Short power life

[Trebor English]

The charge controller is a Chinese model... $13 - 15 purchased on eBay with intent of upgrading as money allowed.

The charge controller I have looks like this.  The instructions are translated to English on one side of a tiny scrap of paper.  It has one programmable charging voltage.  Below that voltage it is on.  When the battery gets to that voltage it goes off and on maintaining that voltage.  The instructions use the word "float" but I have mine set to 14.4 summer, 14.8 winter.  If yours is set to less than 14.8 volts measured at the battery in January this setting is part of your undercharging issue.

 

[Ticklebellly]

the size of the battery bank (within reason) does not dictate "how much solar" you need. the size of the battery storage determines how long or how much you can run loads before having to recharge. 

I agree, technically, but the electrically challenged often choose sizing and arrangements and components and management routines on what someone else has done or appears to do.   I can think of more than 20 considerations that might go into a decision matrix for designing an installation.
I have found that the suggestion of twice the number of solar watts as number of battery AH to be a useful and effective rule-of-thumb to those who might have problems predicting and calculating daily usage across a variety of situations and climatic conditions.    I am a big fan of the KISS principle.

 

[bpdchief]

Working on connectors tomorrow. Had batteries hydrometer checked today, one had two bad cells and was replaced under warranty. Second battery showed lower end of good on all cells, load tested above rated amps - man said to charge it back up separately... that bad cells in first battery was causing issue charging second. Tomorrow mechanical connectors will be removed and wired soldered together. Bought hydrometer today.

 

[Weight]

Proper crimped connections are recommended for vehicle direct current circuits. You don't absolutely-must-have a temperature compensated charger. But if you upgrade it is a good thing to have. Stay tuned for all the complaints about this post.

 

[Matlock]

.. snip.. Second battery showed lower end of good on all cells, load tested above rated amps - man said to charge it back up separately... that bad cells in first battery was causing issue charging second.  

So now you have the second battery, that's about a year old, being connected to a new battery.
Separate charging initially for sure and you might want to verify where that year old battery stands with a hydro before final assembly.
Probably no issue at all but without holding a full charge it may pull down your replacement.
...just my 2¢

 

[Trebor English]

Working on connectors tomorrow.  
  -- Snip --
 Tomorrow mechanical connectors will be removed and wired soldered together.  

Before doing that look at the big picture.  If you can move things so the fridge and battery are close that might help.  If you can bring close together the solar panel, charge controller, and battery that might help.

 

[bpdchief]

don't know which picture this is... Big picture is about to change if we come to agreement on newer van - interior layout will change if possible

 

[bpdchief]

ok this is the type plug currently feeding into back of van - originally for stand alone panels, and at dash where fridge plugs into to battery feed. Plug at dash gets warm (about to do the push pin check on volts each side of plug.... It is going away also.

 

[bpdchief]

As per pm to Trebor... Charge controller is set at 14.8v and older battery is charging alone in solar - fridge is running on starter battery for today

 

[Trebor English]

fridge is running on starter battery for today

In my experience a starter battery can be cycled about 5% discharge with a small reduction in battery life.  The 50% recommendation for golf cart batteries is wrong for a starter battery.  

The math gets ugly.  For example the group size 59 starter battery that Ford recommended for my Windstar has an RC, Reserve Capacity, rating of 100 minutes.  At 23 amps that's 2300 amp minutes.  Divided by 60 that's 38 amp hours.  5% of that is 1.9 amp hours.  That is good to charge a cell phone.  To run a 5 amp fridge a run time total of 23 minutes should be fine.  An hour of running probably won't kill the starter battery right away.  

The new battery that you got yesterday might be a better choice than your starter battery for your fridge.

 

[bpdchief]

Correction made.... Running fridge off new battery. Slight squeeze put on connectors to improve contact. Going to friends business tomorrow, plug into 110 for fridge and put both batteries on separate chargers to make sure both are 100% then start from scratch. Solar is so confusing to a 60 yr old mind ?

 

[Weight]

You sound like the connections need to be redone. Here is instructional. https://marinehowto.com/marine-wire-termination/