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Old 11-05-2020, 06:39 PM   #1
Boho48
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Red face What charges what

I have a 2004 Sun Voyager and I am confused as to how the batteries are charged. How are the house batteries charged and what relationship is there to the chassis battery. After having my MH plugged into 110 the house batteries got real low on their charge. The chassis battery stayed charged.
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Old 11-06-2020, 09:44 AM   #2
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That sounds exactly opposite of my coach...


On the Tour Master, the shore power charges the house batteries and the inverter batteries (a separate stack of 4 each 6 volt golf cart batteries in series/parallel which run the inverter and also start the diesel generator.) The shore power does not charge the chassis batteries that are used to start the big diesel pusher engine -- but I did add a separate battery maintainer to do this when on shore power...


Because the generator "replaces" shore power when it is running via the transfer switch, it too can charge the house batteries and the inverter stack.


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Old 11-15-2020, 12:03 PM   #3
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On our Yellowstone Ultra coach, the house battery is charged (poorly) by the converter. The charger output is only 4 amps, so it takes awhile. We added a small Battery Tender brand maintenance charger wired direct to the house battery so it stays charged and does not overcharge. We leave the converter off during storage. The chassis/engine battery had no charger on ours, other than operating the engine. When the engine is running, there is a solenoid in line that allows the engine to charge both chassis and house battery. We added another Battery Tender charger to the chassis battery to maintain it durning winter storage.

Both batteries will discharge over time due to parasitic loads like CO detector, engine computer, etc. Since we added the maintenance chargers, have no more battery problems.

[QUOTE=Boho48;32397]I have a 2004 Sun Voyager and I am confused as to how the batteries are charged. How are the house batteries charged and
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Old 11-15-2020, 01:18 PM   #4
dan596
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Default Charging on 2005 Sun Voyager 8377

Hello James,
On my Sun Voyager charging works in this manner:

1)Engine Running : Chassis and Coach battery charged from engine Alternator.
2)Shore Power : Chassis and Coach battery charged from Xantex Inverter/charger.
3)Generator : Chassis and Coach battery are charged directly from generator.

Here are few caveats:

a) I have a control panel above driver seat for Xantex. If it is not set to charge, then batteries will not be charged by it. Sometimes when I am disconnected from shore power and start the engine up, the Xantex does not turn on automatically and I need to turn it on and set to charge.
b) Chassis and Coach disconnect switches next to door: If either is 'disconnected' they will not be charged. Obviously you have to consider things like you can't start the engine if Chassis was disconnected, but if one was to become disconnected after engine is started, it may not get charged.
c)inter-connect solenoid: If this is not working properly, then you might only get either Chassis or Coach charging (depending on which 1, 2, or 3 method above is being used) but not both. This is the solenoid one activates via dash switch to have the Coach battery help the Chassis battery start the engine. In some configurations it is also used to bridge the batteries together for charging.
d)Some coaches, particularly most newer ones have what is referred to as a BIRD (Bi-directional Isolator Relay Delay). This device 'inteligently' connects your House and Chassis to the charging source depending on the source and the charge state of the batteries. If you have one and it is faulty then you would have a problem.

There is a thread here from someone diagnosing a similar problem(maybe you : irv2.com/forums/f103/chassis-battery-not-charging-513523.html

If I had to guess about your situation, when you are on shore power, your chassis battery is disconnected so it is not draining. Then your Inverter is not set to charge, so your House batteries are slowly draining whenever you use a DC voltage device (most RV lights), but your AC voltage items (fridge, microwave, tv) are being powered by the shore power. Curious though how your chassis battery is being isolated.

I hope this helps.
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Old 11-15-2020, 01:32 PM   #5
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I have owned a 2004 Sun Voyager since it came off the lot in 2003 and honestly can't tell you exactly what charges what, but plugging into 110 and/or running the generator should recharge your house batteries. They have always charged mine. Whether the chassis battery is being charged or not I'm not sure. There are several battery disconnect switches, one inside the coach on the side panel next to the stairs, and two in the compartment just forward of the door. There are also some "master fuses" in one of the forward compartments on the driver's side.

Believe the chassis battery is normally isolated from the house batteries so you don't accidently drain the chassis battery when you're camped and not driving.

There is also a jumper switch on the dash which allows you to "jump" the chassis battery using the coach batteries (assuming they have a charge).

Not sure if any of this helps you but good luck.

Cheers,
Doug
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Old 11-18-2020, 04:39 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chuck v View Post
That sounds exactly opposite of my coach...


On the Tour Master, the shore power charges the house batteries and the inverter batteries (a separate stack of 4 each 6 volt golf cart batteries in series/parallel which run the inverter and also start the diesel generator.) .


Chuck
Hey Chuck. It sounds as if you're saying you have a set of house batteries and a separate set of inverter batteries. Could you please clarify? Cheers! .. Ken
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Old 11-18-2020, 05:35 PM   #7
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Yes Ken,


On the 2007 Tour Master coaches, there is a stack of 4 each 6-volt golf cart batteries connected in a series/parallel configuration of 12 volts to provide a high capacity power source for the DC to AC inverter. These batteries are mounted across the front of the coach just below the windshield, accessed by the same body panel that gives access to the diesel generator. In fact, these batteries are also what provides cranking power to this diesel generator...


Another pair of 12 volt deep cycle batteries are found in a basement bay on the curb side just behind the rear wheels, these are the 'house' batteries to power the 2 volt lighting, etc. This pair of batteries is charged by the AC to 12 volt Converter.


A third pair of 12 volt starting batteries are also located in this bay -- these provide cranking power to the main diesel motor (mine was a large turbo Mercedes, but other coaches alternatively had the available Cummins turbo engine...) These diesel starting batteries are typically called the "chassis" batteries.


Hope this helps clear things up. It is possible that for smaller coaches, a DC to AC inverter could be powered by the house battery stack, if it were sufficiently sized in AMP-HR capacity.


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Old 11-18-2020, 05:45 PM   #8
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Thanx Chuck. Guess I'm out of date with my 2000 Tourmaster.
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Old 11-19-2020, 09:31 AM   #9
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Ken,


The 2000 Tour Master was a great coach from all I have read here. Because the later coaches regularly used the residential refrigerators which only run on 110v AC, the large inverter and separate battery stack became a standard configuration. Does your coach have a 23 cubic foot residential refrigerator like mine had? Is your inverter at least 2000 watts? What is the capacity of the battery bank that powers your inverter now?


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Old 11-19-2020, 11:09 AM   #10
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Aha!! Thanx for that, Chuck. My mom used to say "you get up every day to learn something new" - I've done that; guess I can go back to bed now. :>) I have a large Norcold 1200 fridge - 2 fridge doors, 2 freezer doors - which accepts either propane or AC. I have a Xantrex Freedom 458 Series 2500 watt inverter/charger. For house batteries, I have 4 230 a/h 6 volt deep cycles for power - had 8 of them on my boat, so takes some getting used to the reduced capacity.
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