Magnum setting for new batteries

[LWBAZ]

Originally Posted by 757driver

Larry,

How long is Absorb charge lasting? Should be about 2.5-3.0 hours. Could try to reduce it by selecting a smaller battery bank (try 400AH) until they come up with a fix.

Don, how about 12 hours or more even with the battery bank AmpHour setting at 200 AH, which is the lowest value the VegaTouch provides?

I don’t mean to be flippant. Trust me when I say this issue is not being caused by incorrect settings on the VegaTouch panel. It took way longer than it should have for the various parties (Entegra, Firefly & Magnum) to acknowledge the issue (a long-time friend of mine notified them last October, and I’m not sure he was the first to do so), but I believe, or at least want to believe, the resolution will soon be forthcoming.

I’m virtually certain the issue is widespread, but owners who don’t dry camp probably won’t experience it, or will be unaware if they do. If you travel all day and arrive at a full-hookup RV park, your house batteries will be fully charged (or very close) when you arrive. You get to your site, plug into shore power, and the chargers go immediately to Float. You unplug the next morning, hit the road, and arrive at the next full-hookup RV park. Same thing – as soon as you plug into shore power the chargers go to Float.

It’s only when your house batteries have been depleted to some degree – as happens when dry camping – that this issue manifests itself. In that case, you fire the generator, the chargers go into Bulk, then when the bank is recharged to 80% or so they transition to Absorb. The battery bank AmpHour setting should determine the duration of Absorb charging, but the problem is that regardless of the battery bank AmpHour setting on the VegaTouch panel, the chargers will hang in Absorb for hours on end.

Worth noting is that even some dry campers won’t notice the issue, because they start their generator in the morning, let it run and hour or two, call it good, and power down. In our case, much of our dry camping is in weather where we want/need air conditioning, so we frequently end up running the generator all day long. That’s when the problem becomes apparent.

When I was running tests at Magnum’s request, one such test was to disconnect the cables that run from the inverters to the Magnum ME-RVC bridge, reset the inverters (which put all their settings at the default values), and initiate a charge cycle. By observing the blinking of the small green light on each inverters, I could tell when the inverters were in Bulk, Absorb, or Float. With the VegaTouch system and the Magnum ME-RVC bridge out of the loop, the chargers transitioned through those phases exactly as the specs indicate they should.

From there the only question was whether Firefly’s VegaTouch system was passing incorrect codes to the Magnum ME-RVC bridge, or the bridge was being sent the correct codes but misinterpreting them. My understanding is that Firefly has been exonerated and Magnum has accepted responsibility for the problem. And as reported in one or more of my previous posts, Magnum is saying they will have a fix ready this month (July 2018).

I’ll post an update as soon as I have more information.

[757driver]

Originally Posted by LWBAZ

Don, how about 12 hours or more even with the battery bank AmpHour setting at 200 AH, which is the lowest value the VegaTouch provides?

I don’t mean to be flippant. Trust me when I say this issue is not being caused by incorrect settings on the VegaTouch panel. It took way longer than it should have for the various parties (Entegra, Firefly & Magnum) to acknowledge the issue (a long-time friend of mine notified them last October, and I’m not sure he was the first to do so), but I believe, or at least want to believe, the resolution will soon be forthcoming.

I’m virtually certain the issue is widespread, but owners who don’t dry camp probably won’t experience it, or will be unaware if they do. If you travel all day and arrive at a full-hookup RV park, your house batteries will be fully charged (or very close) when you arrive. You get to your site, plug into shore power, and the chargers go immediately to Float. You unplug the next morning, hit the road, and arrive at the next full-hookup RV park. Same thing – as soon as you plug into shore power the chargers go to Float.

It’s only when your house batteries have been depleted to some degree – as happens when dry camping – that this issue manifests itself. In that case, you fire the generator, the chargers go into Bulk, then when the bank is recharged to 80% or so they transition to Absorb. The battery bank AmpHour setting should determine the duration of Absorb charging, but the problem is that regardless of the battery bank AmpHour setting on the VegaTouch panel, the chargers will hang in Absorb for hours on end.

Worth noting is that even some dry campers won’t notice the issue, because they start their generator in the morning, let it run and hour or two, call it good, and power down. In our case, much of our dry camping is in weather where we want/need air conditioning, so we frequently end up running the generator all day long. That’s when the problem becomes apparent.

When I was running tests at Magnum’s request, one such test was to disconnect the cables that run from the inverters to the Magnum ME-RVC bridge, reset the inverters (which put all their settings at the default values), and initiate a charge cycle. By observing the blinking of the small green light on each inverters, I could tell when the inverters were in Bulk, Absorb, or Float. With the VegaTouch system and the Magnum ME-RVC bridge out of the loop, the chargers transitioned through those phases exactly as the specs indicate they should.

From there the only question was whether Firefly’s VegaTouch system was passing incorrect codes to the Magnum ME-RVC bridge, or the bridge was being sent the correct codes but misinterpreting them. My understanding is that Firefly has been exonerated and Magnum has accepted responsibility for the problem. And as reported in one or more of my previous posts, Magnum is saying they will have a fix ready this month (July 2018).

I’ll post an update as soon as I have more information.

Larry,

Wow, very interesting read. Not the greatest to have the batteries held at that high of a voltage for that many hours even if the current tapers down to a small value. Maximum Absorb time for Discover batteries is limited to 8 hours.

Best of luck getting this resolved. Will be watching.

[757driver]

Originally Posted by Victory Blue

Don,

Thanks for the explanation. For me this is a case of not knowing what I don’t know.

It seems to me that as much time as we all spend discussing batteries and as important as they are to using and enjoying our coaches we, as a group, should make an effort to change/fix the Vegatouch’s shortcomings in this area. I love the Vegatouch and it, or something like it, is here to stay so we might as well try to get it right. I’m not aware of any technical advisory group within ECOA, but it’s time to start one. Owners working together have a lot of power.

Bill,

I am all for such a group but when it comes to battery charging and education Entegra has not been very receptive in the past to any suggestions or ideas. Maybe a group effort might have a more positive outcome to implement changes to the Vegatouch interface.

[LWBAZ]

Originally Posted by 757driver

Larry,

Wow, very interesting read. Not the greatest to have the batteries held at that high of a voltage for that many hours even if the current tapers down to a small value. Maximum Absorb time for Discover batteries is limited to 8 hours.

Best of luck getting this resolved. Will be watching.

Don, you’re right – the amperage does diminish as the batteries approach full charge, but at that point you have a situation somewhat akin to using Custom settings and programming your Float voltage to something north of 14.5. Not especially good for battery life expectancy.

I’ve been dealing with this problem via manual intervention. Once the chargers have been in Absorb for three hours or so, I use the VegaTouch panel to turn them off. I’ve found that if I do that, leave the chargers off for a few minutes, then turn them back on I can usually get them to go into Float.

Not a great solution, but better than cooking the batteries for hours on end.

[757driver]

Originally Posted by LWBAZ

Don, you’re right – the amperage does diminish as the batteries approach full charge, but at that point you have a situation somewhat akin to using Custom settings and programming your Float voltage to something north of 14.5. Not especially good for battery life expectancy.

I’ve been dealing with this problem via manual intervention. Once the chargers have been in Absorb for three hours or so, I use the VegaTouch panel to turn them off. I’ve found that if I do that, leave the chargers off for a few minutes, then turn them back on I can usually get them to go into Float.

Not a great solution, but better than cooking the batteries for hours on end.

Larry,

Yes, I would agree not great for the batteries. I wonder how wide spread this problem is and will anything be done to correct this in ALL Vegatouch coaches or will it be limited to those that have watched their Absorb time and know that it is a problem such as yourself.

You have found the best way around the problem until a fix is in place. Once the chargers are switched OFF they should be able to be switched back ON relatively quickly because once the Magnum chargers see a voltage above approximately 12.6v they should go straight to Float charge and stay there for 4 hours prior to going to Full Charge.