Another Electrical Problem

[moisheh]

When we left our wineter home this spring I was having dead battery problems. Shut it off for fueling and had to use the boost feature to get it started. When we got home I checked the chassis batteries and they were depleted in minutes. Would hold hold a charge. A hydrometer showed 1 dead cell and the other battery had one that was just slightly better but almost dead. Bought 2 new batteries and all was fine. Have not used the unit since but had to take it 65 miles away twice to have the junky GoodYears examined. When I got home did not plug it in or turn off the 2 kill switches. In 2 days the chassis batteries were dead. I did forget to turn off my satellite radio and the sat. TV receiver was on as well. But I would think the sat rcvr. would run off the inverter and the house batteries. I drove it to the Alignment shop about 12 miles away and returned Friday afternoon.Did not plug it in or turn off the kill switches. Chassis batteries down to about 8 volts ! House batteries about 12.2 volts. I was able to start it by plugging it in for 10 minutes. I checked both sets of batteries with the engine running and then with the Magnum doing the charging. With the ISL at 1500 RPM both were getting around 13.7 volts. On the magnum when the gauge showed 14.1 @ bulk charge my multimeter showed 13.7 on the house side and 13.4 on the chassis side. I tried 2 different multimeters. Almost the same readings. So where do I begin? How long should the unit sit with nothing on before the house batteries are dead? Other than the dash area what else can draw juice at rest? Any ideas appreciated.

[Barlow46]

Engine pre-heat?

[JimM68]

I never ever leave her sit without flipping both disconnects in the battery compartment (or plugging in)
2-3 days doesn't seem unusual. Not to my liking, but not unusual.

[Dr4Film]

There are so many possible amp draws on each set of batteries, house and chassis, that the only way to trace what each of them are is to start at the battery and trace each one from there. You can use a VOM to measure amps between each connection (draw) once you find the buss where they branch off. When you find the one or ones that have any type of reading, it's just a matter of determining what they are hooked to.

Not an easy task but far better than shooting from the hip.

Dr4Film ----- Richard.

[Robi.1014]

One example:
There's an electrical solenoid that allows the propane tank to pressurize the HWH, cooktop, refrigerator, etc. .... and I'm pretty sure that this solenoid draws juice from the chassis battery. If left on for 36 hours, this would suck the charge out of the non-deep-cycle starting batteries.

[moisheh]

Robi: I understand what you are saying but I don't think there is a solenoid in that circuit. When is it deactivated and why?? I did think of one item last night and it is the repeater for the TPMS system. Then there are all the backlights for the light switches. I had not turned off the power on my air levelling system. Today the batteries were all charged and showing just over 13 volts static. I will take another reading tomorrow PM. AC power is disconnected.

[Robi.1014]

Moisheh,
I'm embarrassed to ask it, but is your rig all electric (no propane....just diesel)?

[moisheh]

Robi: Dont be embarrassed! It is not all electric but propane is only used for the stove top.Fridge is residential and water heater/furnace is aqua hot. I checked the battery voltages today and both house batteries and chassis are down to 12.42 volts. Accepatable after more than 36 hours. Rig started right away and alternator was putting out 13.95 volts at the batteries. I am beginning to suspect that the battery depletion in this coach is normal. Lots of relays, led lights and computer boards that are powered all the time. 1/4 amp here 1/2 amp there and before you know it there is a substantial draw. I have ordered one of those dc clamp meters. Late model coaches are real energy hogs.

[Twomed]

About the same electrical config on ours. Resid reefer and all. POWER PIG...same results you have. The 2800 Magnum Inverter will not put enough juice in the batts no matter what the settings. After putting 400watts of solar on the roof and charging at 14.6 with a Morningstar pwm 60 our batts are never low. I did not use the little wires Monaco ran for solar either. Gen usage is way down too. The real test comes in a few weeks when serious Gator fooball tailgating begins. Lots of Fri/Sun dry camping.

[moisheh]

Twomed: Interesting. Many high end coaches do not use the inverter for battery charging. They have a seperate multi stage charger.

Moisheh

[Life Style]

Moisheh, You can check the chassis current draw by removing Neg. cable and installing VOM leads between batt-cable and Neg post. Neg. VOM lead to Neg. post POS to cable. Any amps above 7 tens is a problem. Our 07 Dyn. set's between monthly outings with switches on without problems. Same config. as yours. Make sure everything is turned off including inverter.

We had a chassis battery issue on our 96 Dyn. I used the above procedure and then pull fuses until major draw diminished. That located problem area. This may work for you. But I feel you have left something on.

Life Style

[moisheh]

I could sure use some help from someone hwo really understands the BigBoy Intellitec system.I did some more studying of the problem today. Batteries were almost fully charged early this am. Magnum panel showed a float charge of less than 15 amps. I was thinking of the Intellitec board and the big boy solenoid last night. Mike Canter had posted some good info in an earlier thread with Dctenet who has a similar unit to I had turned off the shore power but when I went to the engine bay that Big Boy was humming away. I checked the temp. as it was very hot. 160 degrees. Relayy was latched on. The Intellitec board has some led lights and the one marked Isolator Relay On was lit. I removed one of the green wires from the small terminal on the Big Boy. Light went out and relay stopped buzzing. I called Monaco and they think the board is bad. If I understand Mike Canter correctly the Big Boy remains energized until one of the battery sets gets below a certain voltage(IIRC 12.5). I have left the shore power disconnected and will test the batteries in a while. Any tips or other help appreciated. We are supposed to leave on a one month trip next month and I would sure like to fix this problem right away. Lifestyle. I amafraid to put my VOM inline as it only is good for very small loads.
Thanks

[EngineerMike]

Moisheh- I'm guessing cuz my rig is different, but IIRC the Dynasty uses a "BIRD" relay system for bi-directional charging of the chassis batt's off the house charging system and for house batt charging off the alternator. You can do a search from the Monaco Forum page on "BIRD relay" and get a bunch of threads on dead batteries that mention this. Hope that helps.