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Chasis Battery

Yahoo Message Number: 55563
I purchased all new batteries in my 2004 Inspire in December,2008. We just took a short trip down to Lazy Days Resort park close to Tampa, FL last week. When we started to leave from the storage place the chasis battery had to be boosted by the house batteries to get it started. I have been running both the engine and the generator at least once a month for at least 30 minutes to keep the batteries charged. I figured that it would charge while we traveled the 4 hour trip down there. The day before we to returned home (Firday) I found the battery was run down again. Since I had purchased these batteries at Camping World I took it over to them to fix. They said it was just lose clamps on the terminals. It was run down the next morning again. Can anyone tell me if the Chasis Battery charges while on shore power or only while the engine is running and charges on the Alternator.

Bob Vannoy 2004 Inspire No. 15015

Re: Chasis Battery

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 55564
Bob,
The inverter/charger charges the house batteries. When the house batteries are topped off, the echo charger takes over and the chassis battery gets charged.
I am presently having problems with my chassis battery not charging but in the past I did find a problem that I was able to fix. In the battery compartment on the forward bulkhead next to the chassis is a bundle of wires all connected with a wire tie. You might need to open that tie to get to two wires, one is red and the other is red with a black stripe. Each of these wire hase am inline fuse holder with a 20 amp, slo-blow fuse in it. If one of these is blown, the battery will not charge.
As mentioned, this fixed my problem last time but this time I am still looking for a fix.

Hope yours is the easy one.

George

'04 Inspire 51061

PS-I think you have your coach number mixed up.

Re: Chasis Battery

Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 55567
Greetings Bob

I also had battery problems long ago. Found out my coach did not have an Echo Charger and I had to use the boost switch a lot, so I called CC and support guys told me a few of the early Inspires ( mine being 51012) did not have an Echo, so my question to you is, does your coach have an Echo charger installed? CC sent me one after winning an argument that the Owners manual said I had one, but did not, anyway your coach being 3 numbers away from mine,I thought I'd pass that along. They are a snap to install if you need one.

Regards
Jerry

2004 Inspire 51012

Re: Chasis Battery

Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 55568
Hey Jerry,

That is interesting, my 04 Inspire is number 51010 (two before yours) and it does have the Echo Charger and I believe it was installed by Country Coach. I guess they were not very consistent in their policies.

Walt_/)

2004 Inspire 51010

Re: Chasis Battery

Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 55598
Dear George and Jerry,

I thank each of you gentlemen for getting back to me so quickly. George I will certainly check those inline fuses first. Then a question for Jerry, where would I look for the Echo Charger? I haven't seen anything that would make be believe that it has one installed. I can only see the inverter/charger in the rear bay. If I don't have one on my coach do you have any ideas where I could pick one up?
George you are right, I did transpose the 1 and the 5 in my coach number. It is 51015. Thanks.

Bob Vannoy 2004 Inspire No. 51015.

Re: Chasis Battery

Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 55601

Open the chassis battery bay, look in the upper right corner - that's where ours is. It is a small black box about 3x4 inches.

Bob (rthandren@...)
'05 Inspire 51178

Re: Chasis Battery

Reply #6 –
Yahoo Message Number: 55605
Hi Bob

If you have one it will be in the battery box upper rear left hand corner, If you dont find one I'll get you the ordering info.I have a friend with another brand that installed one.
Jerry

2004 Inspire 51012

Re: Chasis Battery

Reply #7 –
Yahoo Message Number: 55616
Bob/Jerry,
My echo charger is in the battery compartment on the forward bulkhead, top and rear.

If you have one you should see a small green light.

George

'04 Inspire 51061

Re: Chasis Battery

Reply #8 –
Yahoo Message Number: 55628
I have an Echo charger and it works just fine. How did the manufacturer expect the starting battery to be charged if the coach does not have and Echo charger? Alternator? Shore power? Jack Nichols, 2003 Intrigue.

Chasis Battery

Reply #9 –
Yahoo Message Number: 68507
I've read through all the old posts but didn't see this answered so I thought I'd ask. 2002 Allure is what I have. It has been in our storage unit plugged into 30 amp power since Christmas. Everything works and runs great with the exception that to start the RV I had to use the battery boost up in the drivers area. This seems odd as it was plugged in. I've only had this coach for 6 months and this was the longest it's been in storage as we use it quite often for day trips with the family. I'm sure it's something simple but please advise.

Tom

2002 Allure 40'

Re: Chasis Battery

Reply #10 –
Yahoo Message Number: 68508
Need to test the battery, several ways to do so. Use volt meter and check the battery voltage setting unplugged. Should be around 12.3 or so, under 12 is a bad battery. Can use a good volt meter and check the voltage of each cell by sticking the leads in the water of each cell with it set at 3 volts or less. Can use a hydrometer to check each cell. Suspect you have a bad cell. Can also watch the battery voltage reading at the terminals, as it it started. Suspect the battery voltage will drop to less then 11 volts, bad battery if it does. Or take it to a battery shop and have them test it.

Leonard

97' Magna 5418

Re: Chasis Battery

Reply #11 –
Yahoo Message Number: 68540
Check to see for sure you have the Echo charger. If not, then I don't think you will get the Chassis battery charged while plugged in. Looking at the other emails that pop-up under this thread from 2010, check the inline fuse. (Perhaps test with a multi meter, if you have power going to the chassis battery while plugged in. If so, then check the cables well, and look for bad battery cells, etc. If not, then work upstream to the Echo, looking at connections and fuses...)

Best of luck,
Smitty
04 Allure Sold to a nice new owner! Now enjoying a 07 Magna Rembrandt 45' ISX600 #6775
"We're ONDROAD for THEJRNY!" (Toad and Coach license plates, say Hi if you see us!)

Re: Chasis Battery

Reply #12 –
Yahoo Message Number: 68554
Tom,

Your 2002 Allure should have a factory installed echo charger located in the enclosed compartment above the batteries.
I had the same symptom you are seeing. In my case the problem was the result of the echo charger leads being wired 'backwards'; i.e., the red wires running to the house and starting battery banks were reversed. Since both leads have inline fuses you may be able to solve the problem by just swapping the leads at the fuse connectors.
If this isn't the cause of your problem, just search the archives for 'echo charger' and you should find a multitude of other suggestions.
--

Tom Harsch 2002 Allure #30971

Re: Chasis Battery

Reply #13 –
Yahoo Message Number: 68559
If you don't have the cho charger or it won't work even after everything else is tried, you may want to spend the money on the Magnum equivalent.
When our Echo charger failed, we replaced it with the Magnum and it provides more feedback than the Echo as well as more options. If you'd like more information, you can check the following on my blog:
http://rvschooner.com/post/Xantrex-Digital-Echo-Charger-Failed.aspx
and

http://rvschooner.com/post/Magnum-Secondary-Battery-Charger-Learned-something-today.aspx

Re: Chasis Battery

Reply #14 –
Yahoo Message Number: 68564
Yet another incident of a chassis battery not charging while coach stored on shore power with the house battery bank being kept in a satisfactory state of charge by the inverter/charger. From the information supplied it would appear this coach is of a vintage that does have an echo charger and that, presumably, it worked OK at one time which would imply it was installed properly. The owner does not appear to know where the echo charger is. It's located in the inverter compartment in the upper part of the battery compartment and has a small access panel which needs to be removed to see the echo charger and whether its green activity light is on, blinking or red. To get at the two fuses you have to remove the whole panel that the access panel is mounted on - a PIA but not really too hard for you young guys. The fuse holders are opened by pulling straight apart - no twisting or pushing necessary but they are hard to open. If the green light was on then the fuse in the supply line (solid red) is OK. The output line is striped white or yellow/ red. and they are attached to their respective battery banks at the terminals of the battery boost solenoid.
Before doing that check the voltage across both the house and chassis batteries - this is with the coach plugged in and the inverter/charger charging probably at the float mode which means the house battery bank should indicate about 13.7 VDC. You are actually measuring the voltage put out by the inverter/charger If the echo charger is working and the chassis battery is within 10 VDC of the house bank the measurement across the chassis battery should be about .5 VDC less than that of the house bank (about 13.3). If the echo charger is not working the measurement will be whatever the true level of the chassis battery is. If you've been recently driving and the alternator was working OK the chassis battery may read 12.67 or something like that. This does not mean that the echo charger is working only that the house battery at the moment is in a satisfactory state of charge. If the echo charger is not working the voltage on the chassis battery will gradually drop but you will need to check it daily for awhile to detect it. If you run a battery minder type of charger to keep the chassis battery up whatever reading you get on the chassis battery is what this second charger is keeping the chassis battery at and gives you no clue on whether the echo charger may be functional or not.
The Xantrex manual for the echo charger is not helpful for the owner trying to determine if the echo charger is working. If you drive your coach regularly and the alternator is OK you can go a long time with relatively short periods of storage just fine with a non functioning echo charger. On shore power with good batteries the voltage readings on the chassis battery should be about .5 VDC less than the house bank and stabilize there with the house bank being charged at whatever the float rate the inverter/charger is set for probably about 13.7 VDC.

Jim M

'02 Intrigue #11410 ISL 400

Re: Chasis Battery

Reply #15 –
Yahoo Message Number: 68583
With regard to the suggestion that our "echo chargers" originally made by Heart and currently by Xantrex be replaced by a Magnum equivalent. Magnum calls their product a "battery combiner" and from the brochure and owners manual it appears to be about the same size as our echo chargers although it has more settable options and plug in connector boards which may be easier to work with than the way the Xantrex units are designed. They also have the capability of controlling a solenoid to connect the batteries like our "battery boost" solenoid does when activated by an oil pressure switch when the engine is running or the "battery boost" switch when used to build up a charge in a low chassis battery before starting.. The default set points are essentially the same as those on the Xantrex echo chargers. Their cost is about the same as the echo chargers but it appears significantly easier to replace your defective echo charger than it is to substitute the Magnum unit since to swap echo chargers one simply needs to separate the quick disconnects on the current unit and plug in the matching disconnects from the new one using the presently installed wires, fuses (if good) and connections to the battery terminals on either side of the boost solenoid. as near as I can tell from the Magnum brochure you need to supply your own hookup wires, connectors and fuse holders/fuses. They are not part of the kit. You might be able to use the wires already in place for the echo charger but the Magnum battery combiner is rated at 25 Amps (echo charger at 15A) and uses a 30 A fuse as I recall and may require slightly heavier wire. The only difference that I can see from the brochure when the Magnum device is used in its basic mode without using the solenoid control feature or remote sensing is that the Magnum device allows current to flow in either direction once the set points have been satisfied. The echo charger is a regulated isolator that only allows flow from the house bank to the chassis battery. As a practical matter I'm sure either will do the job.
Incidentally, If you do use your battery boost switch when the chassis battery won't start the engine I suggest you check on its proper use as described in the owners manual before using it. I don't think it's (the solenoid contacts) designed to be held down activating the solenoid and connecting the battery banks while cranking a hard to start engine. I think it's rated at 200 A and continuous connection but not necessarily capable of handling the current surge associated with starting.

Jim M

'02 Intrigue #11410 ISL 400

Re: Chasis Battery

Reply #16 –
Yahoo Message Number: 68587
Ref the Magnum, you do replace the wires & fuse holders but only because it is capable of a larger charge amperage being applied than the Echo charger.
We had a mobile tech replace ours and it took them less than 20 minutes including replacing the wires & fuses...and this was the first time they used the Magnum box so they had to review the diagrams first.
 

Re: Chasis Battery

Reply #17 –
Yahoo Message Number: 68647
Thanks everyone for the responses. I have been slow to check on some of these items but as of now I know I have an echo charger and the light is green. I have not yet checked voltage but just put the coach back in storage for a couple weeks so I'll make my way over there and check this. Thanks again for the responses. 2002 Allure.

Thank You,

Thomas C. Long

WHLongCompanies
W.H. Long Companies
250 Main Street
Suite 570

Lafayette, IN 47901

765-420-7800 ext. 800 - Phone
765-420-7088 - Fax
Tom@...
www.whlong.com

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