Community Forums

EvenSteven · 05-14-2011, 08:57 AM

We have a 36skt Endeavor that we just purchased used, and are getting to know the various systems.

After plugging in the coach, I started the charger and was checking the output at the management panel. When charging, I was seeing 14.4 vDC going to the chassis batteries, and 12.4 at the coach batteries; shown on the digital voltage display.

I went to the battery compartment to confirm the charging and found my 14.4 vDC going to the house batteries, not the chassis. And the chassis batteries were showing 12.4 vDC, not the house batteries like it was displaying on the inside panel. Hmmm...

I have 2 questions now:

1) Is something wired backwards in my coach so the battery voltage switch at the management panel marked "chassis" and "house" is not displaying correctly?

2) Does the charger/inverter throw a charge at the chassis batteries at all?

Since the chassis batteries are mounted next to the house cells, maybe I was just assuming that the charging system would handle them both.

I'm interested to hear what you all think!

UK_Steve · 05-14-2011, 11:16 AM

Hi EvenSteven,

Depends on the make of the inverter charger, but in our 97 Fleetwood, then our 03 Cayman and now our 07 Cayman (the fleetwood had a simple Chase batter charger and the latter have Magnum inverter chargers) neither charged the Chassis Batteirs. I built s smple cross connect with protection that trickels the chassis from the house to keep them uptodate.

Not what you wanted to here I guess, but hope it helps?

Bob (WA0MQE) · 05-14-2011, 07:06 PM

If your coach has a Echo Charger installed then the Chassis Battery/s will be kept charged via the coach batteries. The Echo Charger xross-connects when the coach is plugged in and the Inverter/Charger is charging the coach batteries. The Echo Charger will not drain the coach batteries and will maintain the overall battery bank/s properly. Some Monaco's had this Echo Charger installed as an option, and some didn't. I guess it just depended on the build. If you don't have one then you could order one from and install it yourself.

Dutch Star Don · 05-14-2011, 09:55 PM

EvenSteven....We have the same coach and your inverter charger DOES NOT charge your chassis batteries. There is a simple fix. You need to install ONE of the three items below. They all do the same thing, but I personally like the Echo Charger best.

http://http://www.solar-electric.com/echo-charger.html

Ultra TRIK-L-START Starting Battery Charger/Maintainer

ME-SBC Smart Battery Combiner

UK_Steve · 05-15-2011, 02:54 AM

Hi Don & EvenSteven,
The Trick-L-Start looks very much functional wise to the unit I built, imine basically steels 1 amp max charge from the house batteries even when off mains, and keeps the chassis batteries topped up, has rev polarity protection and over load protection, the only difference is when I first connected as per the drawing on their web site and immediately encountered over load issues when starting the coach, so I have not reconnected to either side of the main solenoid that shunts both battery banks together for emergency starting - same charging result but reduces pull on engine start up.
Would very highly recommend such an addition to EvenSteven – and as for the other questions he has, no it’s not wired wrong way around but sounds more like a labelling issue.

Dutch Star Don · 05-15-2011, 10:55 AM

EvenSteven.....I forgot about replying to the wall meter being wrong. If it's the little glass meter (window ) on the control panel with the rocker switch you push to test, just pull the panel off and reverse the wires on the meter.

EvenSteven · 05-15-2011, 11:15 AM

Thanks for the responses, everyone!

I'll look around for something to address the chassis charging issue. It looks like there are plenty of options.

Until we replace the chassis batteries, I'll have to keep an eye on them. At the moment, they only seem to be holding a 12.4v charge. While that should be plenty to start the engine, I believe that shows an aging battery. We're plannning on replacing them with a couple of Lifeline units soon. We have a pair in our Lance, and they've held up well.

As for my digital voltmeter, would it be possible that the "chassis" and "house" labels were applied in the wrong positions? I wouldn't think it would be a problem to swap the wires on the back of the switch to get it to read correctly??

Thanks again for the help!

Steve

EvenSteven · 05-15-2011, 11:29 AM

I must have been typing my response when your additional comment posted regarding my digital voltage display, D.Don!

I'll swap the wires and should be good to go!

I need to search the forum archives for your posts, Diplomat Don. We've already run across a number of great ideas and helpful information that you've shared with this forum.

Thanks,

Steve

Dutch Star Don · 05-15-2011, 09:26 PM

Steve.....Once you change out batteries, especially if you go with Liflines, call Magnum Inverters and let them tell you what you need to set the inverter at in the hallway.

Not to many coaches like ours. I've done a million things to ours and some are specific to issues with our model. PM me if you ever have questions and I'll send you my phone number.

On of the things that always aggravated me was that the brochure said there should have been a water pump switch in the kitchen....there wasn't, so I added one. I'll really be mad if yours has one.

EvenSteven · 05-16-2011, 01:34 PM

Don,

Thanks for the heads-up on the inverter settings. I talked to Lifeline about this, and they said they would provide the specs to adjust my charger settings; but I think contacting Magnum is probably a good idea too.

Funny you should mention that kitchen WP switch. My wife and I were discussing that one over the weekend. We don't have one either. I'm a graphic designer, though, and I can understand how brochures get written and produced with one or two minor errors in specifications <loud cough>.

Thanks for the offer of personal contact. I'll shoot you a message this week. I've only got a million or two questions about this coach; and while I enjoy discovering answers for myself, it's nice to know someone who's probably been down that road before.

Our 10 year old daughter wanted dearly to "camp out" in the new rig; so we leveled it next to the driveway and enjoyed our first night inside on Saturday. I have to say, this is a very comfortable coach to drive and sleep in. So far, we're very pleased with our purchase.

Have a great week!

Steve