Is it possible for a battery to go bad?
Do not give up on the batteries being bad. You could have one cell that is going bad and it will draw the rest of the battery down but total voltage may show good. Use a hydrometer and check each cell. They should be within specifications for that battery, and they should all be very, very close to the same reading.
What should the voltage of a house battery be?
Make sure the resettable breaker on the inverter/charger (some inverters have them external, some internal) is ON/RESET. Next, before plugging into shore power, measure voltage at the house battery with a digital voltmeter. Plug in and verify that the voltage rises– unless batteries are deeply discharged, voltage should rise to 13.2 14.5 VDC.
What happens when you undercharg a house battery?
Undercharging will further age your house battery, as if causes sulfation — when the sulfate material to crystallize on the discharged portions of the battery plates and therefore become effectively useless. The same phenomenon occurs when a battery is discharged for long periods of time.
What happens when you unplug a house battery?
This relates to undercharging as well, wherein a battery isn’t recharged to 100% percent before being unplugged and put into action again. Undercharging will further age your house battery, as if causes sulfation — when the sulfate material to crystallize on the discharged portions of the battery plates and therefore become effectively useless.
Make sure the resettable breaker on the inverter/charger (some inverters have them external, some internal) is ON/RESET. Next, before plugging into shore power, measure voltage at the house battery with a digital voltmeter. Plug in and verify that the voltage rises– unless batteries are deeply discharged, voltage should rise to 13.2 14.5 VDC.
This relates to undercharging as well, wherein a battery isn’t recharged to 100% percent before being unplugged and put into action again. Undercharging will further age your house battery, as if causes sulfation — when the sulfate material to crystallize on the discharged portions of the battery plates and therefore become effectively useless.
Undercharging will further age your house battery, as if causes sulfation — when the sulfate material to crystallize on the discharged portions of the battery plates and therefore become effectively useless. The same phenomenon occurs when a battery is discharged for long periods of time.
Do not give up on the batteries being bad. You could have one cell that is going bad and it will draw the rest of the battery down but total voltage may show good. Use a hydrometer and check each cell. They should be within specifications for that battery, and they should all be very, very close to the same reading.
