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Old September 10th 03, 04:07 PM
Eric Greenwell
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In article _6F7b.306778$Oz4.99624@rwcrnsc54,
says...
Or one of the cells in the main battery got damaged from
being dropped. Or you have defective wiring. Or you get
significant drops from diodes that people like to sprinkle into
multi-battery systems. Or one of your many switches has
bad contacts. Or you've got a slow-blow fuse with excessive
resistance. These are just a few of the possibilities. There
is absolutely no substitute for measuring the voltage, and then
studying the specs in your manual.


Dave is right. It is amazing how a seemingly properly wired panel can
drop 0.1 volt here, 0.1 volt there, and pretty soon you are talking
about significant drops. Fuses, push-on connectors, switches, wires,
crimp connections, everything takes it's toll, and it's all
exacerbated when transmitting.

If you do discover an excessive drop, start chasing it down, a wire
and connection at a time. It might be necessary to replace the battery
if the drop is there, or replace/remove/revise unneeded connections,
fuses, etc. If you are diligent enough, you might eliminate enough of
the drops to retain a 12 volt system. I'm not a fan of 14 volt
systems, but I've used them, and they can increase your margins.
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Eric Greenwell
Richland, WA (USA)