, so come Oct-Nov, I put the RV in storage for the winter. Left the solar charging and main battery disconnect switch ON.

Well, I went to check on the RV in late December. All battery monitors dead. Assume my 800 amp/hour battery-bank is dead, too. (Stay tuned as I investigate the damage.)

My guess is the Chinese EPEVER/Tracer 4210A charge controller failed and the parasitic loads in the RV (CO2 monitor, microwave, etc.) drained the battery.

Initial lesson learned. Don't leave a connected-to-load battery unattended for an extended period. I always disconnected batteries during storage in the past. I now believe that's the least-risk approach.

Another lesson: I bought the EPEVER charge controller from AliExpress -- straight from China. 2 year warranty. They won't talk to me. Warranty is useless. I'm finding other users posting on the web are having the same problems: unit failed (seems like a trend) and EPEVER not honoring warranty.

I've got a Honda EU2000i generator. Pulled it out, but it won't start. Assuming I have to overhaul the carb from ethanol buildup before I can use it.

I just ordered a Victron charge controller. I'm planning to install it this weekend -- Right now, it's my only hope for recovering a $1500 investment in batteries.

I'll post an update when I get more data.

-Steve

[andrewssteve]

Update:

Installed the Victron solar charge controller with Blue Tooth connectivity in January. Love it. Baby-sat the solar charge cycles for a couple of months -- disconnected the battery during nights and cloudy/snowy/rainy days. Tried out the Equalize charge setting -- that seemed to help the steady state voltage.

Then I bought a NOCO Genius UltraSafe Battery Charger/Trickle Charger/Desulfator/Engine Starter — 12/24 Volt, 26 Amp, Model# G26000. $199.95. It has a recovery mode that I applied to each of the 2 6x2 bank pairs separately. (Manual suggested the capacity of the charger was around 400 AHrs; I have 800 AHrs.) Charger finally reported batteries were recovered -- after about 12-14 hours of charging.

Anyway, I don't think I lost my battery bank, and I seem to be back in business. . .

Cheers.

-Steve

[mosquitomagnet]

You might look into the victron battery protect. It allows you to program load cutoff at a user programmed voltage and also cuts off the charging at a specific programmable voltage

[andrewssteve]

You might look into the victron battery protect. It allows you to program load cutoff at a user programmed voltage and also cuts off the charging at a specific programmable voltage

Good suggestion. I'll look into that as a backup protection. Still planning to switch the batteries off this winter. I installed a real disconnect switch so I know there won't be any parasitic draining.