Community Forums

Scottybdivin · 02-21-2018, 10:02 AM

See my quote above from ME-RC manual. It's there due to RV1A. My guess is to prevent auto starts while someone is under the hood.

Question is; where is the toggle on/off on the ME-ARC? I haven't been able to find it yet.

C.Martin · 02-21-2018, 10:33 AM

Scotty,

It’s nowhere to be found.

Magnum is pretty good at replying to these questions with a logical answer.

This is just a wild guess...but maybe this feature was included on the regular remote...because many folks do not want to get that involved...so they add some features to help out. When you graduate to the Advanced Remote...they know the geek factor has kicked in...and you are savvy enough to wade thru all these menus and make it behave (eventually)...

PanJH · 02-25-2018, 07:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by C.Martin

Sure...by arming EXT. input...the AGS is talking to the Dometic control box in the basement. If you look at this picture...The ME-AGS and the metallic box which controls the Dometic units...have a little black box with a green dot connecting them. That is the ME-PT2...and it communicates the need for power to the AGS

Thanks ! Where would these typically be mounted ? I want to check it out.

reubenray · 02-25-2018, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PanJH

Thanks ! Where would these typically be mounted ? I want to check it out.

Mine is on the wall in the passenger side compartment right before the compartment with the pegboard.

PandS · 06-29-2018, 11:36 AM

We are plugged in to 30 amp and have been able to run one or two air conditioners without a problem. With two dogs, my concern is if the park was to lose power while away from the coach, can I get the generator to start and keep the air conditioner running? We have only before used the AGS set for voltage loss while dry camping, and it worked well. We were not using air conditioning or heat at the time.

I followed C.Martin’s excellent step by step directions to arm the AGS with temperature start. After I set the AGS:04 Start Temp to EXT.Input, even while getting power from the pole, the generator kicked on when the air conditioner cycled back on. I spoke to Newmar service, and they told me this is what it’s supposed to do. With the Start Temp on, the generator starts when the air conditioner cycles on.

I asked if I turned off the Start Temp and just had the AGS set for low voltage, would that turn on the generator, and the air conditioner, if we had a power outage. I was told that the generator would start once the voltage dropped to the set level, but the air conditioner would have to be reset manually before it would go on.

Maybe I wasn’t clear in my question, or more than likley I didn’t understand the answer, but is there really no way to set the AGS so that the air conditioner can run on the park’s power, and have the generator start only if there is a power failure in our absence and have the air conditioner come back on with the power from the generator during the park's power failure?

Susan

dxg0001 · 06-29-2018, 12:24 PM

Hi Susan,

This is a very timely post on your part. See my recent post AGS/Generator Turning On and Off by Itself on the very same subject.

My understanding is that the AGS is NOT to supposed to start the generator as long as there is AC power coming in. I have it set up just as you describe (we too have pets in the coach which we want to protect in case the power fails). It's been working like this for months without any problems. We basically test the system when we travel since we are not hooked up anymore. Once we then turn the A/C on the generator starts.

I am quite puzzled by the answer you got from Newmar. If you look at your AGS Status display you should see "AC In". As long as you see that, the generator should not come on. Even if battery voltage goes down, I wouldn't think that warrants for the generator to start since all it does replace AC with AC so why would that make a difference in charging the batteries.

Having said all that, we are on 50 Amp. I don't know if being on 30 Amp makes any difference.

Regards,
Dan

C.Martin · 06-29-2018, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PanJH

Thanks ! Where would these typically be mounted ? I want to check it out.

Mine is screwed to the aft wall in the compartment just forward of the pegboard bay...

C.Martin · 06-29-2018, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dxg0001

Hi Susan,

This is a very timely post on your part. See my recent post AGS/Generator Turning On and Off by Itself on the very same subject.

My understanding is that the AGS is NOT to supposed to start the generator as long as there is AC power coming in. I have it set up just as you describe (we too have pets in the coach which we want to protect in case the power fails). It's been working like this for months without any problems. We basically test the system when we travel since we are not hooked up anymore. Once we then turn the A/C on the generator starts.

I am quite puzzled by the answer you got from Newmar. If you look at your AGS Status display you should see "AC In". As long as you see that, the generator should not come on. Even if battery voltage goes down, I wouldn't think that warrants for the generator to start since all it does replace AC with AC so why would that make a difference in charging the batteries.

Having said all that, we are on 50 Amp. I don't know if being on 30 Amp makes any difference.

Regards,
Dan

I would check to be sure that you armed it by selecting Auto and not ON. On will turn the generator ON thru the AGS circuit.

The AGS should watch voltage regardless. The charger can cut out via the load management system, to help preserve the 30amp shore power to meet loads. If this situation last a long enough ...you might get a low voltage start. The air conditioner...if it has power 30 or 50...it shouldn't trigger the AGS. There is a chance of a brownout, occurring rapidly enough to trigger a start. The generator will have priority, once it starts...as it has priority at the transfer switch.

PandS · 06-29-2018, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by C.Martin

I would check to be sure that you armed it by selecting Auto and not ON. On will turn the generator ON thru the AGS circuit.

The AGS should watch voltage regardless. The charger can cut out via the load management system, to help preserve the 30amp shore power to meet loads. If this situation last a long enough ...you might get a low voltage start. The air conditioner...if it has power 30 or 50...it shouldn't trigger the AGS. There is a chance of a brownout, occurring rapidly enough to trigger a start. The generator will have priority, once it starts...as it has priority at the transfer switch.

Could you please clarify what should be armed by selecting AUTO and not ON? I don't see either as an option for the AGS. The choices are OFF, ENABLE, TEST, ENABLE W/QT.

Thanks!

C.Martin · 06-29-2018, 05:01 PM

Sorry...the menu options are different when you use the ME-ARC. Doesn't apply to the ME-RC50 remote...

It tricks a lot of us that have changed remotes to take advantage of the State of Charge settings...when paired with the ME-BMK battery monitor.

The State of Charge setting for AGS winds up being more accurate. Unlike voltage, the SOC reference isn't skewed by changes in current.

Stuart W · 06-29-2018, 05:25 PM

Ok I’m following, have wanted to set mine up for the dogs now that it’s hot outside, I have read this whole thread and am a little confused. I’ll keep reading. Thank you

PandS · 06-29-2018, 07:12 PM

Stuart, you are not alone in your confusion!

Let me preface this with the statement that this is our first motorhome, and one year in it still amazes us by what it can do. It most certainly is smarter than we are.

So... Newmar and our owners manual both say that setting my AGS to trigger by temp will always start the generator when the air conditioner turns on. So that setting will not meet my need, which is to just have the generator kick on during a power outage to keep the air conditioner running to protect the dogs.

I can set the AGS to turn on by voltage. My thought here is that our Energy Management System is so good, how long would it take for the batteries to drop enough to trigger the AGS? When dry camping for a few days last month, it took 20+ hours before our batteries dropped low enough to trigger the AGS the first time. Granted, we were not using the TVs, heat or air conditioning at the time.

While camped here on 30 amps for the past four weeks, our EMS has worked beautifully. We can run two air conditioners and the washer and dryer on the 30 amps. Our middle zone (zone 2) cools the whole coach, front to back, so we pretty much only run zone 2. The EMS is set to turn off the block heater, water heater 2, water heater 1, AC middle, AC rear, AC front. Only turning on the cook top and the microwave has triggered the EMS to turn off the air conditioner.

So, if we leave the coach with zone 2 (middle) on for air conditioning and we lose power, would the EMS turn off the air conditioner to save the battery power and thereby keep the voltage high enough to not trigger the AGS for hours? Will the air conditioner even attempt to run by inverter, running the batteries down enough to trigger the AGS? I was told today that the air conditioners would have to be turned back on manually after a power loss. Would the air conditioners reset themselves to OFF with the power loss? They don't do that when the EMS turns them off.

Maybe an intentional loss of power should be on the schedule for tomorrow to see what happens.

Susan

Stuart W · 06-29-2018, 07:45 PM

Thank you Susan, wow this whole time I thought the Gen would kick on and keep the air on. Maybe I’m wrong, but it sounds like if the AGS was set to temperature and the shore power was off, when the the set on temperature was reached, the gen would start then the AC and shut off when the temp was achieved, turning off the AC then Generator. Is this correct?

RMD3819 · 06-29-2018, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PandS

Stuart, you are not alone in your confusion!

Let me preface this with the statement that this is our first motorhome, and one year in it still amazes us by what it can do. It most certainly is smarter than we are.

So... Newmar and our owners manual both say that setting my AGS to trigger by temp will always start the generator when the air conditioner turns on. So that setting will not meet my need, which is to just have the generator kick on during a power outage to keep the air conditioner running to protect the dogs.

I can set the AGS to turn on by voltage. My thought here is that our Energy Management System is so good, how long would it take for the batteries to drop enough to trigger the AGS? When dry camping for a few days last month, it took 20+ hours before our batteries dropped low enough to trigger the AGS the first time. Granted, we were not using the TVs, heat or air conditioning at the time.

While camped here on 30 amps for the past four weeks, our EMS has worked beautifully. We can run two air conditioners and the washer and dryer on the 30 amps. Our middle zone (zone 2) cools the whole coach, front to back, so we pretty much only run zone 2. The EMS is set to turn off the block heater, water heater 2, water heater 1, AC middle, AC rear, AC front. Only turning on the cook top and the microwave has triggered the EMS to turn off the air conditioner.

So, if we leave the coach with zone 2 (middle) on for air conditioning and we lose power, would the EMS turn off the air conditioner to save the battery power and thereby keep the voltage high enough to not trigger the AGS for hours? Will the air conditioner even attempt to run by inverter, running the batteries down enough to trigger the AGS? I was told today that the air conditioners would have to be turned back on manually after a power loss. Would the air conditioners reset themselves to OFF with the power loss? They don't do that when the EMS turns them off.

Maybe an intentional loss of power should be on the schedule for tomorrow to see what happens.

Susan

My AGS is set to start at 11.5 volts. It happened one time. We were in a WM overnight and awoke to the genny running. Not sure what drained it, possibly the TVs from the prior evening.

If your temp setting is EXT then the AGS will start when the Dometic wall thermostat calls for A/C AND there is no shore power. It will run for the specified time you have set. Mine is set for four hours then will repeat the cycle if there is no shore power.

The A/C will not run on battery. If it did it would not last more than a few minutes which would deplete the batteries and start the AGS.

Don't overthink this. If either the voltage or temp thresholds are met the generator will start. The A/C will stay on, otherwise it would defeat the purpose.

This confused the heck out of me until folks like C.Martin and others chimed in.