Does this look wrong??

[Hikegsm]

Okay. I don't know much. But when you are plugged in to power shouldn't your battery be 100%? We have been plugged in at at a campground all night. This was the reading this mornibg. Still on power.

[snowlakemike]

I have Blue Sky, but anytime I am at 13.2 I am the proverbial "happy camper".

 

By the way, I notice that you claim Townsend as home. I absolutely love it there. We used to rent cabins (sometimes huge cabins for the entire extended family) off Wears Valley Road. I would always ride my bicycle through Townsend, using the fun little bike path, then up the hill to Cades Cover. The climb was a bit challenging but usually rewarded with lots of wildlife and an exhilirating downhill run at the end. With auto traffic prohibited certain days and times, I had the entire road to myself.  Dang, if i didn't have so many places to visit it might be time to get back there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mike and Carol]

13.2V is usually what I see after being on shore power for a while. Mike

[topgun2]

This chart shows what your "readings" should be when the battery is at rest.  Rest means that you are not on a charger and it has been at least a couple of hours after you were on a charger.  While on shore power or while solar panels are working you will be getting a charge put into your batteries that is in excess of what this resting battery status will be.  If you are worried, simply unplug (or turn off you solar panels if you have them) wait a couple of hours and then look to see what your batteries read.  During this time you should also turn off all things (that you can) that draw battery power.

 

Bill

 

[Mike and Carol]

I printed out Bill's chart and taped it inside the pantry door. I've used it quite a bit.  Mike

[Raspy]

Okay. I don’t know much. But when you are plugged in to power shouldn’t your battery be 100%? We have been plugged in at at a campground all night. This was the reading this mornibg. Still on power.

 

Maybe I'm missing something, but that is 100%.  When the batteries get to 100% charge at about 14.2 volts, the charger goes to "float" mode, which, if they are flooded batteries, is about 13.2 volts.   Your reading is normal for full charged batteries that are just being maintained.

[ShallowGal]

You'd think that this would be the type of information in the "manual" that Oliver sends you home with...

[GrumbleandTwist]

On the Zamp controller, the bars across the top tell you the % charge on the batteries. One bar means 25% charged. That would worry me as well. I understand that even on shore power some things draw from the batteries. What I dont understand is why the shore power wouldnt recharge the batteries before they got down so low. What am I missing? Understanding the Zamp controller and managing your batteries would be a great topic for the rally in May.

[STEVEnBETTY]

Okay. I don’t know much. But when you are plugged in to power shouldn’t your battery be 100%? We have been plugged in at at a campground all night. This was the reading this mornibg. Still on power.

I'll try, this is my understanding of how the zamp works, someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Your batteries are fully charged at 13.2 volts, the monitor we have is just showing charging voltage, when it's charging,  without a separate monitor going through a shunt you can't get an accurate percentage of battery left while the battery is being charged, wether its solar or shore power. When you get up first thing in the morning your on board converter (shore power) probably had your batteries in float status at 13.2 volts,  when the solar wakes up its going to try to bring the charging voltage up  to around 14 volts (in full sunlight)until it goes back into float mode and that blue light will go off, I'm not real sure what that bar across the top does.

 

What I do in lieu of a separate monitor (I agree with Reed Lukens that we should have gotten one, but I digress), if I get up in the middle of the night when there are no loads on the batteries, no lights, tv, etc. I'll check battery status, if we're boondocking, but if you're on shore power it's meaningless because your converter/charger is charging your batteries wether it's in float, bulk or absorb mode, and you can't get an accurate reading when there is active charging going on.

 

On the other hand, I could be completely wrong, and your converter/charger failed and the solar is trying to top off your batteries.

 

Good luck, STEVE.

[donk1100]

Should I turn off the solar panel when I am on shore power.  My Ollie is plugged up 90% of the time in the winter (I live in it all week for work).  In the summer I may leave it on solar when I go home for the weekend to run the fan.

[STEVEnBETTY]

Should I turn off the solar panel when I am on shore power. My Ollie is plugged up 90% of the time in the winter (I live in it all week for work). In the summer I may leave it on solar when I go home for the weekend to run the fan.

No, you don't have to do anything,  the transfer switch automatically changes over to a/c power when you plug in and the converter and solar interact to maintain your batteries.