Community Forums

tomato · 08-03-2021, 07:34 PM

2021 Ventana 3412. Does the inverter/charger also charge the chassis batteries when powered? If not, what are you all doing to keep them topped off? Battery tender? I have the tiny solar panel on the roof, but I keep it parked under our barn.

Thanks.

D20 · 08-03-2021, 07:43 PM

Yes. House batteries will be topped first then chassis battery if needed. All automatic.

BigMC · 08-03-2021, 07:47 PM

Newmar normally fits a Xantrex Freedom XC (Inverter/Charger) so yes. It you look in your storage bay you will find the make model. Its often in the passengers side first front bay (but I don't know for sure on the Ventana.

If it is an XC it will charge the chassis when hooked up to shore power. When on, so will your generator, which if your not using your coach should be run around once a month for 30 minutes with some load on it (AC's).

Hope thats of help.

tomato · 08-04-2021, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigMC

Newmar normally fits a Xantrex Freedom XC (Inverter/Charger) so yes. It you look in your storage bay you will find the make model. Its often in the passengers side first front bay (but I don't know for sure on the Ventana.

If it is an XC it will charge the chassis when hooked up to shore power. When on, so will your generator, which if your not using your coach should be run around once a month for 30 minutes with some load on it (AC's).

Hope thats of help.

Appreciate the info. Our Ventana has a Magnum Energy inverter/charger. I let it get to full charge on the house batteries today, but I never did see charge voltage go to the chassis batteries. They do not show in the Magnum remote panel - only in the remote that controls our HVAC and has the tank levels, etc. I'll have to spend some more time with it...

D20 · 08-04-2021, 08:59 PM

You should have a BIM. I don’t know if this is the exact model you have, but the last paragraph describes the operation. It looks like once charged, the chassis battery needs to drop to 80% charge before it will be charged again by the Magnum unit. Not sure if this explains what you are seeing or not.

twinboat · 08-05-2021, 02:14 AM

The Inverter/Charger is only connected to and charges the house batteries.

An isolation system ( BIM ) handles the bridging between the house and chassis battery for charging as needed.

RVStitchy · 08-05-2021, 04:32 AM

I have had a couple of BIMs go bad. The BIM in our Kountry Star was defective from day one and replaced by Newmar under warranty.

I discovered the problem when I tested the BIM by discharging batteries.

Here is the simple process I followed:

1. Unplug and generator, engine off - no charging.
2. Record you house and chassis battery levels
3. Leave a house load on - i.e. leave some lights on overnight.
4. Check battery level; the house batteries should drop from the house load - the chassis battery should be close to what you recorded in step 1. If the chassis batteries are closer to the house batteries then you BIM is not isolating the two properly.

Cscape · 08-05-2021, 12:49 PM

Hopefully the OP doesn't mind me adding to this post but my problem may help both of us understand things better.

I also own a Ventana (2020 3717) with the same Magnum system and also park my unit under cover so the solar system doesn't do anything. However, I leave my coach plugged in to 50A power when stored. Recently, I couldn't enter my coach using the key fob. The bay door locks also didn't work. After some experimentation, I realized the house battery was dead. But I was able to use the battery boost switch on the dash to get the coach started. After a while, the chassis batteries must have charged enough so that everything started working again.

I'm guessing this isn't a problem with the BIM as I was able to use battery boost. But perhaps this isn't the case? If so, any suggestions as to what I may be doing wrong or what may be broken?

tomato · 08-05-2021, 01:02 PM

I started the refrigerator on the inverter to run the batteries down. Chassis batteries were at 12.49 when I started - will let the house get down to say 12.1, check the chassis, and then plug it back into shore power...

tomato · 08-05-2021, 04:09 PM

One strange thing I noticed is that the Magnum controller/remote showed it was pushing 23+/- amps to the batteries, but my power control center only showed 7 amps being pulled through shore power?

twinboat · 08-05-2021, 04:59 PM

12 volt amps are 10 times what 120 volt amps are.

Your charger will draw about 3 amps 120 volts to charge 30 amps at 12 volts.

tomato · 08-06-2021, 02:03 PM

Update. So I ran the batteries down overnight - had the refrigerator running on the inverter for about 20 hours. House batteries down to 12.07 and the chassis batteries were down to 12.35 (not sure what the draw is on the chassis batts). Turned power back on, and the I/C seemed to charge the chassis batteries first, and it later went to bulk charge on the house batteries. However, the chassis batteries do not show as a separate bank on the Magnum remote. I saw that their charge state went to full first in the main control panel.