another solar power question

[NyeNorthpoint382FLRB]

I plugged my generator into the 5th wheel today and as soon as I closed the generator breaker the trailer was drawing 1400 watts. It did that for about 5 minutes then dropped down to 600 watts then after another couple of minutes 450 watts. The 5th wheel has been closed up with nothing turned on with just the solar panels charging the batteries. I thought the solar panels would keep the battery's charged, but it appears to me that the solar charger does not charge the batteries to the same voltage like the converter does hence the big load when hooked to the generator. On my old 5th wheel my batteries were always disconnected and only connected when I connected the generator and they would exhibit the same draw. We've had 3 days of full sunshine so I figured the batteries would be fully charged. The voltage on the BmPro was 3.8 the whole time. The refrigerator lights came on but the fridge was off, so I don't think that would be a big draw.

 

[craigav]

I believe this is what you observed. Most all chargers now are multi-staged, when a charger is first powered up it will start at the 1st stage which doesn't last very long when the batteries are already close or fully charged. This is what I suspect, the solar controller had already reached the point of the charge stages to be in the lower voltage "float" mode, the converter when first turned on went into the higher voltage 1st stage mode. Had your batteries been low, the converter would have stayed in the 1st stage a lot longer. (indicating the batteries were fully charged or very close) . ~CA