House battery not holding charge

[soohma]

I charged my house battery over night and it showed it was fully charged. I checked it the next afternoon and it showed only two lights on - in other words, is was nearly exhausted.

Does this mean I need a new battery? We're leaving Wednesday morning, so probably not possible here, but since we'll be camping using the house battery, this is rather crucial.

[markopolo]

If everything was off (no power usage) during that time then yes the battery could be due for replacement. Charging it overnight was a smart thing to do

I posted some info about KiB monitor panel lights here: http://www.classbforum.com/forums/f5...ghts-2295.html

You could confirm that it needs replacing by applying a small load for a short time. If the voltage, as indicated by the lights, drops off dramatically and doesn't recover after the load is removed that would indicate it's time to replace the battery(ies).

Here are my load test results (two tests) on a two battery or two battery equivalent system: http://www.classbforum.com/forums/f8...html#post27559

A nearly 6 amp load for an hour had minimal impact on the system capacity/voltage. That confirmed my batteries were good.

[Bruceper]

Another thing you can do is to to a battery shop or auto parts store and ask them to load test the battery.