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Chassis batteries.....two questions

Yahoo Message Number: 73702
Does any charge go to the chassis batteries while hooked to shore power? I was told there wAs some kind of "trickle charge" to keep them up. But a service manager of a Prevost/Blue Bird/etc service dept said there is no charge and that he advises that the chassis battery disconnect be thrown whenever parked for even a few days and always when parked for weeks or months (even when on shore power).
I didn't even know I had a chassis battery disconnect but we found it.

So, anybody have the facts?

Joe Cronin. 03 Magna. 6223

Re: Chassis batteries.....two questions

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 73704
I don't know. But I think these two things are ture, or close to true:
1) Yes to floating charge to your engine battery (assume your year Magna would have this).
2) You should not need to leave the coach main 'on/off' swith set to 'on', to get the charging. (I assume this is the 'battery disconnect' being mentioned - but we all know what 'assume' breaks down too:)!)

I will read the people who do know posts, and add to my knowledge base:)!

Best to all,
Smitty

04 Allure 31017
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: Chassis batteries.....two questions

Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 73707
Joe, suggest you stay away from the service mgr. you talked too. While hooked to shore power you House Batteries are being charged through your Inverter. Your Chassis Battery is being charged from your House Batteries through a small white box called an ECHO Charger. It is about 5" x 5".
Should be located near your Inverter, check to see that the ECHO charger has a Solid Green or Blinking Green light. If you see a RED Light its not working and then check the inline fuse.

No reason to turn your Chassis or House Battery Disconnects off.

Mike 03 Allure 1st Ave. #30898

Re: Chassis batteries.....two questions

Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 73710
I don't know about the Magna, but my "trickle charger" operates when hooked to shorepower. I (you) should be able to tell if you look at the charger (mine is in the engine compartment at the bottom of the passenger side) and displays a green light if activated and charging; when full charged it blinks green.

Roger Harper 2006 Intirgue #11990

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away

Re: Chassis batteries.....two questions

Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 73723
A green light on the echo charger means only that it's getting 12VDC input. Unfortunately, it does NOT indicate that the echo charger is working properly "echoing" the sharing rate of the house batteries.
Usually while on shore power the charger feature of your inverter charges the house batteries - starting off with a higher voltage and eventually tapering off to a "float" status which should measure about 13.3 to 13.6 VDC across the house batteries. The "echo charger" should "follow" the voltage across the house batteries settling at around 12.4 - 12.6 VDC across the coach (start) battery when the inverter charger reaches the float status. The idea is that the "echo" charger follows the voltage applied across the house batteries but is usually about .8VDC lower.
Echo chargers can and do fail and determining whether that has occurred is not always easy but if your batteries are in good shape and your start battery seems dead after the coach has been sitting on shore power for awhile it's likely that the echo charger has failed.

Jim M

'02 Intrigue #11410 ISL 400

Re: Chassis batteries.....two questions...and one blown fuse

Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 73727
The echo charger on mine is a darker colored box with two wires going to the batteries. One to the chassis (starter battery) and the other to the house batter bank. basically it connects the house batteries to the starter battery when the house batteries reach a certain voltage (when being charged) by limiting the amount of amps that will cross over....about 15 amps (hence the trickle effect). Each wire has an inline fuse. One of mine was blown. The green light does not really matter which battery fuse is blown but it could be one that bad if the green light is on. That should have been a clue for me but...
I figured that out after I replace the echo charger with a magnum trickle charger (that has the ability to set the minimun and maximum start/stop voltage). Now I have two trickle chargers....one serves as a backup and a reminder to check for a 50 cent fuse before buying a $100 trickle charger.
One other item to think about if you have flooded type batteries and not AGM batteries. My flooded starter battery is about 2 years old and cranked my C12 engine over moderately slow even when it appeared to be fully chareged. I installed a 'Battery Minder' desulfinator ($69) across the terminals of the starter battery that works only when the battery is being charged by the trickle charger or the engine. The high frequency pulses must have worked its magic after a couple weeks because that flooded battery has been cranking the engine much faster the past year.
I have a couple of the charger type 'battery minders' ($115) I use on my other boat batteries and car batteries and I am even able to take some 6 year old dead batteries back to full life as long as the cell plates have not disintergrated or are touching each other. Amazing technology that the inverters in our motorhomes do not come with.
If one could get another 5 years out of a flooded battery that would be worth the price of one of those batteryminders. The biggest reason car batteries start to fail is too many deep discharges because of the thinner plates. Deep cell have thicker plates but less amps for starting (comparable sizes). If the plates are clean and not starting to sulfinate then you get more electrons flowing off the plates for starting capacity and that is what those short high frequencey pulses do.

Dallas 2004 intrigue 11688
 

Re: Chassis batteries.....two questions

Reply #6 –
Yahoo Message Number: 73732
On my ancient rig, there is no shore power charging of the starting batteries.

You rig may be different.

However, I seldom turn off the chassis batteries even when stored for several weeks.

Dean

95 Magna 5280