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Dead Battery again.

Yahoo Message Number: 76158
I apologize for bringing this up again as I know there has been a lot of discussion about this.
My chassis battery is low to the point that the entrance door lock solenoids will not work and the entry door stairwell light is very dim. I am assuming the engine will not start without a boost.
I parked my MH and live in it with 50 amp power after about 30 days the chassis battery was dead. I used the boost and started the engine and ran it for a half an hour or so. Now about a week later it is low again. The 8D battery was replaced in March. The 4 house batteries a month ago. All batteries have an adequate amount of water in them.
As I understand it the echo charger does not create new power (like a battery charge would) but instead siphons of a little bit of power from the house batteries. After the chassis battery drains to a certain point the echo charger quits working to protect the house batteries from draining down also. You can still start the engine using the boost function by getting power from the house batteries this way.

So what gives here?

Poor system design and the echo charger working off of AC charged batteries is inadequate? Would the available echo charger upgrade to 50 amps help?
Is the parasitic draw as designed too high for this system to work for any long period of use?
Has the parasitic draw changed, because something isn't working right or some newer accessory has been hooked to the wrong batteries?
Just give up and get a battery tender and hook it up to the chassis during extended stays?

Thanks
John

2007 Inspire 52028

Re: Dead Battery again.

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 76159
John,

My Echo Larger works great. You might want to check and make sure its working. Disconnect the lead coming from the charger that goes to the chassis battery and check for voltage. Also check the two fuses on the incoming and outgoing connections to the Echo Charger. And check that the Green light is on while you are at it. I believe your house batteries must be fully charged and the charger on before the Echo Charger will charge the chassis battery.
Just some thoughts
Barney

07 Inspire 52059
Barney

Re: Dead Battery again.

Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 76160
John, have you verified that your ECHO charger is functioning? It is fairly common that one or both of the inline fuses could have blown.
CC typically housed these (2) Fuses in Yellow Bayonette Fuse holders. One is wired into the Chassis Battery and One into the House Batteries.
Check to see if the ECHO is showing a Blinking or Solid GREEN Light - good news or a RED Light or no Light Bad News.

Also check all Battery Connections and Grounds.

Thanks, Mike 03 Allure 1st Ave. #30898

Re: Dead Battery again.

Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 76161
I had a problem also with my chassis batteries going dead. I found that the echo charger was faulty even though the green light was on and all fuses were good. I replaced the charger and that took care of it. You can turn off the chassis battery disconnect switch when parked to keep the chassis battery up, but you will lose some functions IE. the main door lock and seat ajusters etc.
John

08 Magna 6887

From: allure012000

To: Country-Coach-Owners@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, December 9, 2011 2:42 PM Subject: [Country-Coach-Owners] Re: Dead Battery again.

John, have you verified that your ECHO charger is functioning? It is fairly common that one or both of the inline fuses could have blown.
CC typically housed these (2) Fuses in Yellow Bayonette Fuse holders. One is wired into the Chassis Battery and One into the House Batteries.
Check to see if the ECHO is showing a Blinking or Solid GREEN Light - good news or a RED Light or no Light Bad News.

Also check all Battery Connections and Grounds.

Thanks, Mike 03 Allure 1st Ave. #30898

Re: Dead Battery again.

Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 76165
John,

Your symptoms may also result from having the Echo Charger house and chassis battery bank leads reversed. The Echo Charger is like a diode - current flows in one direction but not the other. Reversed leads (apparently during factory installation) have been a fairly common problem over the years. Pretty easy to check if you have bayonet fuse holders on both leads - just disconnect both fuse holders and swap the wires around; if the chassis battery begins charging you're done.
--

Tom Harsch
Laughlin, NV

Re: Dead Battery again.

Reply #7 –
Yahoo Message Number: 76171
I did the same thing as the other John, replaced my Echo with a Magnum. Problem solved.

Jock Vargo
2005 Inspire
51428
 

Re: Dead Battery again.

Reply #8 –
Yahoo Message Number: 76174
On my 09 Magna CC used a product by Bluesea ( www.bluesea.com ) which does the battery combining. The model number of the unit that came with the coach was 7600. I was having the chassis battery discharge down to 12.2 volts while dry camping , which is too low. This setting should be 12.6 volts. The 7600 has 2 dials for maximum charge voltage and the other , where they un-combine. It was set at 12.6 volts./ I contacted Bluesea about the issue, and after confirming the numbers, they sent me a new model 7610 that does the same job , but all the setting are preset, with no adjustment ( which I believe is better ). This was at 3 years and 1 month after coach delivery. Hard to beat that for service and backup. The main difference between the Magnum and the Bluesea ( as I can tell ) is that the Bluesea transfers 60 Amps rather than a maximum of 25 Amps. I don't know what the unit costs, as I got mine under warranty. You can even run a remote LED , to see whether the batteries are combined. This is important , since there is no other way to see if you are having a problem. The combiner , as I said cuts off the chassis battery if the voltage in is too high , or too low. I have yet to run the LED light wire as I have to find a way to get it to my panel in the coach. It is , however , on my to-do list. Check out their website.

Ron Baran 09 Magna 7025