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gene2 · 08-18-2009, 04:30 PM

Went camping this past weekend with no hook ups. Ran generator during the day for AC, switch to battery at quiet time for TV for grandkids(& me). 1st night ok, minimal battery drain & recharged fine when generator ran for AC. 2nd night too hot to not have some air movement, ran small box fan all night off inverter & batteies. Batteries down to 50% by noon but still enough to operate all 12volt needs. Charging ok when generator started for AC at noon. Broke camp about 1 PM to next destination & ran generator during travel. Got to destination around 5 PM & didn't need AC so shut down generator. No 12 volt power available off batteries for lights, etc. Test light glows bright on batteries, 4 hrs charge time enough for use. No fuses blown. 12 volts to Battery Management box under hood, no volts coming out. Checked battery disconnect switch sveral times & can hear relay.

Very early in owning, found the single factory battery inadequate for a minimal overnight stay with furnace on in cold weather, replaced it & added 2nd battery & was good. Later added 1800 watt inverter connected directly to batteries then plugging shore power to inverter. Was OK untill putting batteries to full stress this spring discharging to 50%. Sometime during recharge, the factory converter failed & subsequently replaced with a 60 amp Intellipro with charge wizard. This was ok untill this last time stressing the batteries. The battery level was still enough to start the generator each time. The converter is still doing it's job. Twice when stressing batteries have had a failure while still having enough charge in batteries to do basic functions.

Just wondering if anyone had any thoughts or suggestions. I like to boondock, DW likes some hookups but is gradually getting comfortable with boondocking so we're doing more. I supect a burnout in the battery management box under the hood - ugh! Gonna double check evreything tommorrow before it gets too hot, I hate to bypass for temporary but may have to, have an important weekend boondocking this Friday.

auto · 08-22-2009, 02:11 AM

If the batt's still up and no circuit breakers kicked it sounds like it may have burnt contacts in the aux. disconnect solo. If you have an intellitec batt. center this may help. http://www.intellitec.com/PDF/5300524.100.pdf

"007" · 08-22-2009, 04:08 AM

Just my thoughts, I think you need more batteries and maybe solar panels for serious boon docking.
The Gen or converter will take for ever to charge a bank of batteries you need a good battery charger to bring them up to full charge. Any bad cell in a battery will defeat what ever charge you have in others.
Here is a good LINK that will explain what your are running up against, check out second page.

gene2 · 08-23-2009, 06:52 PM

I have extensive training in electricity oo7, Solar is not in this year's budget but it will be added when business improves, thanks anyway, the batteries are charged. I have the RV Custom Products Battery Control Center unfortunately I think & so far have found very little info online. I have since returned home, narrowed the problem to there. I want more info before I pull it out to repair. It's mounted in a tough place to work on under the hood. It probably is the solenoid ( I hope ) that circuit board looks expensive if it is even available. The manufacturer's website is not running & Google hasn't found them yet.

On a curious note, my Jensen CD, radio, etc. player quit working a while back & only have had time to check that it was receiving power. I don't listen to it very often but really like the clock. For whatever reason, over this weekend it mysteriously started working again.

Thanks again, I've learned a lot here over the years & try to contribute whenever I have somethhing useful.