Battery charger electrical advice and help needed - please.

[sfedeli3]

Hi John & Adria,

I don't think that our coaches are designed to be parked for 2-3
weeks at-a-time without being plugged in. Mine has about an 8 amp
drain from what can only be called "ghost circuits". I installed a
battery disconnect so that I can leave the coach plugged in and use
the old chargers to keep the 12V circuits on while in storage. Over
the winter, I completely de-energize the bus and disconnect the
batteries after fully charging them.

Prior to getting a smart charger, I used to put the old chargers on
an outdoor "christmas light" style timer that would turn them on for
2 hours a day. This was enough to top off the batteries without
causing them to gas. IF you are getting rid of the coach, that is
the cheapest solution to your problem and won't cook the new
batteries. Othewise, get an IOTA or Xantrex smart charger that has a
sensor to know when the batteries are charged and turns off
automatically. They run around $400 for a 50 amp model.

Shane Fedeli
85PT40
Hershey, PA

--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "Adria Haynes"
<mrbeebody@...> wrote:
>
> Gang. Please know going into this thing that I'm well aware that
> I'm wordy - but I do so in an effort to be thorough. So please,
grab
> a soda and get comfy.
>
> I lurk here often and post very little. We are in our 3rd summer
> with our 80 BB 35FC and it has been bitter sweet. The payments
are
> bitter for 12 months a year, and the bus is sweet when we use it
for
> about 12 days a year.
>
> Anyways, it's getting harder to justify and we have toyed with the
> idea of selling it after this past Labor Day weekend, but it gave
us
> a little "gotcha" when it came time to go home. I don't know if
it
> was "quitting before we could fire it" or what, but I could use
some
> help on the problem if/before we put it on the market.
>
> The problem: I think my battery chargers are hosed.
>
> When we bought the bus, the Trojan batteries had been killed by
the
> PO leaving the fridge set to electrical. We dealt with them not
> holding a charge until last summer when I bought 4 new batteries.
> Even then, it seemed that even though I'd make sure I had
> everythign off - something drained them. I got tired of them
being
> drained when I'd go out for the monthly "start up and run for
awile"
> so I decided to just leave the bus plugged in to my garage. That
> was fine until my new batteries blew up. I replaced those
batteries
> with 4 new ones in June and all seemed well through our trip in
> July. I was told that my 1980 chargers wouldn't trickle charge,
but
> were steady pumpers that over charged the batteries. Lesson
learned.
>
> When we got home from the July trip, I plugged the bus into the
> house again. It took me about 3 weeks to remember, but I unplugged
> the chargers too. On this past Friday I went out to fire the old
> girl up and she was dead. I plugged in the chargers and Saturday
> morning it fired right up. After work on saturday, I went to
start
> it again and it cranked very slowly, then on the last possible
> revolution - she took off and purred like I knew she would and I
> took the bus to the campground where my family already was waiting
> for me with other family members. I plugged into 30 amp shore
power
> with the chargers on until Monday afternoon. When I went to start
> it to leave, it wouldn't even click. I think I had an anurism.
>
> I found that with the chargers plugged in, the volts meter would
> wiggle at 12 until I tried to start it, then it would shake from
pin
> to pin. It was wierd and I couldn't make any sense of it, but
that
> isn't saying much either. About all I have ever learned about
> electricity is that it hurts when I touch it.
>
> I unplugged the charger and removed the 2 batteries that start the
> bus and put each one on an external 6V charger. They both took 4
> amps for over 2 hours with no improvement. When I removed the
other
> 2 RV batteries so that I could take all 4 in for testing, the
ground
> posts on those two had some deformation and melting, which I knew
> was bad.
>
> I got ANOTHER 4 new batteries, hooked up the 2 that I needed to
make
> it run and it fired right up. We got it home and I un hooked
those
> parallel batteries from one another, the RV ones never did get
> hooked up, and the chargers are also unplugged for now.
>
> It seemed to me and everybody else that the charger that was
> supposed to be charging the batteries was the very thing that was
> screwing everything up. It's the only thing that makes sense to
me,
> but like I said - I don't know much about these things and my pool
> of experience is growing, but still VERY shallow.
>
> Thank you for your time and patience with me thus far. Now that
you
> have that little bit of history, my questions are as follows:
>
> Does this make sense to anybody else or am I on something that the
> chargers are hosed?
>
> Is there a way to check the charging unit that is hard wired into
> the bus without unhooking it all?
>
> If it only makes sense to replace this unit, what are my "best
> value" options?
>
> Does anybody have a used one that's still good that they'd sell?
>
> Thank you very much for your help,
>
> John, Adria, Blase, Kaleigh, Jade, and Gage.
>