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20amp service

Yahoo Message Number: 23959
Can I plug into just a 20amp service to charge the batteries in the Allure?
I know not much will work, but I just want to keep things topped off. While returning, the chassis battery failed to start the engine several times and I had to use the house battery over-ride. I put several pints of distilled water in the chassis battery today and topped off the house batteries. I might want to run a single AC, but will have to try it to see...
I'm hoping my first investment in this coach will NOT be a new 8D battery for the chassis...oh well...

David

2002 Allure #30682

Re: 20amp service

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 23966
David,

Depending on which inverter/charger model you have and how it is set up, you could use up most, if not all of 20Amps charging your batteries. I bought a 2/10/20/70 Amp automatic charger at Sams club which I find is excellent for this purpose. If you use the coach inverter/charger on a 20 Amp outlet you need to set the inverter/charger "power share" settings for 20Amps (or less). This will lower the charging rate to the batteries and make more current available to the coach. It will, however increase the time required to fully charge the batteries.
Once you have the batteries fully charged, a load test will tell you if the batteries are indeed still useful or just worn out. The age of the batteries will tell you nothing about their condition. How they have been used, charged, and maintained will ultimately determine their useful life.

Dave (In North Texas)
2000 Allure 36'
#30444

Cole wrote:

Re: 20amp service

Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 23971
I thought my chassis battery needed replacement over two years ago but after fully charging then turning the main switch off when the coach was to sit for any length of time it has been fine.

Re: 20amp service

Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 23972
David,

Before you plug into a 20 Amp outlet run your generator for a while to bring down the bulk charge your system goes into when you plug in, then you can operate the charger on 20 amps, however these coaches were never ment to run on 20 amps. So be careful what you run, 20 amps really screwed up our 05 Magna one time so I avoid this where possible.

Bill G. 2005 Magna #6425

Re: 20amp service

Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 23992
David, if your house batteries are charged and your chassis battery is not charged, it might be the EchoCharger (if your coach has one). The EchoCharger maintains a charge on the chassis batteries from the house batteries when plugged into shore power. The only other way to charge the chassis battery is via the engine alternator. I'm basing my reply on an '05 Intrigue. Maybe someone with an '02 Allure can comment on how the chassis battery is kept charged on that model.

20amp service will maintain a float charge on your batteries but as others have said, set the charger for a 15amp shore power or it may trip the 20amp breaker.
Bob

'05 Intrigue 11872

Quote from: David Cole \[br\
]
> Can I plug into just a 20amp service to charge the batteries in the

Allure?

Quote
>

I know not much will work, but I just want to keep things topped
off. While returning, the chassis battery failed to start the engine several times and I had to use the house battery over-ride. I put several pints of distilled water in the chassis battery today and topped off the house batteries. I might want to run a single AC, but will have to try it to see...

Quote
>

I'm hoping my first investment in this coach will NOT be a new 8D
battery for the chassis...oh well...

Re: 20amp service

Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 24083
David,

My 2002 Allure (#30791) has an echo-charge device; yours probably has one too. My echo-charge leads were reversed when I received the coach (house battery lead attached to chassis battery, chassis battery lead attached to house batteries). As a result, the chassis battery was never being charged when I was attached to shore power.
After replacing the chassis battery twice, I discovered the source of the problem and reversed the two leads. No more charging problems since. On my coach, both echo-charge leads had in-line fuses so it was trivial to switch the leads - merely disconnect the two fuse holders and swap fuse holder ends.
--

Tom Harsch 2002 Allure #30791

Quote from: Bob Stephens

Re: 20amp service

Reply #6 –
Yahoo Message Number: 24115
David,

Did the charger show up as charging when you checked your gauges? The reason I ask is that you should have caught this in the beginning. Whenever we plug in and once a day I check the gauges to make sure the chargers are working. There have been several cases with our coach where the computers on the inverters locked up one charger and they went into standby. Everyone should make sure their chargers are charging daily.

Bill G. 2005 Magna #6425