My wife always tells me that the more "wrong" I am about something, the louder I talk, as if the volume of my voice will convince her even though I KNOW I'm wrong. And she is right. We laugh about it all the time. So it is with the people spouting misinformation. They try to roll over us with the volume and the quantity. I would rather listen to the quality of the words.
I couldn't sleep this morning so as I made the wife coffee, I was pondering the 3BGS and thought I would share something. I have repeated the story many times of how, when my original device "came to life" after 15 minutes, I immediately put a meter on battery three. What I saw was that it would read 24 volts, go slowly down to 18 IN JUST A MATTER OF MINUTES, at which point the motor would start, and it would continue to run as the voltage continued to drop down to around 8 or 9 volts, at which point the motor would shut off. The voltage would immediately jump to 24 volts and the process would repeat over and over. I have said before that I thought this meter was reading not the voltage IN battery 3, but because of the way the setup is wired, it was reading the POTENTIAL DIFFERENCE between battery 3 and the two primaries wired in series.
Think about that for a moment. When the meter is reading 24 volts, it means battery 3 is basically DEAD. Within minutes the meter drops to 18 volts, which means there is about 6 volts in battery 3, and this is enough to complete the circuit and provide the power for the motor to run so it starts up. The voltage in battery 3 continues to climb which makes the reading on the meter go down, and when it gets to 8 or 9 volts, the POTENTIAL DIFFERENCE has now dropped to 6 volts, which is not enough to run the motor and it shuts off. The voltage immediately jumps to 24 volts, and the cycle repeats.
What does this tell us about battery 3 if my theory is correct?
1. First, the original battery 3 would NOT hold a charge.
2. The system is capable of putting a FULL charge into the battery in a matter of minutes. I have only told a few folks the following story because it sounds too unbelievable, but I took this setup (when it was working perfectly) out to my dad's house. He is off the grid on a solar system and has a huge battery bank. That battery bank was way down when I arrived early in the morning, and we hooked in the 3BGS battery 3 in parallel with his battery bank. It charged his entire bank in a matter of minutes, something that would have taken HOURS to do with his solar setup.
3. The minute the motor quit, the voltage on battery 3 dropped like a rock. Or the meter would not immediately have read 24 volts again.
4. The battery obviously TOOK a charge, because that potential difference dropped to 18 and then down to 8 or 9 volts. (Which would mean battery 3 was at a charge of 14 or 15 volts, if my theory is correct.)
I think this gives us important information about what battery 3 needs to be capable of doing in order for us to find a substitute for it. Unfortunately, I agree with Duncan, that finding a perfect battery three is a matter of luck. We could try forever, and then when you get one, the system will fix it.
Dave
I couldn't sleep this morning so as I made the wife coffee, I was pondering the 3BGS and thought I would share something. I have repeated the story many times of how, when my original device "came to life" after 15 minutes, I immediately put a meter on battery three. What I saw was that it would read 24 volts, go slowly down to 18 IN JUST A MATTER OF MINUTES, at which point the motor would start, and it would continue to run as the voltage continued to drop down to around 8 or 9 volts, at which point the motor would shut off. The voltage would immediately jump to 24 volts and the process would repeat over and over. I have said before that I thought this meter was reading not the voltage IN battery 3, but because of the way the setup is wired, it was reading the POTENTIAL DIFFERENCE between battery 3 and the two primaries wired in series.
Think about that for a moment. When the meter is reading 24 volts, it means battery 3 is basically DEAD. Within minutes the meter drops to 18 volts, which means there is about 6 volts in battery 3, and this is enough to complete the circuit and provide the power for the motor to run so it starts up. The voltage in battery 3 continues to climb which makes the reading on the meter go down, and when it gets to 8 or 9 volts, the POTENTIAL DIFFERENCE has now dropped to 6 volts, which is not enough to run the motor and it shuts off. The voltage immediately jumps to 24 volts, and the cycle repeats.
What does this tell us about battery 3 if my theory is correct?
1. First, the original battery 3 would NOT hold a charge.
2. The system is capable of putting a FULL charge into the battery in a matter of minutes. I have only told a few folks the following story because it sounds too unbelievable, but I took this setup (when it was working perfectly) out to my dad's house. He is off the grid on a solar system and has a huge battery bank. That battery bank was way down when I arrived early in the morning, and we hooked in the 3BGS battery 3 in parallel with his battery bank. It charged his entire bank in a matter of minutes, something that would have taken HOURS to do with his solar setup.
3. The minute the motor quit, the voltage on battery 3 dropped like a rock. Or the meter would not immediately have read 24 volts again.
4. The battery obviously TOOK a charge, because that potential difference dropped to 18 and then down to 8 or 9 volts. (Which would mean battery 3 was at a charge of 14 or 15 volts, if my theory is correct.)
I think this gives us important information about what battery 3 needs to be capable of doing in order for us to find a substitute for it. Unfortunately, I agree with Duncan, that finding a perfect battery three is a matter of luck. We could try forever, and then when you get one, the system will fix it.
Dave
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