Community Forums

macraekw · 10-21-2013, 08:07 PM

We recently purchased a new-to-us 2005 Allure 470 and are finding that the Xantrex panel shows the battery level dropping from around 95% to 65% overnight. We had the chassis and house battery switches turned off as well as the inverter. Is this normal? What could be pulling power from the house batteries to this degree?

speedman42 · 10-21-2013, 08:38 PM

my house batteries were doing the same thing. It could be that they are low on water. if so just top them off with distilled water, they may do fine. I wasn't so lucky, I had to replace all 4 of mine. $500.00 there good now.

vsheetz · 10-21-2013, 08:49 PM

How old are the batteries? Low on water? Condition (check with hydrometer)?

deandec · 10-22-2013, 10:44 AM

Not normal. I just left my house and chassis battery on for 5 days in storage. Inverter was off and refrigerator was off.

House battery was at 12.45dcv and chassis battery was at 12.50.

**CountryFit** · 10-22-2013, 11:25 PM

if your inverter is heart freedom, make sure the switch on inverter is off. if you have it on, the inverter is always working drawing down battery quickly. when you set it off, you inverter remote panel will take control. turn it off on remote.

pumper9x9 · 10-24-2013, 09:52 AM

Look at "time left to charge" if it is a low number to 0 you are fine. Mine does the same thing I'll charge it up till the time left to charge is 0.0 hrs then look at the charge state of the battery and it will say 100%. Then well shut everything down and leave the coach for several hours or days and it will be down into the 60's on on state of charge but time left to charge is usually less than .2 hrs. If that's what your's is doing it's fine but I have no idea why it does that.
If you find out please let me know.
Thanks

macraekw · 10-25-2013, 12:25 AM

I have a Xantrex RC7GS remote and I called Xantrex today and spoke with a tech at length. He said that turning off the remote power would have a minimal effect. Certain components continue to draw power even with the chassis and house disconnects off such as the Echo charger and house alarm but the batteries should remained close to full charge for weeks at a time without normal power draws.

He also said to ignore the battery capacity read-out as it is notoriously inaccurate. He said that the best test of capacity it to put a voltmeter on the terminals and measure static voltage. Should be in the 12.2 to 12.8 range. Incidentally, I also learned in the process that you need to set the shore voltage properly in the RC7 Setup menu (50 amp; 30 amp; 20 amp; 15 amp; etc.) to correspond with the AC shore input - I did not understand this from reading the owners manual.

I recharged the battery bank and now have it on a 15 amp float charge. We'll see what happens - it's a real educational process!

Mr_D · 10-25-2013, 12:53 AM

Our RC7GS doesn't have a setting for 50 amp, only up to 30.

But I do wish I could get the auto start to work! I bought the controller off eBay so it may be defective to begin with. I've worked with Xantrix support and they say everything checks out OK with the wiring I installed and the internals of the inverter. I can stop the gen (PowerTech 8.0 diesel) with the RC7GS, but it won't even energize the starter.

wa8yxm · 10-25-2013, 10:01 AM

95 t0 65 overnight epically this time of year when the furnace is often used.. I wish mine were that good (Hope to fix 'em soon).

Normal less you have seriously upgraded batteries.

macraekw · 10-28-2013, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr_D

Our RC7GS doesn't have a setting for 50 amp, only up to 30.

But I do wish I could get the auto start to work! I bought the controller off eBay so it may be defective to begin with. I've worked with Xantrix support and they say everything checks out OK with the wiring I installed and the internals of the inverter. I can stop the gen (PowerTech 8.0 diesel) with the RC7GS, but it won't even energize the starter.

I double-checked mine and you are correct. Mine also only goes up to 30 amps.

B Bob · 10-29-2013, 09:53 PM

Did your coach come with AGM batts like my Country Coach, if yes you won't be adding any water any time soon. My experience is that batteries usually last about 8 years. If yours are the original batteries they are at least 8 years old.

Our coach is all electric. I always had problems keeping the batteries charged no matter how much stuff I turned off. Factory told me that not everything goes off. I finally put three solar panels on the roof. Now my batteries are always fully charged both chassis and house. I do take the extra step though to make sure the inverters (I have two) are both turned off when I store the coach.

BTW - if you are anywhere near Oregon you will find a plethora of good repair places in that State. And also the Country Coach factory. We have had nothing but good luck using Oregon repair facilities and spotty results elsewhere. Seems like the cost is lower in OR too.

macraekw · 10-29-2013, 11:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by B Bob

Did your coach come with AGM batts like my Country Coach, if yes you won't be adding any water any time soon. My experience is that batteries usually last about 8 years. If yours are the original batteries they are at least 8 years old.

Our coach is all electric. I always had problems keeping the batteries charged no matter how much stuff I turned off. Factory told me that not everything goes off. I finally put three solar panels on the roof. Now my batteries are always fully charged both chassis and house. I do take the extra step though to make sure the inverters (I have two) are both turned off when I store the coach.

BTW - if you are anywhere near Oregon you will find a plethora of good repair places in that State. And also the Country Coach factory. We have had nothing but good luck using Oregon repair facilities and spotty results elsewhere. Seems like the cost is lower in OR too.

Thanks for your kind response B Bob. My batteries are AGM however I don't see a date code on them so I don't know how old they are. It's apparent to me that not everything is powered down despite the house and chassis disconnects being off - I think that the solar panels are a good idea. I'll have to look into that. Thanks again for the post and safe travels.

wa8yxm · 10-30-2013, 10:38 AM

IS the RV occupied while the batteries are dropping 30% overnight.. normal if you are running the furnace.

camaraderie · 10-30-2013, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macraekw

I have a Xantrex RC7GS remote and I called Xantrex today and spoke with a tech at length. He said that turning off the remote power would have a minimal effect. Certain components continue to draw power even with the chassis and house disconnects off such as the Echo charger and house alarm but the batteries should remained close to full charge for weeks at a time without normal power draws.

He also said to ignore the battery capacity read-out as it is notoriously inaccurate. He said that the best test of capacity it to put a voltmeter on the terminals and measure static voltage. Should be in the 12.2 to 12.8 range. Incidentally, I also learned in the process that you need to set the shore voltage properly in the RC7 Setup menu (50 amp; 30 amp; 20 amp; 15 amp; etc.) to correspond with the AC shore input - I did not understand this from reading the owners manual.

I recharged the battery bank and now have it on a 15 amp float charge. We'll see what happens - it's a real educational process!

Wow...you got an awful lot of very bad info from the Xantrex guy since putting a voltmeter on an Agm tells you NOTHING unless the battery has been physically disconnected and idle for about a DAY. If it is fully charged before you do this the voltmeter should read 12.6...NOT less or it is showing signs of age. Anything less than a 12.3 reading a day after a full charge and you should be considering replacement or should have a reliable backup.
Finally if you have 15 amps going in on so called "float" you are either NOT in float or you are going to murder your batteries. My assumption is that you have 4 six volt AGMs with a combined capacity of about 400 amp hours at 12 Volts. If so....the MAXIMUM current you should be floating at is 8 amps (2%) and half that is preferable. AGM's should float at around 13.4V and LESS than 2% of battery amp hours in amps.
If you are seeing anything above 13.8 and 8amps...you need to adjust your float parameters or find a charger that does the job correctly.

AGM's are EXTREMELY sensitive to getting a Full 100% charge as soon as possible after discharge. Don't let your batteries sit at less than 100% for more than a few of days. ALWAYS charge to 100% no matter how long it takes. Getting the last 20% of charge in takes as long as getting the other 80% but don't shortcut it!

Good luck!