Community Forums

pjnbuddy · 11-25-2012, 08:43 PM

I am located in Heber Springs, AR and for the past couple of nites it has been 27 and 30*. I don't know if the batteries froze, but I did notice some sort of liquid drips on the outside of one battery. And the place I have it stored, does not allow me the room (up against a wall) to pull the tray out or for the door to open completely so I can actually inspect the batteries to see if they are low or not. So until I can get it moved out of that stall, ?????? Thank you so much for the information...I truly appreciate you all...Just tell me if I ask too many questions and I'll quit asking.....I truly want to learn everything I can though if ya'll don't mind.

pjnbuddy · 11-25-2012, 08:46 PM

OK, I will do the generator thing from here on out, but I don't know what you mean when you say let it run for at least an hour at 1/2 load...would you explain? Thank you

KIX · 11-25-2012, 08:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pjnbuddy

It has a battery boost...(is that the same as an aux or emergency start? YES Anyway, I tried that but it did not help or I did not know how to use it one :-( Press and hold the switch for about 30 seconds then continue holding it while you try to start either main engine or genset. Also, how do you know which is the chassis and which is the house batteries?

In most RV's the house battery bank has the most batteries. If you have 6volt batteries in series/parallel that will be the house bank. Your engine batteries will be 12volt and typically 2 of them for a diesel.

KIX · 11-25-2012, 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pjnbuddy

OK, I will do the generator thing from here on out, but I don't know what you mean when you say let it run for at least an hour at 1/2 load...would you explain? Thank you

Turn on the A/C ( or both A/C's) Or the water heater on electric and a space heater. If the genset is rated at say 7.0 kW then you need to have electrical items using about 1/2 of that 7.0 kW. The electrical formula of amps x volts = watts is important to know. for instance if your A/C unit uses 15 amps at 120 volts then that would be 1800 watts (1.8 kW). 2 A/C's would use about 3600 watts or 3.6 kW which is about 1/2 load for a 7.0 kW genset.

KIX · 11-25-2012, 08:56 PM

Re: the fluid you see leaking from the battery. Mix some baking soda and water and pour it on the fluid to neutralize the acid.

"007" · 11-25-2012, 08:58 PM

No we will stick with you you just need to read the posts provided if you can not get the access to batteries you may need to be towed out to a dealer.

Mr_D · 11-25-2012, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KIX

Turn on the A/C ( or both A/C's) Or the water heater on electric and a space heater. If the genset is rated at say 7.0 kW then you need to have electrical items using about 1/2 of that 7.0 kW. The electrical formula of amps x volts = watts is important to know. for instance if your A/C unit uses 15 amps at 120 volts then that would be 1800 watts (1.8 kW). 2 A/C's would use about 3600 watts or 3.6 kW which is about 1/2 load for a 7.0 kW genset.

I run one heat pump on cool and they other on heat. Then, after about ½ hour I switch them around. That gets the heat pumps exercised as well as the 8.0Kw Gen set.

pjnbuddy · 11-25-2012, 09:26 PM

KIX, thank you for taking the the time to educate this ole girl. I have so much to learn, and I am truly hungry for knowledge. I want to hit the road the first of next yr and I really feel ill equipped. Maybe, if ya'll don't kick me off here, I'll be walking instead of crawling when I take my first journey.

And 007, thank you, I am trying to absorb everything on this site...I don't always wanna be the one to ask questions.

pjnbuddy · 11-25-2012, 09:29 PM

MR D, thank you and if I ever get this mh up and running again, I certainly will follow not only your advise but everybody that has enlightened me tonite.

Again, thank you all soooo much...you have not idea how grateful I am to ya'll

Shadowcatche · 11-26-2012, 03:09 AM

If you have access to shore power then it is simply a matter of being plugged in all of the time and making sure that both the house batteries and the engine starting batteries are being charged fully. The only certain way to know batteries are full is by using a battery monitor I have a Victron 1 - Victron Energy and bmv-602s which is the simplest to wire and use and the 602S will monitor both the starter battery and house battery. The alternative is the Trimetric TriMetric Battery System | Bogart Engineering
To maintain batteries with out the onboard charger you can use a system such as a Batteryminders Specials | BatteryMinders.com
Since mine is a trailer and I have a 185 W solar panel I let the solar controller take care of maintaining the AGM battery.

You do need to be knowledgeable about how batteries work and how to feed them to keep them happy, they are a big investment.