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Old 11-01-2021, 02:18 PM   #1
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Qwork battery monitor question

I have two 105 agm batteries for the house. I charged to 12.55 v and the house monitor shows fully charged but the monitor I installer only show 21% charged at 12.55 volts, any ideas as to why? Thanks
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Old 11-01-2021, 03:08 PM   #2
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What monitor did you install? A shunt-based monitor?

For your info 12.55v is about 55% charged. A fully charged battery is 12.7v.

If you are plugged into shore power, or the generator's running, or the RV's engine is running then the house monitor will always show fully charged. This is because under those conditions your batteries are being charged and the monitor sees the charge voltage not the battery voltage. Even when you stop all charging a surface charge left over from the charging will show more than 12.7v. It can take hours at rest from charging until the OEM battery monitor can somewhat accurately report the state of charge.

Without know more about your newly installed monitor - it could be that the monitor needs calibrated or it needs more time and cycles to self-calibrate.

I looked up the Qwork Monitor. It's a basic shunt-based battery monitor sold for around $40. I searched online and folks said to calibrate it you need to charge your batteries until is reads 100% and that you need to be sure to do this every month or two. Without that it will drift. They also said it will not equate to volts very well. Just charge it until the monitor says 100% charged and trust it at that point. I don't know any of this, it's just what I read others say

I have a Victron SmartShunt monitor and that's where I get my state of charge and my battery bank's voltage. I also have an older shunt-based battery monitor from my Magnum inverter and I do compare the two from time to time and they are usually within a couple of tenths of volts or each other. I never use the OEM built in battery monitor.

PS. I've deduced that you have a Winnebago Brave 31C, but that's mostly a guess. Could you do us all a favor and create a Signature on your account that states EXACTLY what RV - Year, Model, Model Number - you are talking about in your posts. Thanks. Here's how to do that:
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Old 11-02-2021, 05:41 AM   #3
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The monitor is an AiLI battery monitor from Amazon. I charged the batteries (disconnected) for 24 hours. After disconnecting charger voltage was 12.79 in about 30 min voltage settled at 12.55. I’ll check again today to see what voltage Is. if voltage is down, I suspect batteries are need to be replaced. I think I got signature finished. Thanks for info. Gots lots to learn about systems
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Old 11-02-2021, 07:27 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Banjo View Post
I suspect batteries are need to be replaced.
Yes, unfortunately even if they don’t drop further, your experience surely does indicate that the batteries have degraded significantly.
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Old 11-02-2021, 07:46 AM   #5
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I installed a QWork monitor on my new Axis and as creativepart notes it is a basic shunt based battery monitor.

I also agree with creativepart's assessment that the batteries are not being fully charged and "may" be bad. Or maybe your charger has something wrong with it. When you see a voltage of 12.79 V as noted above, how many amps does the QWork indicate are going to the battery. You have to shut off all external DC loads to do this.

If you see significant current, say 10+ amps that means that the batteries are bad and are loading the converter but not charging any more. If you see only a few amps that means that the batteries are close to being fully charged.

Once your converter drops its voltage below 13 volts and the current measured by the QWork is only a few amps, then you can reset the QWork to 100% and enter the battery bank's amp hour capacity. It should work fine after that.

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Old 11-02-2021, 10:34 AM   #6
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I just replaced the charger and it’s putting as much as 14 + amps with generated running. I also checked alternator with truck running not at same time of course. I completely disconnected batteries so no external load. Not sure what you mean if I see significant current 10 amps bat is bad . I’ll check bats Ian’s see how much they have dropped in voltage since yesterday. If significant drop, with no draw they won’t hold voltage and are probably bad. They are agm 105 ah each. Thanks
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Old 11-02-2021, 10:47 AM   #7
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If the batteries have been on a charger for a long time and are fully charged presumably, the converter should be only supplying a few amps, not the 14+ amps that you are seeing. That indicates to me that the batteries are bad. The charger is having to supply power that is being consumed by internal resistance of the batteries, not adding additional charge. Feel the batteries. They might be a bit warm which is a sure sign of bad batteries.

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Old 11-05-2021, 08:03 PM   #8
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Thanks everyone for all input. I’ve learned a lot over the last few weeks. I’ve checked the batteries now fully charged with a load tester. They tested good. Hooked up 100 watt solar panel temporarily and it worked fine. Also determined that the was no draw on the batteries when house was shut off as I originally thought. I’ll hook up solar perminately over the next few days(waiting fir parts ). Seems everything is aok working properly-at least for the near future. Thanks again for everyone input. Lots of expertise out there way beyond what I know. Banjo
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Old 11-07-2021, 05:17 PM   #9
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Although it was already mentioned, it is vital that you collect ALL of your negative leads to the "upstream" side of the shunt for your monitor to be accurate. If this turns out to be too many leads, you might need a heavy bus bar before the shunt. Anything which bypasses the shunt (connected directly to a battery) will not be picked up.
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Old 11-10-2021, 05:11 AM   #10
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Thanks I have twi negatives tied to batteries-nothing to the shunt other than main battery wire. The awning the neg to the solar panel. If the awning is not being used does it have any affect. Should the neg to the solar be tied to the shunt too. I’ll have to look at the instructions so I connect to the correct P- or B-. Thanks so many things to consider.
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Old 11-10-2021, 06:13 AM   #11
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If your solar (or anything else) doesn't go through the shunt, it will be ignored by the monitor, and the charge (or draw) will not be detected. The only negatives on the batteries should be the parallel cable and the short lead to the shunt. Sometimes this results in too many connectors to stack on the shunt, which is easily remedied by installing a bus bar or power post directly NEXT to the shunt with a very short cable to the shunt itself.
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Old 11-10-2021, 06:50 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MadMaxWinny View Post
If your solar (or anything else) doesn't go through the shunt, it will be ignored by the monitor, and the charge (or draw) will not be detected. The only negatives on the batteries should be the parallel cable and the short lead to the shunt. Sometimes this results in too many connectors to stack on the shunt, which is easily remedied by installing a bus bar or power post directly NEXT to the shunt with a very short cable to the shunt itself.
Absolutely correct ^ info.

All negative loads, every one, including the Battery Monitor’s load, must be on the load side of the shunt.

I use a bus bar and this way only one 4/0 cable goes from the shunt to the main negative battery post.
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Old 11-10-2021, 07:02 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MadMaxWinny View Post
If your solar (or anything else) doesn't go through the shunt, it will be ignored by the monitor, and the charge (or draw) will not be detected. The only negatives on the batteries should be the parallel cable and the short lead to the shunt. Sometimes this results in too many connectors to stack on the shunt, which is easily remedied by installing a bus bar or power post directly NEXT to the shunt with a very short cable to the shunt itself.
Just to be absolutely clear, the order should be Neg Battery Terminal > Shunt > Buss Bar > Chassis Ground or, alternatively, Neg Battery Terminal > Shunt > Chassis Ground > Buss Bar.

Even without a shunt, buss bars (both pos and neg) make for much neater and more reliable installations than stacking a lot of wires on a battery post.
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Old 11-10-2021, 08:19 AM   #14
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All loads on the bus bar, including chassis ground. The buss bar is then connected to the Load side of the shunt and then the battery side of the shut is connected to the battery.

My OEM battery setup had two main negative leads in a four battery parallel configuration. So, one main neg was connected mid-bank and went to the inverter. Plus, it had another main neg cable connected to the chassis ground from the usual negative end of the parallel chain. The Solar negative was smaller 10 ga and just piggy banked the main chassis lead.

So, I moved all three to a 4-post buss bar. Then I ran two 4/0 cables from the shunt to the battery bank - one to a mid-bank negative terminal and another to the end of the parallel neg terminal.

The positive is setup in a similar fashion so I wanted to stay with the same amount of cabling for both positive and negative. I don't know if it's necessary to do so, but I felt for better load balancing and charging it needed both neg cables from the battery side of the shunt to the battery bank.

Here's a photo of the buss bar
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Old 11-10-2021, 08:27 AM   #15
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Here's my OEM Wiring diagram that shows the multiple positive and negative cables to the parallel battery bank.
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