2005 Dutchstar Electrical Issues

[PHLUSBY]

First time poster- sorry for any etiquette errors. I have run into an unusual set of issues after swapping out my house batteries. I am hoping that someone may see a pattern that will better inform my troubleshooting. I replaced 6 6v GC2 batteries with 6 6v AGM higher capacity (200 Ah each rather than 100 Ah each). I switched the Xantrex charger to its AGM configuration (and have now seen links suggesting I might need to change it back!)

After install I am having several strange issues. First, the power steps (which were recently repaired and have been working perfectly) stopped working. The battery disconnect switch in the coach has also only worked intermittently (won't engage at all currently). The A/C has also stopped working and the thermostat is dim at best and blank most of the time. 12v lights are also quite dim.

The batteries show 100% charged on the RC7 control panel for the Xantrex inverter/charger, but when I have been able to get the disconnect switch to turn on, it shows around 7v as the battery voltage. The generic Newmar battery/LP/gray/black control panel also reads the batteries as empty. (I made sure the batteries we pretty fully charged using a stand alone battery charger prior to installation.)

I have tried to check all fuses and breakers (though not sure I know where to look for all of them!) If anyone has any thoughts, or can think of anything I should do to try to diagnose, I would greatly appreciate any guidance.

[jarwiebe]

Sounds like miss wired batteries to me. Did you take pictures before you disconnected the GC2s and verified the AGMs are hooked up the same way. No missed wires?

[twinboat]

Take some pictures of the batteries and cables with you phone and post them.

That may help us help you.

PS: the old batteries were 100 minutes RC which works out to about 220 AH.
There is no 100 AH GC2 battery.

[PHLUSBY]

Thanks Jarweibe,
I will be happy to upload photos, but the wires were all labelled and photographed in advance and everything was hooked back up correctly. The batteries and the inverter/charger appear to be working fine, and with the RV plugged in the batteries charge just fine. It is the other systems that have gone out that are the problem. Thanks for your input.

[PHLUSBY]

Originally Posted by twinboat

Take some pictures of the batteries and cables with you phone and post them.

That may help us help you.

PS: the old batteries were 100 minutes RC which works out to about 220 AH.
There is no 100 AH GC2 battery.

Thanks Twinboat,
I have attached a photo of the battery bank as it was originally and the newly rewired battery bank. I do not believe it is a miswiring issue- more likely a blown fuse or relay give the disparate impacts. Thanks for your input.

[twinboat]

The red circled wire seen a to be at a jumper point. That sends 6 volts out.

[twinboat]

Move it here.

[twinboat]

Like this.

One is the inverter feed, the other is the house feed.

[jarwiebe]

Looks like twinboat found your problem. Out of curiosity, were are your chassis batteries.

[PHLUSBY]

Thanks Twinboat and Jake,
First, thank you both for your input (and your generosity in taking time to help others such as myself). Twinboat's diagnosis was indeed correct.

After posting my question and doing some more research last night I thought that I might have a bad battery disconnect switch or solenoid. However, as soon as I put my DMM on the battery disconnect solenoid and it only read about 6 volts it was clear that you were both correct that I had miswired. When I looked back at the battery wiring I saw my error in connecting one of the cables to the jumper post. Moving that cable to the 12v connection point did indeed resolve all issues.

Regarding the chassis batteries, they have been moved to the engine compartment. If a picture is of interest let me know and I will upload.

Since you are both obviously very knowledgeable in this area I wonder if you might have an opinion on the attached wiring diagram I found last night while trying to diagnose. The 6 battery configuration in the top right of the attached diagram shows an additional jumper from positive to positive on the two leftmost batteries in the "upper row" of batteries, and an additional jumper from negative to negative on the two rightmost batteries on the "lower row" of batteries. I suspect that those additional jumpers are intended to better balance out/equalize the charge and draw down across all six batteries. The diagram on the top left also shows a 6 battery configuration, but shows different "optional" jumpers from positive to negative in two places. Any thoughts on the optimum wiring configuration to best equalize charging and draw down across the entire 6 battery bank?

Again, thank you both for all your sage advice!
Paul

[twinboat]

I see the extra jumpers but I believe they are nessessery when using a 6 volt tap to have the 3, 6 volt batteries in the 6 volt circuit.

Otherwise, the 6 volts would only draw on one battery. That would put that one battery way out of balance.

If your not using 6 volts, it isn't nessessery.

["007"]

Welcome to the forum, Paul
We do have some knowledgeable people on this forum always willing to help.
I have place many of their answers in this sticky link top of forum and the many links below in my signature.
Good job on batteries when pointed out the problem we have had some tougher ones over the years.
Enjoy the forum and safe travels.

[jarwiebe]

If you don't mind, I'd like to see a picture of your chassis battery layout seeing as i have the same chassis/coach as you. Not that I'm looking to go to 6 house batteries but just in case i ever decide to go that route your layout would give me a starting point.

[PHLUSBY]

Thanks again Twinboat. Glad to hear I don't need to purchase more battery jumper cables!