Xantrex 2021 Freedom 458--charging both chassis & Coach

[Ron and Marsha]

I have posted several times w/battery issues. After replacing chassis batteries and solenoid I thougth my issues were history.

The tech explained that he was testing and found that with the engine running, both banks of batteries were being charges. The solenoid also enabled the engine assist function to work properly.

When hooked to shore powere, the charger also was charging both banks of batteries, chassis and house.

This morning after starting the engine a high voltage warning, 14.4 volts, showed up. After a period of time of being unhooked from shore electric this warning went away.

The tech called Tiffin and was told the charger should not be charging both banks of batteries when hooked to shore power.

I need help from others with working knowledge of my Freedom 458 to provide ideas on these issues.

Thanks in advance.

[Heater]

I can't really help with the issue but I can confidently say that my 458 does charge both house and coach batteries. I have checked multiple times while hooked to shore. My voltage has never been that high though.

[Mr_D]

Ours charges both sets of batteries on shore power too.

[michelb]

I'm not an expert but I believe the tech was misinformed or misunderstood. Not all coaches charge both banks when on shore power or when on engine power but Tiffins do. However it's not a function of the inverter/charger (Xantrex 458), it's the solenoid that controls the flow. I haven't looked closely but it is possible that there are 2 different solenoids; one to control the charging of the house batteries when the engine is on and the charging is supplied by the engine alternator and one to control charging of the engine batteries when on shore power and the charging is supplied by the inverter/charger - sounds like that part is working fine in your system.

From what you describe, it sounds like you're getting over-voltage on the engine battery when the engine is running which, from my understanding is a problem with the alternator. If you have over-voltage in the engine batteries before starting the engine, then it would point to a problem with the inverter/charger (except in equalize mode, I don't think the Xantrex ever supplies more than 14.4V - is it possible your inverter is stuck on equalize (earlier Heart (pre-Xantrex) had a dip switch to go to equalize and it was only meant to be toggled - if you left it 'on', you continously went into equalize mode whenever you were connected to shore power)).

I'm not sure how common it is but I've bought 2 DPs with a bad alternator (one 99 CAT300 and one 03 CAT330) and looked a third that also had a bad alternator (ISC8.3) (all of them had sat for considerable amounts of time which a mechanic told me could be a cause (they build up corrosion when not used and fail prematurely).

[Ron and Marsha]

Thanks for the great feedback. Our Bus is back home and all seems well with the world. At this point the solenoid is working as it should, and we have new cranking batteries and a new trickle charger.