240v versus 12v

[Dr Bob]

Why buy a 12V TV when it will not save power unless the 240V one is very old. The sky box is the thing that takes most power. Why can you not see this from your meter?

 

21 minutes ago, Swendy666 said:

So full in fact that the solar stops sending charge to them.

 

22 minutes ago, Swendy666 said:

If we have the big 43’’ tv on for more than 6 hours at night the generator will kick in and fully charge the batteries.

You are assuming your batteries are full, yet not confirming  this is via a low tail current at a charging voltage of 14.4V. Solar MPPTs often go to float far too early.

Your 'generator' kicking in does not tie in with your previous comment. You said it kicked in when it was 54% charged (if I understand it right). Charging to full from 54% from the generator will take 12 hours or so (to put in 600Ahrs) so I very much doubt you are anywhere near full.

What happens when it rains or you park under trees. How are you filling your batteries?

You say they are full yet you quote 67 (% SoC I think!!!!) in the morning. Therefore you have used 33% capacity overnight which is around 300Ahrs. No one can  use this amount of power. There is something very wrong about the numbers you are quoting.

You need to quote some rested voltage and the amps used since full. What battery monitor have you or are you relying on your solar MPPT (which you cannot do).

[Tony Brooks]

25 minutes ago, Swendy666 said:

Ok I don’t think I’ve made myself fully clear.

The batteries are at full charge every day.

 

So full in fact that the solar stops sending charge to them.

 

We can go to bed at night and due to it being dark we do take some out of the Batteries.

 

If we have the big 43’’ tv on for more than 6 hours at night the generator will kick in and fully charge the batteries.

 

As I said, the batteries are at full charge most of the time.

 

I have now rang sky and they have confirmed that the 240v box will work with a 12v tv

 

We have now ordered a Cello 32’’ 12v and the bigger 240v can go and meet its maker.

 

thanks for all the advice given 

 

I think most comments were about the state of my batteries, these have never been a problem due to 3 x 300amp solars

extra capacity alternators and a Generator back up.

 

I know you did not ask but if you are relying on that solar controller for the state of charge figures you are quoting then I am sorry - solar controller tell even bigger lies than Amp hour counters. Any percentage charged figures they provide should be ignored by those who want optimum battery life. The controller has no idea about the present battery (capacity its always reducing) and it has no idea about how much of the charge it has provided went to the batteries, how much went to feed the electrical loads and how efficient the charging process is in YOUR batteries.

 

I also note from the voltage that the controller is probably in float so has reduced the charging voltage so you can't even use tail current to estimate if the batteries are fully charged. All chargers have a horrible habit of dropping to float on a time basis, and this includes solar controllers, so they drop to float long before the batteries are fully charged.

 

My advice for optimum battery life would be to engine charge once a week until the charging current at 14.2 volts plus has dropped to 1 to 2% of battery capacity and has stopped falling over an hour or so. If you have no shunted ammeter built in you will need a clamp type DC Amps multimeter - about £30.

 

Still, its your boat and your batteries so you are correct to ignore any advice you feel is not needed but I hope you don't because batteries cost a lot and as @nicknorman says it seem that you have already lost a lot of capacity that now is unlikely to be fully recoverable.

[GUMPY]

Do you turn the sat box and the television off at the socket when you have finished watching or do you just leave them on standby?