Yet Another Battery Charging Question

[clydekilgore]

Thank you, I'll do that tomorrow.

[newmarpusher]

Originally Posted by PDR John

A couple things:

First- on this board, make sure to change the input to 20 amp. Default 120 volt setting is 30 amps.

Attachment 97106

Next- on your Magnum controller in the button with the blue arrow

Attachment 97107

Scroll through till you get to the charger set up. Push in on the dial, that will allow you to change the charger amp draw.

On mine I can go from 5-60 amps.

I have 8 - 6 volt AGM batteries. I have the EMS option on my coach - Not sure if that makes a difference. I have the RV plugged into a 15 amp circuit at my house that has multiple rooms also on it in my 1964 home.

On my setup which looks just like the picture posted, I press the "Shore" button on the Magnum panel and set it to 10 Amps. It never blows the breaker and charges the batteries and runs the fridge all season between trips. I don't have to set the charge amps or change any other setting.

When I go on the road again, I reset the "Shore" setting to 50 amps. When I return home, I set it to 10 amps again.

[newmarpusher]

Originally Posted by 1mainiac

rather than mess with the charge rate which will help most have a shore power setting which is usually set to the breaker size powering it when on reduced power we set the shore power to 5 amps this tells the inverter the most it can take in is 5 amps and it will reduce the charger and control the output according to that. many will switch to invert mode automatically if you turn on the microwave or any high draw on a output circuit.

See my previous post BUT this is exactly how my 2015 Ventana with the EMS option works. I set my "Shore" setting to 10 amps when plugged in at home and never blow the 15 amp breaker.

["007"]

Interesting thoughts on adjusting charge rates.
The batteries I had to charge were flat reading the 2.9 to 3.9 and the inverter/converter charge was high 55 amps with a closed down coach with the BCO on.
When I first tried to charge the house batteries with a 12v stand alone charger the charger itself brought the batteries up and meter on it the needle was way to the right and did drop down to a more normal charge from stand along charger.
Well I had a battery ground cable missing in the wiring mess I had and the battery voltages did not hold, found the mistake and remade run to chassis frame and than change power cord to regular 120 outlet and placed the in/converter on.
The readings were high I thought not ever have had this type system in a coach but I monitored the batteries for bubbling vents and every thing was normal and as the days on charge the over charge alarm disappeared and high charge is mow low or normal.
Have no idea where you would adjust the charge rate on this setup, inverter does not even look like these, I am looking at the top side of it with yellow heat fins showing towards you.
Found no description in the Catalog Model Year of COM_NET either but that aside the batteries seam happier now.
I think the charging system has built in safe guards that allow the converter do its thing no mater what you would like to change in this coach 2002 chassis with a 2003 floor plan MADP.

[PDR John]

Originally Posted by newmarpusher

I have 8 - 6 volt AGM batteries. I have the EMS option on my coach - Not sure if that makes a difference. I have the RV plugged into a 15 amp circuit at my house that has multiple rooms also on it in my 1964 home.

On my setup which looks just like the picture posted, I press the "Shore" button on the Magnum panel and set it to 10 Amps. It never blows the breaker and charges the batteries and runs the fridge all season between trips. I don't have to set the charge amps or change any other setting.

When I go on the road again, I reset the "Shore" setting to 50 amps. When I return home, I set it to 10 amps again.

My batteries are the same, but I haven't used that controller for over 2 years now.

I have the advanced remote now and it doesn't have a shore button.

If you could post some photos of it's setting to help him understand his controls. They can be a little over whelming at first.

Thanks.

[PDR John]

Here is what I do with the ARC Magnum controller.

On here I can pick from 15-20 or 30 settings. 50 amp is automatic.



Then I go into the controller, to the charger setup screen.



and change the amount of in coming amps the battery charger will use. Here is what I set it at when plugged into a 50 amp outlet.



I can then drop it in 1 amp increments to 5 amps, just by spinning the dial.



The photo I used above is my old controller. I changed controllers when I installed the Battery Monitoring Kit.

[newmarpusher]

Originally Posted by PDR John

Here is what I do with the ARC Magnum controller.



On here I can pick from 15-20 or 30 settings. 50 amp is automatic.



Attachment 97135



Then I go into the controller, to the charger setup screen.



Attachment 97136



and change the amount of in coming amps the battery charger will use. Here is what I set it at when plugged into a 50 amp outlet.



Attachment 97137



I can then drop it in 1 amp increments to 5 amps, just by spinning the dial.



Attachment 97138



The photo I used above is my old controller. I changed controllers when I installed the Battery Monitoring Kit.

I have the same ARC Magnum controller and can set the incoming amps just like yours but as you know the lowest setting is 15 amps.

I've found that I can ignore that setting and just leave it at 30 amps ( the default when plugged into a 20 or 15 amp circuit).

The "Shore " setting on the magnum panel overrides anything you have set there and can be set to as low as 5 amps.



Just hit "Shore", dial down to 10 amps and press the dial to store the setting. No other charge settings required.

The charger will never draw more than 10 amps. The house 15 amp breaker won't trip. Everything stays charged and the residential refer stays running.

If I go look at my external PSI unit, it never reads more than 9 amps while the batteries are in bulk charge.

[clydekilgore]

You have all been helpful.
I now have the MH charging and the Refrigerator is cooling.

PDR John -- Thanks especially for the pictures.
Newmarpusher -- Thanks for pointing out the "Shore" setting. It works magic as far as I can tell. Does exactly what I want. I set it for 15 Amps, since I am on a 20 Amp breaker.
007 -- Thanks for your suggestions as well. I didn't replace the GFI receptacle, but I was considering it.
WIngell -- Thanks for pointing out the Charging Rate control. I ended up using 50%, but it may or may not make a difference. I can't tell.
1mainiac -- Thanks. I had difficulty understanding what you wanted me to do, but I think it was what Newmarpusher also suggested. Purely my fault. This is all very new to me and I'm struggling to understand what is written in MANY big manuals.

Scottybdivin - What I ended up doing was setting the Shore power to 15 Amps and Setting the Charging Rate to 50%

[newmarpusher]

Originally Posted by clydekilgore

You have all been helpful.

I now have the MH charging and the Refrigerator is cooling.



PDR John -- Thanks especially for the pictures.

Newmarpusher -- Thanks for pointing out the "Shore" setting. It works magic as far as I can tell. Does exactly what I want. I set it for 15 Amps, since I am on a 20 Amp breaker.

007 -- Thanks for your suggestions as well. I didn't replace the GFI receptacle, but I was considering it.

WIngell -- Thanks for pointing out the Charging Rate control. I ended up using 50%, but it may or may not make a difference. I can't tell.

1mainiac -- Thanks. I had difficulty understanding what you wanted me to do, but I think it was what Newmarpusher also suggested. Purely my fault. This is all very new to me and I'm struggling to understand what is written in MANY big manuals.



Scottybdivin - What I ended up doing was setting the Shore power to 15 Amps and Setting the Charging Rate to 50%

Glad you got it mastered.

I think you'll find that you don't really have to adjust the Charging Rate as long as you set the Shore setting as you have it.

I've never adjusted my Charging Rate. I just have the Shore set to 10amps (15 amp circuit). It does seem to work magic as you said.

[Scottybdivin]

Originally Posted by clydekilgore

Scottybdivin - What I ended up doing was setting the Shore power to 15 Amps and Setting the Charging Rate to 50%

Clyde, that's good news for you. I don't think I have that option on my 07. I know I don't have the PCS shown in the photos above. It is shown as Optional Equipment in the brochure, but is not listed on the build sheet. I'm surprised because it has about every other option.

[HighwayRanger]

Mr. Newmarpusher,

Would your method be appropriate to use if I wanted to run a small Honda portable generator to charge the batteries? Shore + 10? It would seem to be a parallel to using a 15A household outlet.

(I like the idea of having a quieter/thriftier generator to run occasionally if we boondock, rather than running the 10K beast just to top off the batteries) Someday, perhaps we'll have solar to do that, but for now, a little Honda sounds good.

Please let me know what you think! Thanks!

Roy

[PDR John]

Originally Posted by newmarpusher

I have the same ARC Magnum controller and can set the incoming amps just like yours but as you know the lowest setting is 15 amps.

I've found that I can ignore that setting and just leave it at 30 amps ( the default when plugged into a 20 or 15 amp circuit).

The "Shore " setting on the magnum panel overrides anything you have set there and can be set to as low as 5 amps.

Attachment 97142

Just hit "Shore", dial down to 10 amps and press the dial to store the setting. No other charge settings required.

The charger will never draw more than 10 amps. The house 15 amp breaker won't trip. Everything stays charged and the residential refer stays running.

If I go look at my external PSI unit, it never reads more than 9 amps while the batteries are in bulk charge.

If you look closely, you'll see I posted pics of 2 different controllers. The ARC doesn't have the shore button.

Luckily between the 2 of us the OPs problem has been solved.

[Scottybdivin]

I discovered that my ME-RC has a SHORE button. I had never paid attention to it until reading this topic. Is it safe to assume that if I dialed it to 10A, I could plug into a 15A GFCI protected receptacle? One of the venues that we frequent only has 15A GFCI's. Of corse this is assuming that there are no other heavy loads on it.

[clydekilgore]

I think that is correct.
I'd also read the manual, if you don't have one, it is on magna energy's website. I got mine there and just reading the menu maps gives you an idea of what can be accomplished.