[Al Skierkiewicz]

Spee,
I first suspect the multimeter you are using of having a defect. Even fresh off a charger the battery would never read 17 volts. Unless you are charging it with a high current charger, i.e.well above the specified 6 amps. If you are charging it with a high current charger, you have likely killed the battery. While that could explain your stated issue, I suspect more likely you have some high resistance connections. Check that the hardware on your battery terminals is tight and that the terminals on the main breaker and PD power in are also tight. Not finger tight, TIGHT!. Are you using appropriate sized breakers in the PD? Running CIMs on 20 amp breakers will also cause a similar reaction. The breakers are temperature operated devices. When they trip (and 20 on CIMs will trip) they get hotter. The more they trip, the hotter they get and the more they trip. The 24 volt power for the Crio is a special regulator that will continue to output 24 volts until the battery voltage falls to about 4.5 volts. That is not a good indication that the battery is OK but it surely indicates that battery is above 5 volts.

BTW, it is normal for the voltage on the Driver's Station to bounce around. The output of the battery never stays at 12 volts while driving.