Not sure if I am getting the correct battery voltage state,
Any reason why I would have 12.8v starting power running
running the Tv and satelite for an hour
Then it dropped to 11.9v
Turned it off and the voltmeter has gone up to 12.4v , surely my battery wouldnt charge in the dark, is my tester wired properly?
The only way to find out is to test the battery with a multi-meter at intervals and see if the reading is identical to that of the battery condition gauge or not. It probably is reading right as the voltage can sometimes fluctuate especially after appliances have been switched off as the battery seems to regenerate a little energy.
Just woke up and it's back to 12.9, I have a 140w solar panel,didn't think it would charge that quick, yeah suppose I'll have to buy a handheld and check.
Your battery does not look healthy though as a level of 11.9 is a total discharge. To drop from 12.8 which is fully charged to totally discharged in 1 hour is indicative of a battery on it's last legs.
Agree with Mike!
Your battery may be on it's last legs!
Also may be helpful to temp. disconnect your solar panel from battery to simplify testing.
Further notes: If I run TV and lights etc for 1 hour on our 100Ah aux battery it wouldn't drop more than say 0.2 volts in 1 hour. (Also not good to let aux battery drop below say 12.2 volts anyway for a long life.)
------------- The older I get the better I used to be.