Battery Charge Rate Experts please chime in

[RobRoy]

Originally Posted by pduggs

Very nice. Did you move the batteries to that location? Could you explain how that was done? I want to do it.

It was like this when I purchased it, so I can't be of help


As someone else stated ...search the archives Im quite sure this has been done before and posted here at iRV2

Happy Trails

[pduggs]

Originally Posted by C.Martin

Paul...you need to tell me the capacity of your charger?

210aH 6v Batteries wired series-parallel will give you 420aH of 12v

If your batteries are Flooded Lead Acid...the Charge rate limit is C/10.

C=420; 420/10= 42 amps...

42/125A Charger = 33.6%. (30% is probably the closest selectable measurement)

Or if a 100A Charger...

42/100A Charger = 42.0% (40% is probably the closest selectable measurement)

Thanks for your help Charlie.

I have the Magnum MS2812 pure sine wave inverter, which the manual states has a 125 amp charger. I just installed four new Interstate GC 210ah flooded acid batteries 10 days ago, after determining my old batteries were worthless.

[pduggs]

Originally Posted by Captjake1

I looked back through my old thread 'Beaver Contessa Improvements' but my photos no longer show.
2x2 square HD steel tube with ubolts to the trailer hitch. The welded a tray of angle iron to bolt to the 2x2 tubing.
Kketterling also posted. There might be pics that he shared. (Hard to search using the app on a phone).

Hey John thanks for letting me know about that thread. I found it and lots more.

I see you have had some issues with batteries and your inverter. Maybe you could help me with my issue. We just went full time last month and replaced our four house batteries 10 days ago. I have found that my house batteries are not charging while driving. They charge when hooked up to 50 amp. I have to run the generator when driving, or else my house batteries are discharged after several hours on the road. Any thoughts? Could this be caused a defective Big Boy?

I don’t know where to find the cable that connects my batteries to the Big Boy, but recall when putting in the new batteries, seeing a smaller cable attached to one of the terminals. Could this be the Big Boy charge line? I am concerned that charge line might be compromised.

[Captjake1]

Originally Posted by pduggs

Hey John thanks for letting me know about that thread. I found it and lots more.

I see you have had some issues with batteries and your inverter. Maybe you could help me with my issue. We just went full time last month and replaced our four house batteries 10 days ago. I have found that my house batteries are not charging while driving. They charge when hooked up to 50 amp. I have to run the generator when driving, or else my house batteries are discharged after several hours on the road. Any thoughts? Could this be caused a defective Big Boy?

I don’t know where to find the cable that connects my batteries to the Big Boy, but recall when putting in the new batteries, seeing a smaller cable attached to one of the terminals. Could this be the Big Boy charge line? I am concerned that charge line might be compromised.

The big boy is located in the rear run bay, curb side. If the chassis batteries only discharge when running the inverter (I am making that assumption) I would look at the inverter. Measure the voltage at the sub panel. It should be 110-120 or so. You need a true rms voltmeter to measure the voltage from an inverter though.
Mine was only putting it about 90 volts, making the inverter draw the batteries down trying to generate the 110-120.
When the big boy is engaged, the voltage accross both larger terminals should be nearly identical. If it varies much, the contacts may be dirty.
There are so many possibilities. :(
I recently had the chassis Batts die when sitting in a parking for a month. The BB is fickle at times and didn't engage when it was supposed to. I installed a maintainer that more or less runs parallel to the BB and now I have a constant charge to chassis. I used the amp L charge though the trick L charge would work as well.

[RobRoy]

Originally Posted by pduggs

Hey John thanks for letting me know about that thread. I found it and lots more.

I see you have had some issues with batteries and your inverter. Maybe you could help me with my issue. We just went full time last month and replaced our four house batteries 10 days ago. I have found that my house batteries are not charging while driving. They charge when hooked up to 50 amp. I have to run the generator when driving, or else my house batteries are discharged after several hours on the road. Any thoughts? Could this be caused a defective Big Boy?

I don’t know where to find the cable that connects my batteries to the Big Boy, but recalls when putting in the new batteries, seeing a smaller cable attached to one of the terminals. Could this be the Big Boy charge line? I am concerned that charge line might be compromised.

I just ran across this same situation on our last trip for 7 weeks and ferreted out some information here at iRV2 on the theory and operation of the Big Boy relay and diagnosed it and found it was blowing the BB fuse instantly and the relay was shorted internally and replaced it.

With my Alladin I can see from the driver's seat when charging the house batteries come online and then are charged by my alternator ..and now once the chassis batts meet the required voltage the BB relay engages and the chassis batts start charging as they are supposed.

With the cost of the Big Boy relay, you want to diagnose this as the problem, but the BB seems to be a pretty common problem.

Keeping the batteries properly charged and maintained is the key to long service life .. the more they are cycled (discharged and charged) the shorter the service life.


HTH

Happy Trails

[YC1]

Originally Posted by pduggs

Hey John thanks for letting me know about that thread. I found it and lots more.

I see you have had some issues with batteries and your inverter. Maybe you could help me with my issue. We just went full time last month and replaced our four house batteries 10 days ago. I have found that my house batteries are not charging while driving. They charge when hooked up to 50 amp. I have to run the generator when driving, or else my house batteries are discharged after several hours on the road. Any thoughts? Could this be caused a defective Big Boy?

I don’t know where to find the cable that connects my batteries to the Big Boy, but recall when putting in the new batteries, seeing a smaller cable attached to one of the terminals. Could this be the Big Boy charge line? I am concerned that charge line might be compromised.

https://www.google.com/search?q=big+...earch=irv2.com

This is a very common issue and since you are full timing it is really important for you to learn how yours works. There are many variations so you will need to spend some time researching. All of this has been answered hundreds of times before so there is a tremendous amount of great information available.

I am not trying to wave you off. It is just that many have written some great tutorials on the subject.

Use the little green box above that says Powered by Google.

In that box type words like Bird, IRD, Trombetta, Big Boy and you will find thousands of pages on the subject.

If you have the large Big Boy it is rebuildable generally. However testing the Big Boy is simple enough. There are two smaller wires that control the on/off function. When power is applied to the small terminals the large terminals should have exactly the same voltage because it is literally a huge short inside that relay.

Some setups drop that small control voltage once the relay is energized. They do this to keep the heat down. Often people can hear the relay coil buzzing do to that lower chopped voltage versus a setup that uses a pure dc control voltage.

The alternator should charge both banks. IF the generator is running however it separates the battery banks so the alternator will not see the charging voltage of the Converter that is being run by the generator.

On shoreline it is possible to have both banks combined and sometimes people can get an alternator fail light but it is not a real failure.

[Sidewinder4]

I have six Interstate deep cycle batteries. My batteries are seven years old and performing well.
I believe calling Magnum technical support and having them walk me through every setting and also documenting the settings paid huge dividends.

Secondly my coach has been plugged to at least an extension cord until I put in 50 amps at home 95 percent of the time.

Thirdly, I pull all batteries once a year and clean with baking soda and clean all battery connections with rotary steel brush. I use undercoating primer to refresh any rust within battery compartment.

Lastly, some will disagree, but I run the equalization function twice a year.

My two cents only.

[C.Martin]

Originally Posted by pduggs

Thanks for your help Charlie.

I have the Magnum MS2812 pure sine wave inverter, which the manual states has a 125 amp charger. I just installed four new Interstate GC 210ah flooded acid batteries 10 days ago, after determining my old batteries were worthless.

Happy to help.

I don’t know if this link will work...

https://www.magnum-dimensions.com/si...ev-D-ME-RC.pdf

That is the Remote manual...and the calculation for Charge rate is on p.13

Please keep in mind...Interstate’s recommended rate is C/10...vs. the C/5 referred to in the ME manual. They add a Caution...which basically states… < check with the battery manufacturer >. That’s what prompted me to look that up.

I keep these files on my tablet. Along with other rv related manuals, these make a handy reference.

Hope you enjoy many years of service from your new batteries.