Male seeking Advice - Electrical Wattage Loss Issues and Potential Solutions

Hey Guys,

I am having issues with charging my Biolite Base 1500 from my lead-acid AGM batteries. I am currently only seeing 13watt of input at the current state.

Questions:
Which solution would provide the true 120w of input to my Biolite Base 1500?

Troubleshooting:
1. When I plug the Biolite Base 1500 into my T4R's 400w inverter using the provided Biolite DC adapter, I get 120w of input.
2. When I plug the Biolite Base 1500 into my 200w Jackery box using the Biolite 12v cigarette plug adapter, I get 120w of input.

Current State:
Uses the same Biolite 12v cigarette plug adapter > a Noco 12v adapter > blue sea fuse block > bus > lead-acid battery



Potential Solutions:

 

Voltage drop occurs over distance, which is why larger gauge wiring is needed for longer runs…

With this info, you may want to include the lengths of your sections of wiring.

 

As @JasonLee said, length of each of those wires would be helpful.

I'd start by taking that noco 12v outlet and wiring it straight to your battery and see how it does.

When I ran 12v Power from my Starting battery back to my AT Habitat I used the below with crimped on terminals.

$41 ABN Jumper Cables, 25ft Long, 2-Gauge, 600 AMP – Commercial Automotive Vehicle Booster Cables – Motorcycle Car ATV

Amazon.com: ABN Jumper Cables, 25ft Long, 2-Gauge, 600 AMP – Commercial Automotive Vehicle Booster Cables – Motorcycle Car ATV : Automotive

 

appreciate the responses! The length of wire is less than 10ft. I understand distance creates voltage drop but when I tested with the jackery and the biolite 12v charger adapter, this was 6ft in length and i got 120watts input so this tells me that length isnt the reason for the 120 to 13 watt drop.

I feel i need to test the amps at the below locations separately:
1. Noco cig lighter
2. Blue sea fuse block
3. Bus bar

 

You don’t have enough voltage difference to warrant the 120w draw or charge to the bio lite battery, would be my first guess knowing nothing about that battery. You might want to look at a DC to DC charger or pull off of your alternator.

First glance opinion only.

 

Couple questions about where to put the DC to DC charger in the system:

Can i put the DC to DC charger between the blue sea fuse block and the Noco 12v female plug?

or

should i the DC to DC charger between the blue sea fuse block then directly to the biolite via the Anderson connection?

 

You just need a boost dcdc between the fuse block and solar input. The dcdc will have a max output power say of 150w or 200w so current will be limited to less than your 20a, especially the higher the output set voltage, the lower the current. I would just set the output voltage close to limit of solar input. Put the dcdc close to fuse block which should be close to battery. That way your higher voltage run has less voltage drop because it has less current.

 

Have you plugged the biolite into your cab cigarette lighter yet? Test this with truck running and also with just in the accessory power mode if you haven't already. I wouldn't spend the money on a DC DC charger yet.

 

DC to DC chargers I though were supposed to be as close as possible to the battery you are trying to charge, that way the DC output settings are as close as possible to what your battery requires. If you up the voltage 20 feet from your aux battery, there will be voltage drop over that distance. You'd need to set the DC charging voltage even higher to make up for it. Whereas whatever voltage reaches the DC to DC charger can be boosted to exactly the voltage your aux battery wants, at the battery.

I'll add in this case you are probably right since you could crank up the voltage since the solar generator can accept much higher voltage than a standard battery.

 

Yeah, that works just fine.

 

So between the fuse block and the biolite?

 

Dumb question. How full is the biolite now? Over in the scout forum we had people not realizing their GZ was close to full, so it ramps down the input. Just want to be sure it's not simple like that. Seems weird that your jackery would charge off your Noco plug but not the biolite.

 

20%. The biolite is not limiting input. The input is being limited by something between the fuse block and the battery.
The biolite charged from the jackery from the biolite 12v cig male side. Which made it clear that the issue is between the noco 12v cig female side and the lead-acid batteries.

 

Here is a stupid question, have you checked all your connections and rung out your fuses? It shouldnt be any different from your cig lighter. Your fuse might be half blown or have a high resistance connection undervoltaging it.

 

You are thinking if you dont run separate POR (point of regulation) lines and want really tight voltage regulation at the load. In this case you dont care because solar input volt varies drastically.

 

My .02,
Your wiring should all be the same gauge from start to finish, not 8, 10, 14 gauge. That is your resistance.

If it charges fine from the cig lighter in the truck, I'd run direct to battery with an inline fuse.
Or if you want it switched, then run direct to battery thru a fuse and high amp relay switched from the truck ignition. Put the fuse between the battery and relay.

 

there is no solar in this system.. the biolite uses an anderson connector for its input connection, that is common with solar. thats the only reason i mentioned that

 

I hear what you are saying. However, 14 gauge is capable of pushing 120watts (10amp @ 12v) with no issue. I have already tested bypassing the distribution block and running the main power wire of the blue sea fuse block directly to the battery. After doing this, I saw no gains of input wattage to the biolite.

 

In your case, he was just talking about the fact your Biolite's solar input can take a wide enough variety of voltages that it didn't matter how perfect the voltage was from the DC-DC charger. There's obviously no solar, but the DC-DC would be plugged into the solar input.

 

Have you checked your Ground? I don't know where your Fuse Block is mounted, but I grounded mine to the frame in the fender well. Only the positive did I run all the way to my battery. I could see a grounding issue messing you up...

But... another question... Did you try charging your jackery off the 12v noco?