Beaver Charging Questions...................

[Beaver Mike]

I have a 1999 Beaver Contessa. According to the sales literature it came with an Echo Battery Charger for the Coach batteries. Twice now after parking the rig in one spot for an extended period of time, plugged in, the Coach batteries ended up dead. I am assuming that the Echo charger has quit working and the parasitic draw has drained the batteries after time(the coach batteries are only a year old).

Here are my questions.

Where is the Echo Battery charger located ? I have looked in both the battery compartment / drawer area and the Electrical compartment that has the Main Power source / Inverter / house battery charger combo. Can't find it or maybe not recognizing it.......................

I have 2 - 50 watt solar panels on the roof (factory), and it appears that one is hooked up to the house batteries and the other to the coach batteries. Would these not keep the batteries charged up in the absence of a properly working echo charger ?? How would I test to see if these panels are still working ??

While searching other threads for these answers, I did come across the Ultra Trik-L-Start. Anyone using this item ? It seems like it would be a good replacement for the Echo Charger.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Beaver Mike !

[Robi.1014]

B.Mike,

Can't help you with the "location" of the Echo charger. But to take some of the mystery out of your electrical system, get a multimeter....and report back to this forum the voltage you see at your coach (starting) batteries....especially on a bright sunny day. If not well above 12.4 (or so), then that implies several things: (a) the solar panel is not charging the coach battery (more later on that), (b) there is a load (or "leakage") draining the coach batteries such that the Echo (if present) and/or the solar panel can't keep up with the load, and (c) other issues.

Confirm with us that you have a master cut-off switch that disconnects the coach batteries from the rig. This switch is in the battery compartment (I'm not referencing the "salesman switch" function). This information would further help this forum guide you on further troubleshooting.