Charging house and engine batteries?

[153stars]

I'm not super familiar with your inverter but most have , Invert +pass through of gen or line power ,loose 120v supply and inverter takes over or charge only + pass through 120v setting = no invert if incoming 120v stops and charging of course . Off is off no charge & no invert just 120v pass through. There is a 120v breaker in main panel that will shut off 120v feed through and charging.

Originally Posted by jvannghi

Hey guys,

Thx so much for info! New to RV and been fighting so many electrical gremlins!

Regarding this, I unplugged telephone cable and voltage remained the same at 12.3 after charging all night.
"If your getting more then 12.7 volts but not 13.4 or more, find the inverter charger and unplug the phone jack looking thing marked BTS, Battery Temp Sensor, and see if the volts go up."

Inverter is Xantrax Freedom 458, green light flashing CHARGE / GEL 1

And so dumb ass question but I usually have everything switched Off on the main console for batteries to minimize drain. Does inverter need to be on to charge batteries at any point, shore power or Gen power???

[mchero]

Originally Posted by twinboat

It should be set to wet batteries, not Gel 1.

Gel batteries, just about obsolete, have a gifferent charging profile.

WRONG!!!!

Don't assume that the converter is set to GEL1 by looking at the light above GEL1

The battery type is displayed ONLY when setting the battery type by holding in the invert button for 5 seconds. You THEN set battery type by pressing the
the charge button! WET GEL1 GEL2 or AGM.
By default WET is selected. That is IF the button(s) are still functional!
Between that plastic membrane and the actual button on the control board their is a small stiff wafer that is supposed to protect the button on the control board if pressed too hard. Over time those little black wafers deteriorate and it takes more travel to get the button pressed. Sometimes resulting in a cracked membrane.
When disconnected from AC power and the Xantrex is inverting 12vdc to 120vac the INVERT/WET light will be Steady and the CHARGE/GEL1 LIGHT WILL BLINK.
When 120vac is applied to the inverter, e.g. RV plugged in to outlet the INVERT/WET will flash and the CHARGE/GEL1 will be steady IF it's set to charge.
As stated in a prior post the inverter will pass thru 120vac when applied.
How do I know this? I have a Xantrex Freedom 458 2K watt with the two 20/30 amp breakers on the front. I lost communication to my remote panel and had to replace the communication board. I also have a NEW power board that I need to unload because I was able to repair my current power board.
The Xantrex Freedom is a solid Inverter/converter and will serve you for many years IF properly maintained. It will do some crazy things if your house batteries fail. Yes it's a MSW inverter but it's powered all the electronics I have plugged I to it w/o issue.
I strongly recommend the OP download the user manual AND the remote panel manual. You need the remote panel to easily set battery type and other options. If you don't have a remote panel you CAN'T equalize your wet house batteries.
One other note:
I see that you have a battery temperature sensor connected. Those sensors fail over time. To test it note the voltage of the batteries when the converter is charging your house batteries. Make sure no load(s) are on the house batteries. Note the voltage of the batteries with a volt meter, now disconnect the temp sensor, the voltage "should" change. If not replace the sensor. The manual suggests connecting the sensor to one of the batteries positive post. Their is a slight chance that sensor could short out sending voltage back into the control board smoking it! Your only option would then be to send your inverter to an "authorized" Xantrex service center...Ka-ching! Not including shipping that HEAVY inverter both ways if you dont have a local service center.
The date of manufactur and model number is on the bottom mounting lip on the left side about halfway back.

Hope this helps the OP and other Xantrex Freedom 458 users.

[FIRE UP]

Originally Posted by mchero

WRONG!!!!

Don't assume that the converter is set to GEL1 by looking at the light above GEL1

The battery type is displayed ONLY when setting the battery type by holding in the invert button for 5 seconds. You THEN set battery type by pressing the
the charge button! WET GEL1 GEL2 or AGM.
By default WET is selected. That is IF the button(s) are still functional!
Between that plastic membrane and the actual button on the control board their is a small stiff wafer that is supposed to protect the button on the control board if pressed too hard. Over time those little black wafers deteriorate and it takes more travel to get the button pressed. Sometimes resulting in a cracked membrane.
When disconnected from AC power and the Xantrex is inverting 12vdc to 120vac the INVERT/WET light will be Steady and the CHARGE/GEL1 LIGHT WILL BLINK.
When 120vac is applied to the inverter, e.g. RV plugged in to outlet the INVERT/WET will flash and the CHARGE/GEL1 will be steady IF it's set to charge.
As stated in a prior post the inverter will pass thru 120vac when applied.
How do I know this? I have a Xantrex Freedom 458 2K watt with the two 20/30 amp breakers on the front. I lost communication to my remote panel and had to replace the communication board. I also have a NEW power board that I need to unload because I was able to repair my current power board.
The Xantrex Freedom is a solid Inverter/converter and will serve you for many years IF properly maintained. It will do some crazy things if your house batteries fail. Yes it's a MSW inverter but it's powered all the electronics I have plugged I to it w/o issue.
I strongly recommend the OP download the user manual AND the remote panel manual. You need the remote panel to easily set battery type and other options. If you don't have a remote panel you CAN'T equalize your wet house batteries.
One other note:
I see that you have a battery temperature sensor connected. Those sensors fail over time. To test it note the voltage of the batteries when the converter is charging your house batteries. Make sure no load(s) are on the house batteries. Note the voltage of the batteries with a volt meter, now disconnect the temp sensor, the voltage "should" change. If not replace the sensor. The manual suggests connecting the sensor to one of the batteries positive post. Their is a slight chance that sensor could short out sending voltage back into the control board smoking it! Your only option would then be to send your inverter to an "authorized" Xantrex service center...Ka-ching! Not including shipping that HEAVY inverter both ways if you dont have a local service center.
The date of manufactur and model number is on the bottom mounting lip on the left side about halfway back.

Hope this helps the OP and other Xantrex Freedom 458 users.

Robert,
Just reading your post here and, noticed you state that your manual states your BTS *Battery Temp Sensor* is to be placed on a POSITIVE battery post. Hmmmm, I thought for sure mine was to be placed on a NEGATIVE battery post which, is where it's at. So, you got me thinking, I better re-check my Magnum Owners manual. Soooo, I dove into it and, sure enough, my manual states to connect my BTS, to a NEGATIVE battery post. Whew, I thought all this time I'd goofed up and had it wrong. Wonder why the difference between the way the two Inverter makers want the BTS?
Scott

[TexasJeff]

Originally Posted by Gary RVRoamer

Since it's a Fleetwood coach, just plug the coach into a 120v outlet and it should charge both battery banks. Starting the coach engine also charge both.

This ^.

Definitely, as others suggest, first clean and gel the terminals and make sure connections are tight.

Plug the coach in to AC. If batteries dont charge fully after one night on A/C then take the coach out for a long drive. If that works, your AC charging system is suspect (Chord, wiring, power center, etc) If it doesn’t work, look to doing a battery load test on each battery. You might have a sick or dying one(s) in there.

[mchero]

Originally Posted by FIRE UP

Robert,
Just reading your post here and, noticed you state that your manual states your BTS *Battery Temp Sensor* is to be placed on a POSITIVE battery post. Hmmmm, I thought for sure mine was to be placed on a NEGATIVE battery post which, is where it's at. So, you got me thinking, I better re-check my Magnum Owners manual. Soooo, I dove into it and, sure enough, my manual states to connect my BTS, to a NEGATIVE battery post. Whew, I thought all this time I'd goofed up and had it wrong. Wonder why the difference between the way the two Inverter makers want the BTS?
Scott

Ran across this video on youtube. I believe it could happen to other converters using like sensors.

https://youtu.be/iBIa-tYTOxA

[Vortriede]

Originally Posted by jvannghi

Inverter is Xantrax Freedom 458, green light flashing CHARGE / GEL 1

I copied this from the Xantrex Freedom 458 manual which is available here: http://www.xantrex.com/documents/Inv...-01_rev-2).pdf


That flashing CHARGE light indicates that there is no AC coming into the inverter/charger.

Hope this helps,
Eric

[mchero]

Originally Posted by twinboat

find the inverter charger and unplug the phone jack looking thing marked BTS, Battery Temp Sensor, and see if the volts go up.

Not the proper way to test your Xantrex Freedom 458. If your temperature sensor is defective your charging voltage will not change.

It IS the proper way to test your temperature sensor IF your getting charge voltage.

The OP needs connect his coach to 120vac source, remove the covers off the DC posts on the front of the Xantrex. Verify the white breaker is pushed in (set) verify the CHARGE/GEL1 light is SOLID then check the voltage on the DC posts. The lowest voltage you would see if in WET Float stage is 12.5
if you have a functional temperature sensor at 120 degrees! LOL More like 13.5 range or higher.

If the OP is still not getting a charge then the front cover (across the bottom) will need to be removed and the AC in leads tested to see if 120vac is feeding the inverter.

[udid]

I just went thru this on my Fleetwood Storm 28ft (1994) I replaced the solenoid with the following...


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Also replaced the Isolator relay delay and the...



https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[earasim]

[QUOTE=Gary RVRoamer;5455023]Since it's a Fleetwood coach, just plug the coach into a 120v outlet and it should charge both battery banks. Starting the coach engine also charge both.


Actually, it depends on the year of the coach. I have a 1994 Flair and when connected to shore power it does not charge the engine battery. It just charges the coach batteries. The alternator is the only thing that will charge the engine battery. You can verify this by placing a volt meter on the engine battery then plug into shore power. You will see the voltage doesn't change. Then put the volt meter on the coach batteries then plug it into shore power. The voltage should go over 12V as the alternator puts out 12-14 volts when charging.

[john foose]

Hi, just bought a tiffin 2008 bus, and the house batteries are deep cycle GC-2 size, new in 2017. The fellow I bot it from had never serviced them I don't think, as I had to remove cables to get caps off. Reversing the caps (3 tied together) made it so that you don't have to remove cables. anyway, they took 3.5 gallons, yes gallons of water to service the 4 of them. Are they toast?? My guess is probably, but it is hooked up to shore power now so I will drive up and check in a few days and see if they are charged or at least charging. Any thoughts out there?? thanks, John

[jvannghi]

Dumb question but does inverter need to be on for any kind of charging? I usually leave it off to minimize any kind of drain on the batteries when not in use.

Thanks all!

[twinboat]

Originally Posted by jvannghi

Dumb question but does inverter need to be on for any kind of charging? I usually leave it off to minimize any kind of drain on the batteries when not in use.

Thanks all!

The inverter part of the inverter/charger does not have to be on for the charging section to work.

[twinboat]

Originally Posted by john foose

Hi, just bought a tiffin 2008 bus, and the house batteries are deep cycle GC-2 size, new in 2017. The fellow I bot it from had never serviced them I don't think, as I had to remove cables to get caps off. Reversing the caps (3 tied together) made it so that you don't have to remove cables. anyway, they took 3.5 gallons, yes gallons of water to service the 4 of them. Are they toast?? My guess is probably, but it is hooked up to shore power now so I will drive up and check in a few days and see if they are charged or at least charging. Any thoughts out there?? thanks, John

Not likely to recover from that.
Keep an eye on then, that they don't overheat while charging.

[mchero]

Originally Posted by john foose

Hi, just bought a tiffin 2008 bus, and the house batteries are deep cycle GC-2 size, new in 2017. The fellow I bot it from had never serviced them I don't think, as I had to remove cables to get caps off. Reversing the caps (3 tied together) made it so that you don't have to remove cables. anyway, they took 3.5 gallons, yes gallons of water to service the 4 of them. Are they toast?? My guess is probably, but it is hooked up to shore power now so I will drive up and check in a few days and see if they are charged or at least charging. Any thoughts out there?? thanks, John

I'm thinking the same as the last poster. If 4 took that much water sounds to me they where boiled dry!
Before you go out and purchase replacements I suggest you look into why they where so low on water. I hope you filled them with distilled water but I'm betting they are toast.
Can you provide us with the make/model of your inverter?
Suggest you fill out your profile. Also add a signature. I checked out your other posts and it appears your in the western side of the state of Washington.
One other thing to note that wet cell batteries will freeze solid if discharged. If you did indeed put that much water in those batteries I'd say they where dead! If the coach was in freezing temps then perhaps the froze solid!