Battery charger electrical advice and help needed - please.

[Chuck Wheeler]

The way we use our coach I took a little different approach. I have 3
disconnects. The original one, a second that disconnects the electronics
that are not turned off with the original disconnect, and a third that
disconnects the chargers from the batteries and the AC from the charger. I
added the third after I discovered that the charger monitors draw some
current all the time. In the summer I rarely plug the coach in until I
bring it home to load. I had to leave the Bird Nebraska when our son had
emergency surgery. When I got back to pick it up two months later I just
turned on the disconnects and started it up. I'm seven years into these
batteries with about two thirds of the use dry camping and our Bird uses the
same batteries for starting and house. I believe that part of the life is
due to the batteries not sitting on charge all the time. I'm no expert, just
what has worked for me.

- Chuck Wheeler -
82 FC 31 SB
Fort Worth, TX


_____

From: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of one_dusty_hoot
Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2006 4:39 PM
To: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [WanderlodgeForum] Re: Battery charger electrical advice and help
needed - please.



Good Deal Rob!, Where did you get those?
Got a smart charger, but could use two of these.
Bob Janes
--- In WanderlodgeForum@
yahoogroups.com, "Rob Robinson"
wrote:
>
> Shane I bought my two IOTA 55amp plus two smart chargers for under
$500.
> With tax I think I paid around $380
>
> On 05/09/06, sfedeli3 <sfedeli3@...> wrote:
> >
> > 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 40yahoogroups.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.
> > >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Rob, Sue & Merlin Robinson
> 94 WLWB
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>






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