# Inverter battery issues.



## lonelytree (Feb 28, 2008)

Hi Folks,
I have a Trace DR1512 inverter, it was originally set up with 6 6V golf cart batteries in series parallel. My generator is a 2500 Coleman. It reads 120V and 59 HZ. It runs drills, sanders and saws fine. 

The batteries were used, but checked out fine when I installed them. Specific gravity and load test. After 2 winters, one full summer I have had nothing but trouble with them. They will run lights and stereo overnight no problem. As soon as the coffee maker hits 1/4-1/2 pot, they die a swift death. After charging them for 3 hours specific gravity reads...... water or a couple ticks above water, but still in the red. One battery checks good but a bit discharged. No load tester available. Battery dates are 2006-2007. I do not believe that they have been frozen, but it is possible. 

Now to complicate things. I pulled the batteries and put 2 - 8D batteries in last weekend. They were showing 13V and load tested at 99 and 92% before taking them out. They were not fully charged before taking them out. After 1 night of lights and music, they died under the strain of the coffee maker. Specific gravity was on the low side of fair on the meter. I charged them VIA the Trace inverter for 3 hours and it did not bring them up or it was very little. I then swapped over to a 10 AMP standard battery charger and removed the inverter from the picture. Still no real gains. 

Do I have a picky charging system that doesn't like my generator, 2 bad chargers or more bad batteries?

I am thinking about taking my 4.5 KW generator out with another 30AMP charger. 

Your ideas please.

Thanks,
Mike


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## swampyoaks (Jan 6, 2008)

I suspect a sulfation problem with the batteries.


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## trkarl (Dec 15, 2009)

swampyoaks said:


> I suspect a sulfation problem with the batteries.


I agree. Charging "dead" or severely discharged batteries will take a lot longer than 3 hrs. The absorption phase alone will take 3+ hrs of charge time.


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## wy_white_wolf (Oct 14, 2004)

Have you done a good energy use audit? One that totals up all your daily WH usage?

I think you may be using more WHs daily than the batteries can handle or are not fully charging them back up.


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

I suspect something different may be a factor. Generators do not put out clean sine-wave power. The Trace products were designed around the idea that the charging side was going to be fed the clean sine. By not having that, the charging is de-rated.

The type of configuration you have is not ideal anyway. A better solution would be to use a car alternator and 3hp gas engine to power it. Use the batteries on their own at night, let the gas engine have a half gallon of gas, and start it in the morning. To do the balance of the charge, get a small solar panel. The finishing charge on batteries is only a very few watts, but over a long period of time. By doing the bulk charge early, the solar can finish it up.

When using the Trace for something with a large draw, fire up the alternator to reduce the drain on the batteries at time of use.


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