@mike - If you "jump" the dead battery (using some jumper cables) w/ a good (car) battery, Next install the "intelligent" battery maintainer....and THEN remove the jumper cables the maintainer will take over / continue to charge the depleted battery. I've done this several times w/ dead motorcycle batteries and tractor batteries....ive been able to recover them all.
You can also get the smart charger to work by being smarter than the charger or outsmarting it. You can use jumper cables from you car with the charger connected. Just a second or two will fool the charger into seeing a battery and start charging it.
The OP didn’t say what GPS tracker he’s using and the pic doesn’t clearly show the CCAs. The Everstart 1U has CCAs of 230 to 340 (don’t fix on this) divided by 7.5 gives 30 to 45 aH. Using the 50% discharge limit you’re left with 15 to 22 usable aHs.
Am I doing this right?
So how much energy does a HPS tracker use whether it updates every 5 or 30 minutes? Is there anything else that would draw down the battery? Was the battery proper maintained. Did the OP underestimate his battery need?
A small solar panel battery recharger is an excellent suggestion. There is a GPS tracker with its own solar panel built in and it’s test it’s battery will last a year. If. True it would certainly cover the “no sunshine days” days.
BTW, at least for me, the Amazon link to the solar kit did not work.
Next, I’m not sure how many Ah a GPS tracker would use, but I can’t imagine it would be more than a few Ah per day. However, I’ll do a little research to be sure.
And yes I’m guessing that little battery would be around 35 to 50 Ah, so it should be able to power that GPS tracker for a week or more, assuming my current usage guess is correct.
But if there’s any other current draw happening in the RV (CO/Smoke detectors, etc…) then it could be drained flat in a few days.
@mike - If you "jump" the dead battery (using some jumper cables) w/ a good (car) battery, Next install the "intelligent" battery maintainer....and THEN remove the jumper cables the maintainer will take over / continue to charge the depleted battery. I've done this several times w/ dead motorcycle batteries and tractor batteries....ive been able to recover them all.
You can also get the smart charger to work by being smarter than the charger or outsmarting it. You can use jumper cables from you car with the charger connected. Just a second or two will fool the charger into seeing a battery and start charging it.
I’ve also heard you can use a standard 9-volt battery to jump start a smart charger, but I’ve never tried it. Seems plausible though…
The OP didn’t say what GPS tracker he’s using and the pic doesn’t clearly show the CCAs. The Everstart 1U has CCAs of 230 to 340 (don’t fix on this) divided by 7.5 gives 30 to 45 aH. Using the 50% discharge limit you’re left with 15 to 22 usable aHs.
Am I doing this right?
So how much energy does a HPS tracker use whether it updates every 5 or 30 minutes? Is there anything else that would draw down the battery? Was the battery proper maintained. Did the OP underestimate his battery need?
A small solar panel battery recharger is an excellent suggestion. There is a GPS tracker with its own solar panel built in and it’s test it’s battery will last a year. If. True it would certainly cover the “no sunshine days” days.
BTW, at least for me, the Amazon link to the solar kit did not work.
First off, I made a mistake on the Amazon link but it should work now.
If not, try this: https://a.co/d/acm6jUR
Next, I’m not sure how many Ah a GPS tracker would use, but I can’t imagine it would be more than a few Ah per day. However, I’ll do a little research to be sure.
And yes I’m guessing that little battery would be around 35 to 50 Ah, so it should be able to power that GPS tracker for a week or more, assuming my current usage guess is correct.
But if there’s any other current draw happening in the RV (CO/Smoke detectors, etc…) then it could be drained flat in a few days.
How about using an Apple AirTag instead f a GPS tracker? No need for an external battery.
Can that Voltset charger be used for two 6 volt batteries that are in series?