update to please help

[brians]

so this is what i did .i have 4/0 welding cable for batteries jummpers size of a quarter. sorded on lugs you know that all ready ok took fluke meter check oms each jummper all the same .put high out put alt on jetta .reads almost 14 v no load  turn it on 12 v let charge 24 hours . didnt get anywhere still same . my batteries read 5.89 each can all batteries be bad? the 2 amp i was talking about is what i am drawing from the ac side .which i check on genny and interver they say same 2 amp draw .i am only 10 feet from high output alt with 2/0 welding  cable .so i tryied to batteries charged them 3 hours with alt 3hours with elect charger 12.5 after that turned on inverter went from 12.5 to 11.6 in about 50 sec my inter draws 400 mA when on . i think batteries are bad they had a bild up of dust when i bought them i have new pics on this hope you like . dont know what to do brian lol

[halfcrazy]

well if just the inverter ideling is bringing them down that much it shure sounds like bad batteries. what is the highest voltage you see when they are charging of the charger? and of the car alternator ? i am thinking maybe they are just not getting a high enough voltage.

[brians]

i see 12.30 is the highest i see so far with bouth alt and elect charger batteries never reach over 6.18 v a pice

[nothing to lose]

I'm not sure whats going on there, but I would take them all apart and connect only 2 batteries for 12v. Charge the 2 batteries, connect inverter and see what happens. If it goes down fast connect the next 2 batteries and test those same way. No need to have them all connected at once, just what ever makes the volts your inverter needs.

I can't really tell in that picture, but do you have 2 cables comming off those batteries for both pos and Neg connection each?? Like charging from the left side cables and inverter on the right side cables? Perhaps 1 bad connection on one wire could be the problem too then.

What I am thinking is maybe you are charging the 2 sets to the left, bad cable connecting those to the set on the right would mean your getting a charge on 4 batteries but trying to pull power off only 2 dead ones. Is this case you may have batteries barely raising to 12V on their own sitting Idle but any load at all kills them. This would apply to the middle set also if the bad connection is between the first set. Have you checked all 6 and they all have only 5.89V?

Have you tried running the inverter while charging? If your putting out 60amps from that alternator into those batteries then you should be able to run the inverter off that while charging if all connections are correct. If the inverter does not run a small load while the alternator is running then something is not right like bad wiring?

 60amp from the alternator while charging should run nearly a 720 watt load even if the batteries are very weak, I have done this at a remote house I was renting for awhile. Batteries to low for inverter, charge off running car with jumper cables run inverter same time just fine.

 That was a 5K inverter with small load of CFL lights and a full size frigerator and radio. Not sure the amps on the car altenator.

I don't know anything about your batteries but I find it hard to beleave all 6 would be shot and holding about the same volts. I would first test if the inverter runs a load while the alternator is running (charging) and then test only 2 batteries at a time charging them and loading them.

Good luck

[halfcrazy]

you arent getting the charge voltage high enough 12.2 is considered 50% dead you need to be seing like 14.4 to 14.7 when they are on the charger. when they reach 14.4-14.7 then you can ramp down the charge amps a little but if you arent charging over 12.3 then you simply arent getting any charge into them. hope this helps in some way. maybe you could try two at a time on the charger and see if you can get them to 14.4-14.7 also when equalizing you should see like 15-15.5 volts

[TomW]

brians;

Well as a wild guess from here looking at the battery bank.

The one in the front center looks like its backwards strictly going by the lables and the relative position. Seems a reversed battery might explain your problem. Just check that and then check it again.

Simple stuff can sneak in a curveball on you pretty easy.

Just guessing but I can't make out the polarity marking on the batteries in the picture.

T

[nothing to lose]

I missed that myself and agree, looking at the multie colored label. Also the top right  battery perhaps?

All but those 2 have that label in the bottom right corner. I don't know what the red green yellow looking label is, but it's reversed on 2 batteries corners.

[jimjjnn]

Where are you measuring volts when charging? At the alternator or at the batteries. Always measure at the batteries for alternator charging volts as those 10 foot cables do drop voltage even being as large as they are. I agree with the others here. It looks like one battery is connected backwards.

[Flux]

I agree with the others about the batteries not being charged. With the alternator running they should get well over 14v and when they are charged and stand for 12 hours without the alternator they should read over 12.7v. If you are only seeing 12.2v on charge they are flat. If you are using the alternator internal regulator it is probably set too low.

Try a pair on their own as suggested until you sort out the charging, I really doubt that all batteries are sick.

Remember that it is going to take a while to get even 2 of them back up from flat but watch the volts while charging, it should climb steadily to about 13v and then rise quite rapidly for the last part of the charge and if you are not using a regulator you will need to reduce the charging rate when you get over about 13.5v.

Flux

[Nando]

It is hard to understand what you say when you do not try to write clearly -- it is best to take your time in writing the message, so you get the proper responses.

START DE RIGHT WAY -- Charge one battery at the time, this way you will see if you have a bad battery that is loading the others.

Measure the voltage and the current at the same time if possible, if not, measure the charging current.

Regards

Nando

[Gary D]

Brians, a shot in the dark here... If your readings on the batteries of 12.5 were during charging, the drop could easily be just a surface charge. The batteries start dropping voltage after the charger is turned off to their real voltage (will level off in about 2 hours if no draw). With a large amp hour bank, with an inverter pulling (2 amps at 120 volts?) just to break even, you would need to charge at least 20 amps at 12 volts (not couning on losses). If all batteries are connected properly, this may be some of your issue?

 How many amps is your battery charger? And how large (in amp hours) is your battery bank?  Possibly with additional info, someone can sort this out.  Gary D.

[Gary D]

Brians, read your earlier post. Saw that you have a 330 amp hour bank. You really need an amp gauge in line between your alternator and the batteries. Without it, you can easily be charging no amps into your batteries (how to tell?). You can figure on needing 6 to 7 hours charge time at 20 amps to bulk charge your batteries to 80% if the batteries are near 11.5 volts. That is if all the batteries are good (after trouble shooting). Hope this helps... Gary D.

[jimjjnn]

There is something screwy with that wiring picture!!!!!

I can't pin it down as all cables are not in the picture. Looks like you tried series-parallel cabling. As I look at it. Are those 6volt or 12 volt batts. Look like 12 volt but not sure as pix are not too clear.

[Experimental]

Brians,  Did you ever figure out your problems ??

    From your pictures, all looked good and you should have had sufficent power to charge all up , with that system you have rigged up !!

    I,m sure it was something simple and "we" all are hopeing you have found a solution --if not,let everyone know -- we all want to help !!

    Where are you located ??   Bill H.....