It's H... being so ignorant of all things electrical. We figure no matter what, we'll replace the batteries, but we don't want to do that & have something else wrong & drain the new ones. Thanks for the information on Fraserway in Whitehorse. It's always hard to figure out where to go in an unfamiliar town. You never know who is good or just out to take advantage of someone just passing thru. We'll be there in a couple days. So far we're staying plugged into shore power when we stop & oddly enough they've been staying somewhat charged as we've traveled, so we'll see what's going. Last night the power went out on the outside post & we still were showing 9amps on our inside monitor this morning. I know it went off before 3 this morning.
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Your symptoms are typical of a sick combining relay/solenoid. Sometimes making contact, sometimes making poor contact, sometimes not making contact at all.
I have replaced mine three times. Very common failure item and much cheaper than four new batteries. If you want to prove it to yourself just bolt the large cables together onto one post or with a nut and bolt and drive for the day. Better to have been on shoreline overnight or run the generator for a couple of hours so you don't work the alternator hard.
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Certified Senior Electronic Technician, Telecommunications Engineer, Telecommunications repair Service Center Owner, Original owner HR 2008
Had a battery control center board go bad on me a few years ago and had these symptoms. If it is the control center it may also affect the disconnection of the coach batteries. Do you hear the normal click when the coach batteries connect and disconnect?. This is the board that controls all the relays referred to in an earlier post. If you are not comfortable with the electrical system, I would take it to a shop.
It's H... being so ignorant of all things electrical. We figure no matter what, we'll replace the batteries, but we don't want to do that & have something else wrong & drain the new ones. Thanks for the information on Fraserway in Whitehorse. It's always hard to figure out where to go in an unfamiliar town. You never know who is good or just out to take advantage of someone just passing thru. We'll be there in a couple days. So far we're staying plugged into shore power when we stop & oddly enough they've been staying somewhat charged as we've traveled, so we'll see what's going. Last night the power went out on the outside post & we still were showing 9amps on our inside monitor this morning. I know it went off before 3 this morning.
I would really try to figure out what is wrong before you buy new batteries. As has been mentioned, this could be part of the problem due to their age but it could be something else. Even if you're close to needing new batteries, about the last place I would go shopping for them would be in Whitehorse unless there was no other choice. Even in MAJOR major cities in Canada good deep-cycle batteries are expensive.
Not sure what monitor panel you have, but there should be a display that shows voltage and amps. This NORMALLY displays the voltage state of the DC system and the amperage load, either plus or minus. Find this one (usually the one that comes up by default) and read it when unplugged, when plugged in, when the generator is running and when the coach is running.
When unplugged, it might read 0-12.7V (hopefully 12V or above) and -XX amps. When charging by any means, plugged in, generator or engine running (each separately) it should read in the range of 13.5-14.5V and +XX amps.
You mention that you "still had 9 amps". An amps display normally indicates what is going into (+), or out of (-) the battery and not the state of charge. It should be positive if any charging source is available, and negative if not. Other than that, not really useful in diagnosing the problem.
If under the various charging conditions above, you are getting voltage readings above 13.5 and positive values for amps on the panel, the next step is to take a volt meter to the batteries under each of the charging conditions to see if you are getting similar voltages at the destination. If yes, then batteries or their connections are suspect, if not, then one of the switching mechanisms or connections thereto are suspect.
I'm not an expert by any means, but what I've suggested might help to narrow down the problem.
Thank you for that advise. We got to Whitehorse on Sat & everyone that we had called before we got here, who said they had batteries, only had 2 when we arrived. We finally found some & they're a fortune. We've decided that we will just use campgrounds that have power & wait til we get back into the lower 48 & get everything taken care of. We will try what you suggested before we buy the batteries. So long as we can find campgrounds with power, I think we'll be fine for now.
How many of what type of battery do you have.. 85 amps is a bit much for a SINGLE PAIR of GC-2 and is borderline for a pair of Group 31s Too much for anything smaller.
Of course if you have 2 pair of GC2 or FOUR of just about anything Group 29 or larger your ok.
We have 4 deep cycle 6V batteries. We did try Wilco1's suggestion & it does look like it's the batteries. We're going to try to hang in til we return to the lower 48, where we will certainly buy new batteries. In the meatime we'll just make sure we have power wherever we stop. It limits a few choices, but not much. Thanks to everyone for all your help.
Funny thing happened in the past two days. We were parked next to someone with an 08 Monaco diplomat, who came over & took a look at our batteries. He tested them with his volt meter, said they seemed to be ok & came in to look at our inside magnum panel. He ended up pushing some buttons & then we couldn't get any readings. Now all this time we were plugged into shore power. The next day, we traveled & when we got settled I called Magnum & they walked me thru resetting the Inverter/Charger. My husband swore the batteries were fine, so last night we dry camped. Since we're in Alaska, we didn't need much in the way of lights, & I used everything else sparingly. I had set the generator to run on auto & it never came on. This morning when I got up, The reading on the battery were exactly the same as they've been since I reset it, which seems strange to me. We did still have lights, etc but I put on the generator, it was earlier than I set up for quiet time, & ran it for about an hour and a half - I wanted to make coffee & I knew it drew a lot of power. Still nothing changed in the battery info. We traveled for a few hours & are now on shore power again. The panel still reads the same & it sounds like the inverter is running constantly. Should that be?? I can't find anything in their manual, but I can always call them again. My husband says I worry to much but I don't want to burn it out.
Not so funny. All of a sudden the inverter/charger went out. None of our outlets will work. My husband checked it & the middle amp breaker is popped out & won't go back in. Can those things be replaced. It's happened before, but he's been able to push it back in. I knew something weird was going on with that!!
Not so funny. All of a sudden the inverter/charger went out. None of our outlets will work. My husband checked it & the middle amp breaker is popped out & won't go back in. Can those things be replaced. It's happened before, but he's been able to push it back in. I knew something weird was going on with that!!
Were you plugged in or using the batteries when this happened? Do you have power when you run the generator now? Not sure what a "middle amp breaker" is. Where is it located...on the inverter or in the electrical panel?
Try another reset on your panel...can't hurt and might do it this time.
The breaker is located on the inverter. There are 3 of them, 2 20 amp & 1 30. This is the second 20 amp breaker, between a 20 & the 30. Spoke to Magnum this morning. We tried everything. The breaker is definitely shot. The worse part of the whole thing is none of the outlets in the coach work. Luckily, there is one back by the engine that does, so we've run an extension cord in to charge the computers, phone, & make coffee. Tried to unplug the microwave so we could plug it in the outlet, but there was no way that was coming out. It's in a very strange outlet & will not unplug, so we'll have to "rough it" for a few days. Having a heck of a time finding another breaker. It looks like we're going to have to have it sent from Seattle to Anchorage. The part is cheap ($20) but the shipping won't be. Also had to find someone who could take care of replacing it. Good thing we aren't on any schedule because this would really screw up things. And of course, today is Friday so we have to wait until Monday before it can be sent. We are definitely having the batteries looked at while we're there. It's possible they were the culprit. Will let all of you know after we finish in Anchorage!!
Thought I would give all of you who have been so kind to offer your thoughts & suggestions an update. We detoured to Anchorage & ordered the circuit breaker for the inverter ( & an extra). Got the batteries tested, they're fine, they are 4 yrs old, not 7. The part was $20, the shipping $72. It arrived & a really great guy in our campground told my husband how to replace it himself. So he did. Replacing it was easy, getting the cover open enough to do it was the hard part. The back screws are impossible to reach. Turned everything back on & still the remote panel wasn't reading correctly. Also discovered, we still didn't have power to the outlets if we didn't have shore power or generator. After many discussions with Magnum & trying to reset the remote, the best we could come up with was there is a bad circuit board on the inverter. at this point, we've decided we'll stay on shore power or, if we have to boondock, plug an extension cord into the outlet by the engine or run the generator. We'll wait til we get back in the lower 48 where we can stay put long enough if a part has to be ordered. We'll just "rough it" for the next few months. It has been an aggravating problem, but the people at Magnum Energy were really nice & very helpful, and we've really appreciated all the suggestions from all of you. My husband & I also got a lesson in how to use a volt meter from the nice gentleman in our campground. So we've learned a few things & this could be a whole lot worse. At least it doesn't stop us from continuing our trip thru Alaska.
Had a battery control center board go bad on me a few years ago and had these symptoms. If it is the control center it may also affect the disconnection of the coach batteries. Do you hear the normal click when the coach batteries connect and disconnect?. This is the board that controls all the relays referred to in an earlier post. If you are not comfortable with the electrical system, I would take it to a shop.
Where is the 'battery control center board' on your coach?
Is this like the Magnum Remote with a round dial and an LCD display?
Linear Mode
