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Battery Question - keeping the chassis battery charged.

Yahoo Message Number: 15181
I'm trying to determine if I'm having a problem or not. Last month I posted about the chassis battery being so low that the electric door locks didn't work. Beaudry RV thinks my house batteries are not good and that the charger running is keeping the Echo-Charger from charging the chassis battery. After talking to Xantrex today I ran a test. I turned off the inverter input, turned on the headlights and windshield fans ( to run down the chassis batter), and ran the TV and entertainment center to run down the house batteries. Using the RC7 remote to measure the house batteries and a DVM to measure the chassis battery (ignition hot to ground), I got the following readings:

Before the test the chassis battery read 12v and the house battery read 12.7. At the end of the run time before starting the charger the house batteries read 12.3V and the chassis was 11.2V. After restarting the charger, the house batteries went to 12.7v and the chassis battery went to 11.96v. BTW, the house battery voltage was obtained with the charger off and the inverter off but some 12v lights on (so I could see what I was doing).

Do any of these numbers sound reasonable? I havn't tried to start the engine yet because I completed this test around 800pm and I didn't want to disturb the neighbors with the engine noise. I'll try the engine in the morning.
Bob

'05 Intrigue LE #11872

Re: Battery Question - keeping the chassis battery charged.

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 15184
12.7v is good going down to 12.3v is still good. 11.2v not so good.
How long did you drain the batterie before it got down that far? If it only went up to 11.96v it might be on its way out. sounds like you could use a load test done on your batteries to find out.

Quote from: Bob Stephens
>

I'm trying to determine if I'm having a problem or not. Last

month

Quote
I posted about the chassis battery being so low that the electric > door locks didn't work. Beaudry RV thinks my house batteries are > not good and that the charger running is keeping the Echo-Charger > from charging the chassis battery. After talking to Xantrex

today

Quote
I ran a test. I turned off the inverter input, turned on the > headlights and windshield fans ( to run down the chassis batter), > and ran the TV and entertainment center to run down the house > batteries. Using the RC7 remote to measure the house batteries

and

Quote
a DVM to measure the chassis battery (ignition hot to ground), I

got

Quote
the following readings:

Before the test the chassis battery read 12v and the house battery > read 12.7. At the end of the run time before starting the charger > the house batteries read 12.3V and the chassis was 11.2V. After > restarting the charger, the house batteries went to 12.7v and the > chassis battery went to 11.96v. BTW, the house battery voltage

was

Quote
obtained with the charger off and the inverter off but some 12v > lights on (so I could see what I was doing).

Do any of these numbers sound reasonable? I havn't tried to

start

Re: Battery Question - keeping the chassis battery charged.

Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 15186
Just out of curiosity, whats the date code on your batteries? When I picked up my Ovation the batteries were a year old, with the house batteries each having a marginal cell. So, all three batteries were replaced by Les Schwab, (nc) and all is well. TWI 11731 Intrigue, 2004

Re: Battery Question - keeping the chassis battery charged.

Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 15187
The echocharger should keep the voltage of the chassis batteries roughly at 0.3 volts below the house batteries. If the voltage difference gets larger, the charger will progressively charge the chassis batteries faster (from the house batteries) to get it within the expected difference.

If after you stopped your test (with a difference of more than 1V), you should have seen the voltage difference between the house and chassis batteries come closer to each other over some time.

If they did not get closer, your echocharger isn't functioning.
One reason could be that it is miswired (charging the house batteries from the chassis batteries). The latter was my problem (on 2000 Magna done wrong in the factory). There are also fuses involved near the charger.

Miswiring is an easy thing to do, as the echocharger's in and out wires are both connected to the battery-connect solenoid (in my case).
A possitive thing about such problems is that it forced me to learn how things are supposed to work.

Henk Bots, Magna 2000 (with not enough miles on it :-)

Quote from: Bob Stephens

Re: Battery Question - keeping the chassis battery charged.

Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 15188
The voltage difference between the batteries with the charger turned off is 12.7V for the house and 12.1V for the chassis. Best I can tell from looking at the schematics and the wiring, the echo-charger is properly connected and both fuses are intact. The echo-charger LED shows charging. When I started the engine this morning it charged the chassis to 12.5V (I only ran the engine for a few minutes). I'm suspecting that either the echo-charger is not working properly or the chassis battery is bad. I can't find a date on the chassis battery, the numbers are there but they haven't been marked. The coach was built in August '04.

Bob

'05 Intrigue LE #11872

Quote from: Henk J\. Bots
>

The echocharger should keep the voltage of the chassis batteries > roughly at 0.3 volts below the house batteries. If the voltage > difference gets larger, the charger will progressively charge the > chassis batteries faster (from the house batteries) to get it

within

Quote
the expected difference.
If after you stopped your test (with a difference of more than 1V), > you should have seen the voltage difference between the house and > chassis batteries come closer to each other over some time.

If they did not get closer, your echocharger isn't functioning.
One reason could be that it is miswired (charging the house

batteries

Quote
from the chassis batteries). The latter was my problem (on 2000

Magna

Quote
done wrong in the factory). There are also fuses involved near the > charger.

Miswiring is an easy thing to do, as the echocharger's in and out > wires are both connected to the battery-connect solenoid (in my

case).

Quote
A possitive thing about such problems is that it forced me to learn > how things are supposed to work.

Henk Bots, Magna 2000 (with not enough miles on it :-) >

[quote author=Bob Stephens"

>

> I'm trying to determine if I'm having a problem or not. Last

month

Re: Battery Question - keeping the chassis battery charged.

Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 15881
Are you in storage with no power? If so, after shutting down all the off switches, a purple wire goes to a fuse link next to the battery compartment and the fuse link needs to be pulled. Check for any lights still on around the dash area after the link is pulled. My Panasonic system stays on until the fuse link is pulled. Last September or October, there was a post regarding the subject. The wire number given is correct, but the factory confirmed my wiring was not correctly numbered. The purple wire is consistant regardless of the number. John
2002 Allure
#30702