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D Lindy · 03-11-2015, 11:37 AM

OK 2012 Winnebago Journey 40U, last fall my Battery Isolation Manager (A B.I.R.D. by any other name) quit charging my chassis batteries. So at $75+ for a new Manager plus installation, I bought an AGM battery charger to keep the batteries up, and it worked great. Shift to this winter and when I put her to sleep for the winter, I hit the Chassis battery disconnect switch. Ever since I hit the disconnect switch the Battery Isolation Manager has kept the Chassis and Coach batteries at exactly the same voltage level (fully charged) all winter. So what caused the Manager to keep the Chassis batteries charged once the Chassis battery disconnect switch disconnected the Chassis batteries????

alpha99 · 03-11-2015, 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by D Lindy

OK 2012 Winnebago Journey 40U, last fall my Battery Isolation Manager (A B.I.R.D. by any other name) quit charging my chassis batteries. So at $75+ for a new Manager plus installation, I bought an AGM battery charger to keep the batteries up, and it worked great. Shift to this winter and when I put her to sleep for the winter, I hit the Chassis battery disconnect switch. Ever since I hit the disconnect switch the Battery Isolation Manager has kept the Chassis and Coach batteries at exactly the same voltage level (fully charged) all winter. So what caused the Manager to keep the Chassis batteries charged once the Chassis battery disconnect switch disconnected the Chassis batteries????

You should have a small solar panel on the roof, same as my 2011 Journey that is dedicated to keeping the batteries charged, even when the disconnect switch is activated. There is a red light on the main control panel that shows when it is working. That's how it works on mine.

Cheers!

D Lindy · 03-11-2015, 04:45 PM

My roof has a cover, AND 1' of snow over the solar panel so it doesn't come into play. Beside, that 10Watt solar panel is worthless, and might just as well not be there.

GaryKD · 03-11-2015, 05:13 PM

Hi D Lindy,
Don't know why you dislike the solar battery maintainer. The solar panel does not charge the chassis battery(s). It should maintain them in the state they were when the engine was turned off. Since you have a cover and snow, the solar maintainer will not work. For me, count yourself lucky. Almost all the threads on batteries, this time of year, have to do with the batteries "passing away" over the winter.

If the batteries were relatively new, they should keep their charge over a few months. I think the normal range of loss is 1-3% per month. This assumes no passive drains on the battery(s).