Fished LOZ out of Gravois Mills.

It was tough trolling Bandits. Right off the bat I lost a 14"+ crappie right at the boat, then the catfish started, followed by the bass and the obligatory drum. All together I caught 1 crappie, 6 catfish, 8 bass (from 4" to 11") and 3 drum.

Now I have a question... I have a 1,000 watt inverter hooked to a brand new full charged, Group 24, 12V, 600 CCA battery. I am using it to run a box fan that is rated at 120 volts 0.8A. The first time I used it, it ran the fan fine for almost 3 hours and no problem. This morning After about 2 1/2 hours the fan quit. I turned the fan off and checked all the fuses and couldn't find the problem. After about 30 minutes there was a break and I checked the connections and turned the fan back on and it worked for about 20 minutes and quit again. I figured low voltage was the problem. But when I got home, I checked the battery and the OCV was still 12.1. Now I'm thinking the fan is the problem. It is probably over 10 years old but has never been used very much. I hate to buy a new fan if that's not the problem. Any suggestions??

Load test battery first.

As I understand it, A 12 volt battery fully charged will read about 12.9 volts. A dead battery will read about 12.0 volts, typically. So I'd say your battery is dead.

There may be a thermo cut out in the inverter that shuts it down if it gets too hot then will let it work when it cools off. Did the inverter feel hot?

What does your voltage drop to when the fan is turned on ?

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Originally Posted by Back Water

As I understand it, A 12 volt battery fully charged will read about 12.9 volts. A dead battery will read about 12.0 volts, typically. So I'd say your battery is dead.

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That's wrong. 12.6V is a fully charged battery. Each cell should produce 2.1V. 6 cells times 2.1V= 12.6.V A 11.4 OCV battery will start your car. A battery with 10.0 to 11.0V may indicate a dead cell. A 12V battery with 6.5V is discharged but may still be a good battery. A recently charged battery may read 12.6V + and still be bad. Left to sit 24 hours, it may read 10.2... a dead cell.

My problem isn't with the battery it is either the inverter or the fan.

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Originally Posted by ripnlips

Load test battery first.

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Checks OK. Put 300 amp (tungsten ribbon) load on for 30 seconds. The battery still showed 12.1V.

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Originally Posted by N2Crappie

There may be a thermo cut out in the inverter that shuts it down if it gets too hot then will let it work when it cools off. Did the inverter feel hot?

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Good idea. I checked it but nothing was hot, no smell, and all the 40 amp breakers were good. (also checked the connections, and lead wires.).

Inverter shut itself off. When it gets to low of a voltage it shut down so as to not deplete the battery. W.A.G.

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Inverter shut itself off. When it gets to low of a voltage it shut down so as to not deplete the battery. W.A.G.

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I took the fan indoors and plugged it into 110V. Surprise, surprise... it ran about 15 minutes and quit. This time being indoors you could smell the motor getting hot. New fan for the next trip. Thanks for the help. I am pretty familiar with batteries (worked for a battery manufacturer from 1992 to 2006) but 110V A/C, inverters, and watts, stumps me from the start. Each cell on a lead acid battery produces 2.1V and there are 6 cells on a 12V battery... 12.6 is its nominal charge. It can go above that but that is temporary. let it sit for 24 hours and it'll go back to 12.6 on a good battery. A trolling motor will slow but continue running until the voltage gets down to 5.6 + or-. Of course the inverter in this case could be quitting at an unknown voltage maybe 12.1.V.? I'll let you know what happens with the new fan.