Community Forums

Kkaceya · 04-29-2016, 10:15 PM

We just purchased a 2013 Anthem and put it in a storage which has no electrical. We have never owned a coach so we are rookies to say the least. We were told to turn the main power off to the coach and open the fridge. Little did we know that the investors were on. A week later we went to check on the coach and the batteries were completely dead, we couldn't even use the keyless entry or fob. We got the coach started and after about 15 minutes were able to get the generator started as well. After letting it run and getting most of the electrical running we were not able to get the panels which control the lights and shades to function. We checked the breakers and fuses but can't seem to find anything. Any ideas on how to fix this?

rdrv831 · 04-29-2016, 10:43 PM

First get the coach batteries tested to see if they are ruined.

When we store our RV I turn off the battery disconnect and inverter. I check the batteries with a meter and run the engine and generator for 30 minutes once a month if I haven't used the RV in a month

brobox · 04-30-2016, 05:11 AM

Welcome to the forum....sorry your first post had to be with a problem. Congratulations on your Entegra purchase.

First thing to do is charge the batteries to 100%. This will take a lot longer than just getting them working. Not all system will work with weak batteries. Your battery meters should be showing over 13.5 volts when the batteries are fully charged. Might also be a good idea to read the manual regarding long term storage and make a check list. Those 8 AGM batteries will be very expensive to replace if not taken care of properly.

After the batteries are fully charged, the will need to be checked to make sure the batteries were not permanent damaged. Even checking the condition in the MH in a few days will give you an idea if they are holding a charge.

royals1212 · 04-30-2016, 06:39 AM

Also, there is a front widow shade interlock tied to your ignition key. Ensure you have removed the key.

Another way to help eliminate electrical current draw is to switch the circuit breakers off located above the drivers chair and to ensure your inverter and charge switches are off (above door) akao battery disconnect switch off

MRUSA14 · 04-30-2016, 07:37 AM

All the suggestions mentioned above are desirable, but they still do not eliminate all phantom loads from drawing down your batteries while in storage. Prior to the 2017 models the Entegras never completely shut down all the battery draws no matter what you do. There are some items that are always connected and drawing current. It appears that for 2017 Entegra have installed a better system that completely disconnects the batteries for storage.

For this reason I always keep my coach plugged into shore power when not in use, but that is apparently not an option for the OP. After taking all the steps suggested in previous posts, there are a few other things that you can do to monitor your batteries and/or mitigate the battery drawdown. One would be to check your battery voltage every few days to determine the rate at which the batteries are being depleted. Then you could visit the coach periodically and run the generator to fully recharge the batteries. The inverter circuit breakers must be on while running the generator. For maximum battery life the batteries should be fully and not partially recharged (Depending on state of discharge, this may take 3-4 hours or more). The generator should be run until the inverters say they are float charging. After shutting the generator off, turn inverter CB's off.

Another thing that might be feasible would be to set your auto generator start (AGS) to look after this for you. This can only be done if the coach is outdoors where the exhaust will not be a problem. The AGS disables itself after 30 days so you would have to turn AGS off and back on periodically and make sure you maintain sufficient fuel in your tanks. The AGS should be monitored as much as possible for proper operation as it is not infallible, so I would keep a close eye on your battery voltage and recorded generator hours for feedback on what is happening. If you choose to use AGS, leave the inverter CB's on all the time. I would also suggest setting the AGS starting volts no lower than 12-12.1 Volts.

The problem with these scenarios is that they are working your batteries all the time. The batteries are only good for a finite number of discharge-recharge cycles, so you are slowly but constantly depleting the remaining battery life. If I were in your place, I would look into installing a battery cutoff switch at the batteries. If you do that, the batteries could easily go a month or two with no attention at all, and the shortening of battery life will be greatly diminished.

Gary.Jones · 04-30-2016, 07:51 AM

KkaceyA

Sorry to hear of the problems, but congrats on the new coach. You are experiencing a common problem and you are hearing of some of the solutions and concerns. You did what logically you should do but there are a bunch of static loads on an an Entegra coach that are running all the time and will flatten the batteries surprisingly quickly if not defeated. Some owners have figured out how to minimize the problem and within a couple of days you will get a lot of advice. I keep mine stored with 50A always applied so don't have much experience with your dilemma. However, I would guess that you did not kill your batteries with this one incident, but it's not good to ever let them go all the way down, I would worry that they might have been weak already. You said you bought it recently, and I wonder if the selling dealer had the coach connected to power all the time they had it. If they didn't they need to be very careful to keep it charged. I recently had an experience where I was close to a dealer at a major show and several of us while touring display coaches, noticed on both new and used coaches how many of their battery voltages were at or below the 12.0 volts many people argue (and manufacturers) is 50% charge and the sales people seemed clueless that they needed to be routinely charging the coaches. My sense is that this is a situation we owners are very sensitive to, but most dealers seem to care very little about.

So, Chuck is giving you good advice and you'll get more from "no power storage" owners, but I would wonder how healthy your batteries were before you put it in storage.

Good luck and keep us informed.

Gary

Gary.Jones · 04-30-2016, 08:03 AM

KkaceyA

On your specific question about the lights and shades, make sure that you have the " salesman switch" turned on right inside the door. On our Anthem, one of the two bottom switches right by passenger's feet coming in. The salesman switch kills all 12 volt circuits and if it's off, will kill all your lights, and 12 volt equipment. Check it if you have not already.

Gary

waterboy10 · 04-30-2016, 04:05 PM

In long term storage you can always add a battery cutoff for the house batteries. I put one on the Aspire and it worked great. I will put one on the new Anthem soon. Call JR at Entegra for how to do it.

Kkaceya · 05-01-2016, 07:47 AM

You guys are amazing! Thank you so much for all your advice and assistance. So from what I can gather, I should have both inverters on and start the Gen and let it run until I get a full charge on the batteries. With the auto Gen what should I have the settings at to make sure it keeps the batteries topped off? With a full charge what should the batteries read? Where are the house batteries located and how do I access them?

Kkaceya · 05-01-2016, 07:52 AM

You guys are amazing! Thank you so much for all your advice and assistance. So from what I can gather, I should have both inverters on and start the Gen and let it run until I get a full charge on the batteries. With the auto Gen what should I have the settings at to make sure it keeps the batteries topped off? With a full charge what should the batteries read? Where are the house batteries located and how do I access them?

Gary.Jones · 05-01-2016, 08:13 AM

The automatic default settings should be pretty good. However if you are going to use the AGS as your recharging system, remember that the fuel consumption of the genny at idle is roughly ,4 gallons per hour so watch your fuel levels. Long range you need to also find the right way to turn the coach off completely.

Gary

Gary.Jones · 05-01-2016, 08:16 AM

Oh, I think you have an Anthem....... If so, then your house battery bank is a bank of 8 batteries located in the basement under the driver seat area.

Gary

757driver · 05-01-2016, 12:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kkaceya

You guys are amazing! Thank you so much for all your advice and assistance. So from what I can gather, I should have both inverters on and start the Gen and let it run until I get a full charge on the batteries. With the auto Gen what should I have the settings at to make sure it keeps the batteries topped off? With a full charge what should the batteries read? Where are the house batteries located and how do I access them?

Whether your inverters are ON or not has no effect on charging your batteries. If it is in storage I would leave the inverters OFF. What must be ON is the battery charger button on each inverter.

With regards to Auto Gen Start the most important setting is the Start @ Voltage which should be at 12.1v so as not to let the batteries get below a 50% state of charge.

If you have the Discover Battery EVGC6A-B AGM batteries the batteries are fully charged with an at rest voltage of 12.9v.

If your battery placement was the same as the 2014 then they are in the first large storage compartment on the drivers side on 2 slide out trays.