Battery house/chassis charge level indicators

Lindenberg · 10-23-2008, 12:08 PM

On my 2000 Alpine There are two battery level indicators. One is on the panel that also displays the water, black, gray and propane tank levels. The other is on the Zantex charger/inverter panel.

Does the Zantex panel show the chassis level and the other panel show the house battery level?

Lindenberg · 10-23-2008, 12:08 PM

On my 2000 Alpine There are two battery level indicators. One is on the panel that also displays the water, black, gray and propane tank levels. The other is on the Zantex charger/inverter panel.

Does the Zantex panel show the chassis level and the other panel show the house battery level?

dgerstel · 10-23-2008, 12:58 PM

Tom,

They are both for the house batteries. Neither are very accurate, but the one on the Xantrex panel is more so.

Snuggery · 10-29-2008, 03:44 AM

The Xantrex panel shows voltage, but not charge level. It does indicate what mode the Xantrex charger is in (i.e. float) when the charger is functioning.

The water/propane/bat panel does show charge level, but it is only accurate when you are not hooked up to shore power or have the genset running so that the battery charger is not functioning.

Also, it is important to read the panel when a load is on (like the microwave or hydraulic pump).

rjv1210 · 10-29-2008, 10:43 AM

It is best to install a digital volt meter to the coach batteries. I wired mine to the big battery input wires on the inverter. The digital meter gives you the exact voltage. When voltage gets down to 12.2, you know it is time to recharge. Rick

J.S.Eddy · 10-30-2008, 01:38 PM

How does this relate to the red battery light coming on while trying to level the coach? Does this have some effect on whether you can start your generator or not? I'm having trouble with slow slide outs (and in) and getting the coach leveled. Both battery indicators show good condition BEFORE there is a load put on them. Could one of my pop out breakers on the inverter be out?

I would thank any help you may offer.

I have a 2003 38' FDTS coach.

Jim

dgerstel · 10-31-2008, 06:30 AM

There are mainly 3 good ways to check your batteries state of charge.
1. A battery monitor.
2. Check specific gravity with a hydrometer.
3. Check voltage, with no load after batteries have sat for a while with no load.
The last is next to impossible to do, as our batteries always have some load. Testing with a load is problematic due to the difficulty of knowing what the total load is when you are doing the test.

Here is a good link on batteries.

12volt Side of Life

my battery monitor, bottom right.

Shunt required to allow accurate measurement of actual amperage in and out of battery bank. (lower right.)

Jim,

Are you talking about the light on the inverter panel? From what you describe, it sounds like you may have a poor connection at the batteries or a bad battery.

J.S.Eddy · 10-31-2008, 11:02 AM

Thank you for your response.

On the HWH auto-level system, next to the "excess slope" indicator is a small light with a battery ikon that shows up when lit. I guess it's telling me there is low batteries trying to work the HWH pump. I really don't know what it's trying to tell me.
The Zantrex board shows all batteries as up. Could one of the 'pop-outs' on the front of the inverter have anything to do with this? I don't know whether there is one popped out or not. Just asking.

Thanks for all the help. Ignorance may be bliss, but it sure is a B--ch when things don't work like you would like them to.

Jim

dgerstel · 10-31-2008, 01:13 PM

Jim,

I don't know what inverter you have, but I don't think that is the problem. If a breaker was tripped, it would not work at all.

I know of no "battery light" on the HWH panel, when I look up their panels on their web site I don't see any like that. What are your "battery indicators"? Do they show OK after the load is removed? Your problems still sound like poor electrical connections or a bad battery.

Jeff and Cheryl · 10-31-2008, 06:43 PM

Jim,

I know the battery light you are talking about. I had the same problem. I got new batteries and that problem went away. About a year later, the HWH pump went out. I was told that the reason it had burned out was because of poor connectivity with the battery.

When the batteries were replaced, it turned out that the house battery casing was broken. This had happened on the previous owners watch but I didn't check this thing very well myself. I suspect that the cracked battery was what caused the pump to eventually fail. Such is the cost to gain "experience".