low power alarm, batteries???

[Num1son]

Good day everyone. I have been troubleshooting my setup for a few weeks with no luck. When I turn on the invertor I get a low power alarm right away that fades to nothing. I connected my volt amp meter and it reads 13.2v at the charge controller connection to the invertor, but as soon as I flip the switch the voltage goes down to 1.5v. I leave it alone for a while and the voltage climbs back up to 13.2. Flip the switch, alarm goes and voltage drops. THERE IS NOTHING CONNECTED TO THE INVERTOR. All the screens on the charge controller read correctly and the voltmeter confirms.

The voltmeter readings across all connections read within tolerance, but for the life of me I can't keep power going to my Invertor. I know the batteries I haven' aren't ideal but shouldn't they still be sufficient enough to power the invertor?

I have a 12v system for my garage that consists of the following

2 150 watt 12v panels wired in parallel
3 70ah datasafe 12hx300-fr 70ah batteries wired in parallel -used but still keep voltage (maybe they can't handle the draw from the invertor-yet nothing is connected to the invertor)
1 powmr 60a solar charge controler
1 erayak 1000watt dc to ac convertor



FYI I'm only going to use this system to power a few lights and a fan in my garage under 3amp draw.

Thank you all for your time and please advise on how to troubleshoot this issue. I don't just want to replace components until it works, rather I wish to learn how to troubleshoot.

[SunEagle]

Hello Num1son and welcome to Solar Panel Talk

It sounds like the inverter is either broken and causing a big draw on your battery system or your batteries can no longer handle any type of load.

I suggest you try to use another inverter and see if the issue persists.

Another suggestion is that more than 2 batteries wired in parallel can be an issue and has cause unequal charging/discharging which has kill off one of them.

[Num1son]

I started with 2 batteries to begin with and had the same issue. The only difference now is that the low power alarm lasts a second or 2 longer before it fades to nothing.

I can return the inverter no questions asked... If that yields the same result then I would have to go back on step and swap batteries to see if that was the issue. Does this seem like a logical step?

[SunEagle]

I started with 2 batteries to begin with and had the same issue. The only difference now is that the low power alarm lasts a second or 2 longer before it fades to nothing.

I can return the inverter no questions asked... If that yields the same result then I would have to go back on step and swap batteries to see if that was the issue. Does this seem like a logical step?

Before you swap out the inverter you might want to even try a 12v car battery connected to the inverter. At least you will know the battery is ok and not the inverter if you fail to get the alarm.

You might want to run the engine just in case the inverter is at fault. You don't want to drain you car battery.

[littleharbor]

[QUOTE=Num1son;n405745]. I connected my volt amp meter and it reads 13.2v at the charge controller connection to the invertor,
.




The charge controller connection to the inverter? Sounds like you have the inverter connected to the load terminals on the controller. The inverter needs to be connected to the battery. While I'm here I'll mention you need inverter cables at least as large as recommended by the inverter mfg. and proper sized fusing at the battery connection.