charging/house batt display March 29, 2019, 09:13:46 pm Greetings, counselors!My unit is not plugged in during covered winter storage. I go out reliably to run the generator, roll tires and start it, but I had not considered the necessity to plug in periodically for a few days. A couple of weeks ago the house battery was almost completely run down. (I learned this because the Bigfoots wouldn't operate fully.) Some generator time gave me enough juice to retract, and I then left the coach plugged in for a couple of days. Yesterday I took the coach over to a battery place. The tech said that I was fine on water (which I had believed was the case) but that I needed more charge time. Now here's my question. Will my status display always show all lit up to CHARGE if I am on AC power? Same with solar?Throughout this entire episode I never saw the display show good or fair, always charge... but I guess it must always be charging between the generator, the solar and the AC, right? On the day that I had no house battery, my lights were dim and the whole nine yards. It was evident that was the problem. Or is Charge my message that I am below Fair? (Haha and therefore is to be read as a command!)I have now left the unit plugged into 30 amp for 36 hours. Will it stop charging when it's fully loaded? And then I will see good/fair/weak on the display? I have read in the LD manual that it will sit at fair for a long period of time while it's recharging. If it's run all the way down, how many days should I plan to leave it plugged in? I just want to understand how to read and trust my status display.Thanks very much.
Re: charging/house batt display Reply #1 – March 29, 2019, 10:32:46 pm "I have read in the LD manual that it will sit at fair for a long period of time while it's recharging. If it's run all the way down, how many days should I plan to leave it plugged in?"MarciaTechnically and practically a wet cell storage battery can never reach 'full charge'! Believe it or not, the more current you try to push into it the more resistance to that current will occur. It's a case of diminishing returns. Yes, after a certain amount of time the monitoring device, OEM on the range hood or a proper battery monitor, will show a 'full' indication and that is in fact your goal, regardless of the amount of time it takes. I keep my 30'IB in my side yard with electric connected 24/7. Needless to say my battery monitor always shows 100%.
Re: charging/house batt display Reply #2 – March 30, 2019, 01:32:53 am If your rig has never had the converter upgraded, the battery will never fully charge on shorepower. Your alternator will do a better job during a full day of driving. While stored, your best bet would be a few hours once a month with a good-quality separate battery charger that will put out about 14.5V.Steve
Re: charging/house batt display Reply #3 – March 30, 2019, 02:53:02 am The LEDs that indicate battery condition are only a rough estimate of remaining, usable battery capacity.To actually know how much capacity has been used, a battery capacity meter is needed. It tracks and shows the battery charge level in used amp-hours or a percentage. Link 10 battery capacity meter | Flickrhttp://www.xantrex.com/power-products/power-accessories/linkpro-battery-monitor.aspxBMV-700 series - Victron EnergyLarry
Re: charging/house batt display Reply #4 – March 30, 2019, 05:41:35 pm Thank you gentlemen. Steve, 1) how do I know if my converter has been upgraded? 2) If it has not been, is this a task I should contemplate? Most of the time I will be on shore power when camping.. so it's not like I am a super boondocker and need to have a precise sense of my battery status. It was just this experience of partially deployed levelers that gave me a sense I was missing some key info! Larry, thanks for letting me know about the battery capacity meter and the monitoring products!Lazy Bones "after a certain amount of time" -- could this be a week? a month? I'll go back out tomorrow afternoon, when it will have been plugged in 72 hours -- and will just see what I've got at that point.
Re: charging/house batt display Reply #5 – March 30, 2019, 07:35:36 pm I'll go back out tomorrow afternoon, when it will have been plugged in 72 hours -- and will just see what I've got at that point. "Do let us know what you find, it may benefit a bunch of us. As has been said before, a day of solar or a day of shore power or a few hours of driving should all result in the same thing, a full battery. "...could this be a week?"That will depend on how depleted your battery has gotten!
Re: charging/house batt display Reply #6 – April 02, 2019, 07:31:25 pm MarciaI was going to ask what your house battery bank voltage display read during your past charging efforts.......but realized you may not have one in your LD. Battery voltage readings are the really only good way to determine what the state of charge is in your house bank. Larry's note about amp and volt meters I guess confirmed my thought. So you would need one to determine battery voltage. With that in mind a decent 45-50 amp charger (converter in RV terminology) should be able to recharge 2 deeply discharge 12V 75-100 amp hour deep cycle batteries in 12-14 hours. Someone mentioned that the batteries will never actually get to 100%. Their right, close but not 100% The way to determine the state of charge is by using a volt meter...if you have no other way in the coach of measuring. After 12-14 hours of charging you should turn of your coach converter and let the battery bank rest with no draw on them for at least 3-4 hours, preferably 10-12 hours. Then take a reading. If they dont fall between 12.60V-12.70V you may have some cells that are failing, or a converter/battery charger that is not operating properly.I have attached a chart that will give you an idea of state of charge. 1 Likes
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