Phssthpok
06-02-2007, 02:20 PM
I checked the status of my battery bank (800Ah) last week which was overwintered with (2) US64 panels attached through a 16 amp PWM charge controller. Since it was quite sunny during the day I decided to wait until night fall so the batteries could rest for a while to get a more accurate reading.
According to the LED scale provided by the charge controller the bank was resting at about 12.5-13 volts, yet when I attached the Multi-meter it registered approx 14.6X volts.
Thinking this a bit odd, I decided to check the (2) T-125 batteries attached to (2) 50 watt ARCO panels on my "nephews'" fort (yes....I wired their fort with 12v powah!). This set-up is wired through a 12 amp PWM CC with analog (swing needle) gauges for amps and volts.
The voltmeter on this CC read a solid 14.5 volts. Yet, when I attached the Multi-meter it peaked out at <i>over</i> 16(!!!) volts.
I'm scratching my head over this. I thought about voltage drop over the wires (18ga multistrand copper) but concidering both runs were less than 15 feet it shouldn't be an issue, yes? I just don't want to wind up frying the batteries. Am I missing something?
According to the LED scale provided by the charge controller the bank was resting at about 12.5-13 volts, yet when I attached the Multi-meter it registered approx 14.6X volts.
Thinking this a bit odd, I decided to check the (2) T-125 batteries attached to (2) 50 watt ARCO panels on my "nephews'" fort (yes....I wired their fort with 12v powah!). This set-up is wired through a 12 amp PWM CC with analog (swing needle) gauges for amps and volts.
The voltmeter on this CC read a solid 14.5 volts. Yet, when I attached the Multi-meter it peaked out at <i>over</i> 16(!!!) volts.
I'm scratching my head over this. I thought about voltage drop over the wires (18ga multistrand copper) but concidering both runs were less than 15 feet it shouldn't be an issue, yes? I just don't want to wind up frying the batteries. Am I missing something?