Battery Life

[Randyman1]

Could it be your BigBoy solenoid not engaging?

[SteveSkinner]

No.
Both sets of batteries charge off the generator. None of the batteries are charging off the alternator.
Arrived at Virginia Beach with flat car battery.
Charge line not active - I'll need to go searching for it unless somebody knows how Monaco would have wired it to the base plug.
I'm thinking the complete replacement of the battery cables may not have been as complete as invoiced.


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[Weimaraner]

Since the batteries charge with the generator and not the alternator, the question to ask are the house batteries charged when on the alternator? If the house batteries are charging on the alternator then I would recommend you check the battery isolator, this device keeps the house and chassis batteries isolated from each other and is feed from the alternator. I had a problem with mine where the isolation diodes for the chassis batteries had opened and the chassis batteries would not charge, and house batteries did charge. Replaced the battery isolator and all was well.

[SteveSkinner]

Thanks for the above.
Both house and chassis batteries discharge without the generator running and charge happily with it running.
Mike Canter sent me a wiring diagram for the Alt circuit so I'm going to look at that today.


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[SteveSkinner]

A foot note
Still ha net had the opportunity to sort this.
However yesterday was a long drive and while the batteries started off fully charged and with the generator running the house batteries discharged very slowly.
However the chassis batteries discharged quite quickly to 11.6v. Seems the big boy only engages when the inverter decides it's time to add some charge to the house.
Long and short - had to stop and connect both chassis and house.
Then I stopped the generator and restarted it to trigger the charging process.
All is well. Until I off load our house guests I'll leave the jumper lead on between the 2 sets of batteries. Won't do any harm


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[Smitty77]

I would think our Signature should have a pretty good inverter/charger combo(?). So as mentioned, double checking it to be sure they setting are right, and the actual output matches it, would be a good thing to do.

And also as mentioned, you could have been fighting a losing battle for sometime now. If the place that was being paid to store it with power, was not, it does not take too many low discharges to compromise a battery. And, it could have been one of the 8 batteries had a bad cell, or two, as that has been known to happen too. Then all the other batteries are impacted by the weaker one.

Hopefully the new battery bank, clean cables (And if you're not positive they did so, also be sure to check the grounds attachment points, and clean them if needed.) and revalidation of proper settings and outputs of your chargers - will get you going for a long time again. If you don't have one, the investment in one of the watering systems makes battery top off a non problem. Just squeeze the bulb every time you're visiting the coach.

All that being said. I know several coach owners that turn off all of their coach batteries when in storage (Some add a blade switch to the battery connection.), and have a supplemental 15A battery tender like product take care of the trickle charge/float maintenance. The units with the auto desulfation are a plus too. Especially on wet cells. (Battery Minder, has several such units.)

Best of luck to you,
Smitty

[distaff]

Steve - if you can confirm the model of inverter and the isolator type we can be more help.

I'm assuming you have a Magnum Pure Sine Wave inverter and a BIRD/Big Boy isolator circuit (used to cross charge the chassis and coach batteries).

Without knowing any of the above there are a couple of standard things that apply to battery life:

• Cut off the batteries in storage - make sure they are fully charged first
• For deep cycle batteries add 4 ounces of mineral oil to each cell (any pharmacy will sell it) - this keeps the acid from leaving the battery when off gassing because you are charging the batteries (gasses will escape but they pass from the electrolyte to the oil layer, then are released to the atmosphere and the oil is too heavy to vapourize - saves you a lot of corrosion in the battery compartment)
• Make sure that your batteries are connected so that the connections to the coach circuits are at opposite corners to each other.

This last point is hard to describe, but if you lay your batteries out in pairs to make 12V from each pair (in series) then the pairs are connected in parallel (to increase the total amps) you would have a rectangle with negative terminals on two corners and positive terminals on the other two corners. Connect them by opposite corners to the coach. Sometimes the manufacture or dealer will connect the same side + and -, and this will kill your batteries much faster than if you draw power across the whole array.

[SteveSkinner]

A follow up:
I confirmed that the alternator was producing no charge.
I kept the jumper on for the remainder of our trip.
I've left the coach with NIRC in Atlanta with instructions to email me once they have diagnosed the problem.
If it turns out the Alt has gone TU I'll request a rewind rather than an exchange.


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[wa8yxm]

There are many things that affect battery life.. As it happens I've been a bit lazy on my "new" batteries (got 'em spring 2014) and have not checked the fluid (Folks it ain't water Teaching joke below explains) and guess what. Finally got around to checking 'em today.. Still good, no need to add.

Ok, I baby them, plugged in nearly 24x7 (Sometimes it does not matter, I mean there was a case of BANG-No power last spring... No, it was not a burned connection, it was a car v/s a utility pole, and another BANG-NO power this summer. The Bang was a fuse on the power pole, and then there was a small storm... Hurricane matthew.. I'm glad I have all those batteries)

But it all adds up.. Do you keep the RV plugged in, Do you have a top of the pile 3-stage Charger (Mine is a progressive Dynamics 9180 with wizard) is the converter properly sized for your battery bank (I can eat up to 150 amps so my 80 amp is real nice.. Oh, I can hit 150 when I need to (have 2nd converter) And are they six volt GC-2 or "Marine Deep cycle" types.. IT all matters.

But 3 years is not long enough with proper care.. MY OEM Interstates went 9 years.

[SteveSkinner]

Just to follow up.
Yes it was a failed alternator.
And no it didn't affect my holiday just my bank balance.