Turns out it was a bad solar panel that had a short in the module

> On Jun 30, 2018, at 11:58, <[email protected]> <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> A spool of 14, 12 or 10 gauge wire makes a pretty good load.
> You want some decent current for a load test.
> 
> 100 feet of 12 gauge would give you 12/1.5=8 amps.
> Very nice current for load testing a battery.
> 
> It will throw off 96 watts so it will get a bit warm.
> But you don't need it on for more than perhaps 10 seconds.
> 
> For long term testing I have put coils of copper wire in buckets of water.
> 
> -----Original Message----- From: [email protected]
> Sent: Saturday, June 30, 2018 9:38 AM
> To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group
> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Fun with a solar site
> 
> I agree, or put a load on each one by itself and see if one drops to a lower
> voltage quicker.
> Load testing is one of the best test methods.
> 
> -----Original Message----- From: Robert
> Sent: Friday, June 29, 2018 10:34 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Fun with a solar site
> 
> Probably because none have had a chance to charge up to a higher
> voltage..   You would have to put each battery on a charger separately...
> 
>> On 6/29/18 7:25 PM, Matt Hoppes wrote:
>> I do you have a fuse on each battery which I found interesting and now I’m 
>> sort of wondering if that isn’t the case they all share the same voltage 
>> I’ve even had them disconnected since about noon today and none show drained 
>> more than another one.
>> 
>>> On Jun 29, 2018, at 21:54, Chuck McCown <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> 
>>> You can avoid this in the future if you have a fuse on each battery.
>>> (This only works with parallel arrays, not series arrays).
>>> 
>>> When a cell shorts, that battery will have much higher current until all 
>>> the other batts discharge into it down to the new voltage.  Just make the 
>>> fuse higher by a little bit than the max charging current.
>>> 
>>> -----Original Message----- From: Matt Hoppes
>>> Sent: Friday, June 29, 2018 7:46 PM
>>> To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group
>>> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Fun with a solar site
>>> 
>>> OK that’s what I was wondering. thanks Chuck, a wealth of information as 
>>> always.
>>> 
>>>> On Jun 29, 2018, at 21:38, Chuck McCown <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Disconnect one terminal of the battery and measure the voltage.  The 
>>>> battery with the shorted cell will have a lower voltage.
>>>> 
>>>> Or, during charging, just put your hand on the batts.  The shorted cell 
>>>> bat will run warmer.
>>>> 
>>>> -----Original Message----- From: Matt Hoppes
>>>> Sent: Friday, June 29, 2018 7:30 PM
>>>> To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group
>>>> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Fun with a solar site
>>>> 
>>>> He’s very reasonable way other than trial and error to determine which 
>>>> battery has the shorted cell in it?
>>>> 
>>>>> On Jun 29, 2018, at 21:21, Chuck McCown <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> Any time you have cells or batts in parallel and one of the cells shorts, 
>>>>> the whole system drops 2 volts.  (if lead acid chemistry).
>>>>> 
>>>>> -----Original Message----- From: Matt Hoppes
>>>>> Sent: Friday, June 29, 2018 6:45 PM
>>>>> To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group
>>>>> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Fun with a solar site
>>>>> 
>>>>> Robert, that was my first thought as well but why would connecting 
>>>>> additional batteries suddenly drop the overall voltage? Do you think that 
>>>>> is just the cells can’t put out enough to charge everything so the 
>>>>> overall output voltage goes down?
>>>>> 
>>>>>> On Jun 29, 2018, at 20:38, Robert <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> hosed cell(s)
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> On 6/29/18 5:12 PM, Matt Hoppes wrote:
>>>>>>> I’m currently about halfway through troubleshooting a solar site and 
>>>>>>> had to quit for the day.
>>>>>>> I have a site with five 100 amp hour batteries. It is a 12 V site and I 
>>>>>>> have three of the batteries on to wire leads going to the charge 
>>>>>>> controller and two of the batteries on a wire lead going to the charge 
>>>>>>> controller.
>>>>>>> I have been seeing something weird for the past three months where 
>>>>>>> during the day on a sunny day we never hit and plateau at about 12.5 
>>>>>>> 12.7 V like we used to.
>>>>>>> Instead it will get up to about 12.2 or 12.3 and then do this weird saw 
>>>>>>> tooth pattern. Today when I was at the site I disconnected the 
>>>>>>> secondary battery group of three batteries and things went up to 12.5 V 
>>>>>>> and plateaued.
>>>>>>> When I reconnected the three batteries it went down to 12.2 and started 
>>>>>>> doing the weird saw tooth pattern.
>>>>>>> What do those of you who have worked with solar before think? Might 
>>>>>>> this indicate a bad cell or battery? Or some kind of an issue with not 
>>>>>>> enough voltage or amps being pushed into the battery strings? Or 
>>>>>>> something else?
>>>>>>> I should also mention that normally this site is able to maintain 
>>>>>>> itself, but in its current state it maintains a very steady decay until 
>>>>>>> the batteries are finally drained and I’ve had to boost it once with a 
>>>>>>> charger.
>>>>>> 
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