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Starbase57 · 05-04-2017, 02:03 PM

I have a 1999 Monaco Windsor 40 PDQ and the chassis battery will lose charge when plugged into shoreline. Not sure what is going on. I cheeked the Battery Maintainer and on what is labeled COACH has 14V and the side labeled CHASSIS has 0 Volts this is with the battery switches turned off. But I don’t understand how the Battery Maintainer works?

ElvistheKing · 05-04-2017, 03:08 PM

How long does it take to loss charge? There is probably a few parasitic loads on something as complicated as your RV and you don't know what a previouse owner has installed that maybe draining power.

I was told by the previous owner of my RV (1999 Monaco Windsor so same vintage) that the reading lights in the bedroom where powered off the chassis battery for instance.

The battery maintainer is surposed to charge eithier the Chassis if it's lower than the house or vice verse, if it's not working properly I could imagine that you would slowly drain the chassis battery over time.

(And if you have drained it completely a few times because it will be a normal starting battery rather than a deep cycle one it's possible you've killed it)

ElvistheKing · 05-04-2017, 03:10 PM

What does the battery mainter voltages read when both battery's are switched on AND what voltages do you get at the batteries themselves?

Starbase57 · 05-04-2017, 04:49 PM

chassis battery reads about 12.2V at the battery and the same at the maintainer when battery switch is turned on.
FYI... the maintainer is a model # LE-415 from Keep it Up. it has a hot line to the coach side and a hot line to the chassis side and a ground line in the middle. No 120V power to it.

Starbase57 · 05-04-2017, 04:52 PM

It takes about 2or3 weeks to drain down to the point where I will need to charge it or use the battery boost to help start the engine.

8.3Oilbuner · 05-04-2017, 05:26 PM

Hi Starbase57; I know and have seen but don't know where to look right now, there are instructions for the Battery Maintainer LE-415 model on- line somewhere. Try Binging instructions for the Keep IT UP battery maintainer model LE-415. If I am correct, they don't make those anymore. I know if I go out to my 01 Windsor right now and the batteries are in the float charge mode from the inverter, I will get about 13.4V on the chassis side of the LE-415 and 13.4V on the house side of the LE-415. Is the little green light on in the middle of the LE-415? If not, something could be wrong with the Maintainer. If I remember right, if no green light is on, start the engine and let it run for five min. This should activate the chassis side of the LE-415. If you coach is the same as other Windsor's of the late 90's and early 2000's, the batteries will charge when plugged into shore power even with the battery disconnect switches in the off position thru the charging side of the inverter. Hope this gives you some place to start looking. Let us know if you find out what the problem is. I have seen the LE-415 on Visone's RV Salvage web site at times when they have them.

Starbase57 · 05-04-2017, 07:05 PM

Yes the green light on the LE-415 lights up. Maybe I need to check the inverter, I thought the LE-415 was maintaining a float charge. I will keep checking. Thanks for the help.

8.3Oilbuner · 05-05-2017, 10:30 AM

Good morning Starbase57; I tried looking the Lambert LE-415 Battery Maintainer on line with no success for instructions and diagnostics. It is possible that there could be a bad diode in the unit. I think I have a copy of the instructions and diagnostics in my big Monaco box in the coach when the operating instructions were online. Will check when I get back from some errands and see what it says. Hope your having better luck than I am.

8.3Oilbuner · 05-05-2017, 01:38 PM

Hi Starbase57. Here is some information that you may find helpful. This is the information and diagnostics pages I printed out a number of years ago for the Lambert Model LE-415 Battery Maintainer. Hope this helps.

General
The Model LE-415 has two operating states: Active and Inactive. The state is
indicated by the green LED: ON when Active, OFF when Inactive.
When in the Inactive state (green LED of off) the LE-415 is idling and it neither charges nor discharges the Chassis (engine) battery. The LE-415 becomes inactive while dry camping (Le. when the coach is not plugged into shore power and the generator is not running). This keeps the coach battery from being drained into a defective chassis battery (with a dead cell, for example). When in the Active state (green LED is on), the LE-415 passes current from the Inverter (Converter) to the Chassis battery keeping it charged. The LE-415 becomes active whenever the Inverter (Converter) is powered up [i.e. the coach is plugged into shore power, or the generator is running). The green LED is located next to the Negative terminal.
The LE-415 uses the Coach (house) battery voltage to indicate whether the Inverter (Converter) is powered up. When the Coach battery voltage exceeds 13.5 volts, the LE-415 becomes active, and remains active until the coach battery voltage drops to 12.8 volts. The LE-415 will not pass current from the Chassis battery to the Coach battery under any circumstances.

Testing the LE-415 is a simple procedure comprising two parts: (a) does the unit become Active at the proper voltage?, (b) does the unit conduct current properly?
In-Vehicle Testing
Tools needed: (a) digital voltmeter, (b) 12V. test lamp.
1. Disconnect the coach from shore power, and kill the engine.
2. Disconnect the wire from the Chassis battery terminal of the LE-415.
3. Connect a 12V. test lamp between the Chassis battery terminal of the LE-415 and chassis ground.
4. Connect a digital voltmeter between the Coach battery terminal of the LE-415 and the Negative terminal of the LE-415.
5. Observe the green LED. If it is OFF, go to step #7.
6. If the green LED is ON, turn on some interior lights to drain the Coach battery until the green LED goes OFF.
7. Connect the coach to shore power and read the digital voltmeter. If it reads 13.5 volts or higher, the green LED should be ON. If it is not ON, the LE-415 should be replaced.
8. If the digital voltmeter reads less than 13.5 volts, start the engine and run it for a few seconds. The charging current from the engine's generator will raise the voltage above 13.5 volts and turn the Model LE-415 ON. If the digital voltmeter reads 13.5 volts or higher, the green LED should be ON. If it is not ON, the LE-415 should be replaced.
9. Whenever the green LED is ON, the 12 V: test lamp should light. If it doesn't, the LE-415 should be replaced.

Starbase57 · 05-05-2017, 08:05 PM

Thanks 8.30ilbuner for all the help, I'm going to print the info you gave me and try to test the unit. in the mean time I added a 1.5A trickle charger to top off the chassis battery until I fix the problem. I am hoping this does not cause a problem if its own.