Battery Monitoring Panel

[chamberlain]

I'm just looing for some clarification. On my coach when I have everything set up for dry camping and I test the battery charge level it usually reads 3/4 full. When I run the generator the level goes to full... I assume the batteries are getting a full charge. If I run the gen. for several hours and then shut it down .. test the batteries the meter will still only show 3/4 full. The same happens if I'm plugged into 110v and then disconnect.

Recently I had completely dead house batteries after just running the Ref for 1 1/2 days. Fortunately, I had the chassis diconnect switch open and I could start the engine once closed. However I could not start the generator even with hitting the battery boost switch on the dash

The house batteries are about 1 1/2 years old and are the original ones that came with the coach

Is it normal to only have a 3/4 reading on the battery monitoring panel when all the batteries are fully charged. Would my chassis batteries be suspect?

[GStream40]

I Suspect that you have at least one bad battery. On ours and every one we have ever had, when the batteries are full charged, the lights on the panel always have show full charge.

Also the meter on the Xantrex shows at least 13.0 to 13.5 volts DC from the batteries.

I would have each battery tested.

Ron

[chamberlain]

O.K. here's the latest. I installed two brand new house batteries and went on a three day dry camping trip. I had the unit plugged into AC for a day before we left and then ran the Gen for an hour on the drive to the camp ground. Once there, I tested the battery level at the panel and it read high.. about 15 minutes later it showed 2/3 full. I really had no more lower reading the whole weekend with running the Gen some in the morning and at night. My guess is I need to clean the battery contacts to really get a proper reading or have the panle looked at for an adjustment

Any ideas here??? BTW both new batteries were fully charged when installed

[GStream40]

You might want to look at this site, The 12 Volt Side of Life: http://www.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/12volt/12volt.htm

On this site you will see a chart showing the voltage of the batteries and the level of charge. I would get if you do not have already a digital test meter to check the actual voltages of the batteries. The "lights" on the panels are not very acturate, the digital readings are on test meters.

Ron

[Cakeman]

I had the same issue of the batteries going dead after one night of running the furnace. I found that the power unit that charges the batteries was bad. On our coach the 12 volt items always use the batteries and 110 v get fed on another circuit. The power comes in to a "intellpower" unit under the bed and onto the batteries for charging. I found that there was no output on the unit. Replaced it and now the batteries are changing when plugged in to shore power.
I felt it wasn't a battery issue because they were replaced 4 months ago. The batteries I replaced had a bad cell and maybe it was the reason the "intellpower" unit fried.

[chamberlain]

Cakeman

How did you determine the power unit was not putting out a charge?

Thx John

[Cakeman]

One end is plugged into a 110v outlet under the bed. The output has two very heavy wires going forward. I used my volt-ohm-meter to check that 13.2 volts were going out and there was none. Remember that the motor home will need to be plugged into shore power or have the generator running to supply the unit.

[RV Wizard]

For those that want to learn more about batteries and charging here are a few links that will help.
www.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/12volt/12volt.htm (http://www.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/12volt/12volt.htm) http://www.dcbattery.com/faq.html#1
http://www.usbattery.com/care.htm
http://www.windsun.com/Batteries/Batter ... 20Charging (http://www.windsun.com/Batteries/Battery_FAQ.htm#Battery%20Charging)
http://www.lifelinebatteries.com/rvgraphs.php

[djqualls]

For those that want to learn more about batteries and charging here are a few links that will help.
www.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/12volt/12volt.htm (http://www.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/12volt/12volt.htm) http://www.dcbattery.com/faq.html#1
http://www.usbattery.com/care.htm
http://www.windsun.com/Batteries/Batter ... 20Charging (http://www.windsun.com/Batteries/Battery_FAQ.htm#Battery%20Charging)
http://www.lifelinebatteries.com/rvgraphs.php

Very useful information here. Thanks for the links.......

Dave..........