Battery Problems

[Todd49]

My coach is stored inside but without heat. Has been very cold for weeks in the North east. Thought i would run it for a while today. Batteries showed 50% on the panel. Started the generator ran it for an hour, no change in the reading. Tried to start the coach and the chassis battery is dead. Shouldn't the generator charge the battery? Does the inverter have to be switched on to charge? I had both cut off switches turned off, during storage so there should,t be a drain. I know i should have a charger on but didn't.

My question is, why won't the generator charge the system.

Thanks

[Bob/Becky D - VA]

Don't know what kind of coach you have, but on mine the generator will not charge the engine battery. I can however jump the house batteries to start the coach with the switch provided for that. I then let the engine charge the battery.

[GaryKD]

Hi Todd49,
You posted this in the correct forum. Every coach maker wires the charging circuits differently. The answer lies with another Alpine owner.

If you do not get a response soon, do you have a meter and are you comfortable using it?

[Jim A]

I believe the generator will charge the house batteries first. Once the house batteries are at full charge, then it will charge the chassis batteries. Depending on how low the house batteries were, an hour is not long enough to charge them. The panel in the coach is probably showing the house battery level, not the chassis battery level.

Starting the coach engine, if it would start, the alternator should charge the chassis batteries.

On my '04, which probably has a different inverter than your '99, you need to turn on the charger, but not the inverter, to charge the batteries.

Hopefully you will get a better answer from somebody with an older model Alpine Coach.

[Jeff and Cheryl]

Todd49,
Welcome to the forum!
The Inverter does not have to be on for the generator (or shore power) to charge the batteries. Since our coaches don't have the battery boost, what I've done when one battery has a charge but the other one doesn't, is to use jumper cables. Get a bit of a charge into the house battery then use the jumpers. Hope this helps.

[Mike & Mike]

Hi Todd & Cheryl,

If you determine that your setup doesn't charge the chassis batteries, then you might look into a Xantrex Echo Charge. This unit senses the battery charging of the house batteries and directs some of that charging towards the chassis batteries. In the past it was explained to me that one pulse of charge would go to one bank of batteries and the next pulse would go to the other bank.

Take a look on the Xantrex website at:
Battery Chargers | Auxiliary Battery Charger | Xantrex

I installed one of these on a previous coach (non Alpine). And I've heard that the Alpine factory installed them for a period of time also but I don't think as far back as you're talking.

Cheers!

[garym114]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Todd49 I had both cut off switches turned off, during storage so there should,t be a drain. I know i should have a charger on but didn't. Thanks

There is still a drain on the batteries. If you store without some kind of charging going on, charge all batteries fully, disconnect ground cables from from coach and chassis batteries to remove all load. Batteries will be just fine like that for several months.

[takepride]

Todd:

The Mikes' suggestion is probably the best for you. It works VERY well on my coach and isn't terribly pricey. I would also add a battery booster switch. It has saved me much aggravation over the years on several coaches.

[Melorene]

I found that turning off the 12volt master switch in the battery compartment helped..I think someone said that the transmission uses some battery when idle. might be worth a try.

[F&D ABQ]

FWIW, in my '01 (which is equipped with EchoCharge - very effective, in my experience) I have to turn on the charger before it will charge. This is as simple as pushing a button under the charge light array on the remote panel. If your coach doesn't have a remote panel, I believe you can achieve the same result at the inverter itself.

My inverter is a Heart Interface - what's yours?

[wa8yxm]

The meter showed "NO CHANGE" Depending on the size of your converter and the size of your battery bank and the nature of the meter, that might well be normal... Or not.

Example a 45 amp converter, and 2 banks of Golf Car batteies (440 amp hours) and a meter that reads 1/4-1/2-3/4-full. 1 hour would only add 10%, not the 25 needed to jump a LED.

As to the chassis (Starting battery) Some rigs (mine for example) the generator or shore power charges... Others, (Many others) it does not charge the chassis battery.. There is a device called a Trick-l-start, Fixes that.

[bluepill]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wa8yxm As to the chassis (Starting battery) Some rigs (mine for example) the generator or shore power charges... Others, (Many others) it does not charge the chassis battery.. There is a device called a Trick-l-start, Fixes that.

Just a note on the Trick-L-Start: It only outputs 5 amps which is enough to MAINTAIN a charge in the starting battery, but would require about 24 hours to bring a dead battery back to full charge.

[F&D ABQ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by F&D ABQ FWIW, in my '01 (which is equipped with EchoCharge - very effective, in my experience) I have to turn on the charger before it will charge. This is as simple as pushing a button under the charge light array on the remote panel. If your coach doesn't have a remote panel, I believe you can achieve the same result at the inverter itself. My inverter is a Heart Interface - what's yours?

The Xantrex Freedom 20 is almost identical to the Heart Interface inverter. According to the Freedom 20 Owner's Manual, this is what you see at the front of the inverter itself:

"CHARGE - Green LED
When the LED is solid green, the unit is in the charge mode and external AC power is being supplied.
When the LED is blinking slowly, (1 time per second) the charger is ready, but external AC power is not available.
When the LED is OFF, the charger has been manually turned OFF. This can only be accomplished while AC power is being supplied since the charger will automatically restart each time AC power is applied."

Does that help?

BTW, the Echo-Charger is a black box, about 3 x 4 x 1 inch. In my '01, it is mounted at the front of the same compartment as the inverter. A steady green LED on that box supposedly indicates correct operation.

[Todd49]

I have the same set up as you do. The charger switch was in the off position when i finally found it. In the bedroom under a panel that looks like an aire return. Turned it on and the generater took a load and charged the batteries. Thanks for the info