What Telstra wiring did you rip out?

[DX grunt]

Greeting fellow Podders.

Shortly, I'm gunna rip out all the Telstra wiring, except the 12v in the pod.

What wiring did you rip out?

I'm still leaking. lol. I mean my Troll's still got a battery leakage somewhere.

Any, and I mean any, help would be appreciated. :smile:

Rossco

[threedogs]

Can you isolate it from one battery say your start or aux with either a decent test light or multimeter.
are the tops of your batteries clean ??

[DX grunt]

Can you isolate it from one battery say your start or aux with either a decent test light or multimeter.
are the tops of your batteries clean ??

There's no switch to go from one battery to the other. I regularly use a multimeter and both give the same reading. I'm losing around 10% of battery charge a day, but with the solar panels hard wired in, it automatically tops it up.

I swapped the cranker over to a DC battery and all was fine, both kept their charge, until I left my truck at Perth Airport for 10 days, and we're back to square one of losing power. I had both batteries checked out the other day and both are holding their charge. The cranker is about 4 years old, but still holding/keeping its charge.

[threedogs]

You're not losing power back out the solar panel are you. You may need an isolating switch on them
Thats what I thinks happening , dissconnect and re check in the morning. 4 yrs is old for Battery
I know some club members who change every two years regardless, To me a 4 yr old battery is
a weak point if remote touring, but thats another topic, but they checked out ok

[Clunk]

Sounds like a question for the Evil Twin

Tapped on crappola MC

[Cuppa]

There were some wires I found under the passenger side plastic door sill cover when installing my rear vision monitor which I followed & found they had been cut off at both ends - I removed them - no idea what they were for, plus a cable with a small antenna on the end tucked up behind the dash - that went too. All of the wiring & distribution panel in the pod went. I'm pretty certain that the pod wiring had been subjected to a bit of butchering over the years despite Telstra's OH & S.
Just recently when fitting the CB radio I found another 3 core white cable coiled up & taped off behind the dash, on top of the transmission tunnel. This was live, independent of the ignition, which was very handy, I used it to provide power to a second cig lighter socket at the bottom of the dash & the USB port in my new glovebox.

Get hold of a cheap DC clamp meter for under $20, disconnect the power supply to the pod completely & then put the clamp meter over one of the battery cables & see if you get a reading. If you do you will know the problem is not in the pod. If you don't reconnect the power supply to the pod & try again. If you then get a reading you'll have isolated the 'phantom load' to the pod.

It's a process of elimination, disconnecting one thing at a time & seeing if it makes a difference.

EDIT. TD may have a good point about 'leakage' back through the solar panel at night time. Usually these days any half decent regulator will prevent this, but most of the regulators supplied with the cheap panels are not half decent. Some panels also have a blocking diode in their connection box which acts like a one way valve to prevent this night time leakage. Have a look in your connection box(es) & see if you have anything which looks like this connected across the terminals. http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2013/06/18.jpg
Alternatively you could just disconnect your panels & see if doing so 'fixes' the battery drain.

[DX grunt]

You're not losing power back out the solar panel are you. You may need an isolating switch on them
Thats what I thinks happening , dissconnect and re check in the morning. 4 yrs is old for Battery
I know some club members who change every two years regardless, To me a 4 yr old battery is
a weak point if remote touring, but thats another topic, but they checked out ok

It all started before the panels were put on the roof. I was quite prepared to change the cranker, but because I was told it's still OK, I'm a bit reluctant.

Naturally, I stand to be corrected. lol

[macca]

Rosco do you leave an inverter connected on the DC side. Mine uses power even when switched off so have fitted Anderson's to isolate the 12 volt.

TD's on the money about batteries lasting 24 months, seems not long for such an expensive item. Is it the same for deep cycle in its variants, AGM etc?

[threedogs]

The battery comment was from club member who goes "outback" quite often and changing batteries every two years regardless
was one less thing to go wrong, expensive yes but better than buying a battery say at Birdville or some other outback town.
Just peace of mind

[DX grunt]

I've got an inverter, but haven't got it hooked up yet.

OK, OK, I'll swap the cranker. Next question, what type? lol.

The solar panels are BP solar panels. Not that cheap. PML

[Cuppa]

Rosco do you leave an inverter connected on the DC side. Mine uses power even when switched off so have fitted Anderson's to isolate the 12 volt.

TD's on the money about batteries lasting 24 months, seems not long for such an expensive item. Is it the same for deep cycle in its variants, AGM etc?

An inverter shouldn't use any power when switched off, at least none that I've ever had have. Many however can be left in 'standby mode' & this most definitely WILL use power.
AGM deep cycle batteries if treated well have a lifespan of 8 to 10 years. I have two Fullriver DC150's & two DC90's. All are approaching 8 years old & still going strong. How they are used make a huge difference. Mine have never been discharged below about 60% capacity, much of the time less than this. If regularly discharged below 40 to 50% expect a life of around two years. If regularly discharged to the point where low voltage alarms sound (under 11 volts) expect much less.

Crank batteries rarely last as long as deep cycle batteries, primarily because they are rarely fully charged, often sitting for long periods at around 70 to 80% capacity, (enough for starting duty, but not best for battery health). Alternators by them selves will not fully charge any battery (including aux batteries) because of insufficient time driving to achieve this. This is one reason why DC to DC chargers are far superior to the more common voltage sensitive relay type dual battery set ups (eg. Redarc SBI12 & similar). Folks often think they DC to DC chargers are expensive, but over the longer term when aux batteries last much longer (whilst giving better service, due to being fully charged, along the way) the dc to dc chargers pay for themselves easily.

There are also smart (multi stage) alternator chargers available which could only be a good thing for crank batteries (particularly those used for winching) & increase their life, but I have no expeience of those.

Cuppa

[macca]

Cuppa I had my aux going flat. Traced it to the inverter. It has small switch like 10amps max so probably on the ac side. Put my dc clip meter and it had 5 amps when off, so would be in standby mode. A mate had similar issues his was drawing power as well.

[DX grunt]

An inverter shouldn't use any power when switched off, at least none that I've ever had have. Many however can be left in 'standby mode' & this most definitely WILL use power.
AGM deep cycle batteries if treated well have a lifespan of 8 to 10 years. I have two Fullriver DC150's & two DC90's. All are approaching 8 years old & still going strong. How they are used make a huge difference. Mine have never been discharged below about 60% capacity, much of the time less than this. If regularly discharged below 40 to 50% expect a life of around two years. If regularly discharged to the point where low voltage alarms sound (under 11 volts) expect much less.

Crank batteries rarely last as long as deep cycle batteries, primarily because they are rarely fully charged, often sitting for long periods at around 70 to 80% capacity, (enough for starting duty, but not best for battery health). Alternators by them selves will not fully charge any battery (including aux batteries) because of insufficient time driving to achieve this. This is one reason why DC to DC chargers are far superior to the more common voltage sensitive relay type dual battery set ups (eg. Redarc SBI12 & similar). Folks often think they DC to DC chargers are expensive, but over the longer term when aux batteries last much longer (whilst giving better service, due to being fully charged, along the way) the dc to dc chargers pay for themselves easily.

There are also smart (multi stage) alternator chargers available which could only be a good thing for crank batteries (particularly those used for winching) & increase their life, but I have no expeience of those.

Cuppa

You've been hanging around ET too long. lol

[Cuppa]

Cuppa I had my aux going flat. Traced it to the inverter. It has small switch like 10amps max so probably on the ac side. Put my dc clip meter and it had 5 amps when off, so would be in standby mode. A mate had similar issues his was drawing power as well.

I suspect we are saying the same thing macca. I have never used my inverters in standby mode, only ever via switching on a circuit breaker or by plugging in to a Hella style socket. That is what I meant when I said 'switching on'. 5 amps is pretty high for a standby load - that's 120 ah in 24 hours! Was it a large inverter?

Cuppa