Basically had it with Interstate batteries!

[FIRE UP]

Originally Posted by RJay

FIRE UP,
If I understand correctly the positive and negative leads are attached to the two outside batteries with no connection to the center one.

Also I believe the positive battery lead going to the 175 amp fuse continues to your inverter.

RJay,
Yes Sir, there's a connection to the center one. They are all linked together. It's just that I've got two huge positive cables leading off the positive post of the inner most battery. One is realatively short, and goes to a 175 amp "buss" fuse, located on a frame post, a few inches from the battery. The other cable, also attached at the inner most battery positive, goes off into never-never land of cables, wires, and other parafanailia towards the front of the coach, I assume to the generator.

But, the two positive cables lead off the outermost battery and one goes directly to the frame of the coach and the other one, not sure, it too goes into never-never land of a maze of cables and other stuff. But yes, there are two huge short, black cables linking all the negatives together and the same for the positive.

Originally Posted by Midniteoyl

14.4-14.8vdc Bulk mode... 13.2-13.4vdc float.

Midnitetoy,
That seems about right, based on what my panel has said in the past.
Scott

[RJay]

FIRE UP,
Thanks for the pics they help a lot. The coach connections to the battery bank are the way they should be. Do you know the value of the charge rate setting in the inverter? I would guess your battery bank is in the neighborhood of 350 to 375 amp/hr. is that accurate?

[resqguy]

The sensor the heat control from the charger is taken off the neg of the center battery.

Is this normal? I thought the charger sensor wire was supposed to be on the + side.

You symptoms sound like the problem I had with my Horizon. The charger sense line was never run all the way to the batteries.

[stuhly]

Over the years with our otr trucks that had three and in some cases four batteries we found that if you had a bad battery and just replaced one or two that the older ones would kill the new ones We had a lot better luck changing all at the same time Found the same to be true on Const Equip also

[Midniteoyl]

Originally Posted by RJay

Voltage only indicates the state of charge, the amount of current going into the batter is the rate of charge. It's the rate of charge, when improperly set, will boil a battery. Batteries last the longest when they are charged and discharged slowly. The faster they are charged and discharged the shorter the battery life. So you see the rate of charge is a trade off between preserving battery life and being able to charge the batteries quickly enough to be useable.

A good rule of thumb to set the charge rate is take half the battery capacity and multiply by 25%-35%. If you do a lot of boondocking choose 35% or more. For example, if the battery bank is 300 amp/hrs. (300/2) x .25 = 37.5 or 40 amp/hrs. That means if the batteries are discharged to a respectible 50% of charge it will take about 4 hours to completely recharge the batteries. But keep in mind if you are using DC power for lighting, refrigerator etc. at the same time, that load should be subtracted from the charge rate because that part of the charge rate is being supplied to the load. So if you want to keep the charge time increase the rate of charge accordingly. Just keep in mind the faster a battery is charged the shorter its life.

If I read it right, the batts went bad while floating, not charging.

Funny that the PO also had just changed the batts, no?

[skigramp]

My batteries are wired differently than the wiring in the picture with regard to charge (wires from inverter / charger) and pickup (supply power to coach)

Charge + goes to battery 1
Charge - goes to battery 3

Pickup + goes to battery 3
Pickup - goes to battery 1

Battery 2 is in the middle

I have read that batteries wired as shown in the picture can shorten battery life.

[garym114]

From The 12volt Side of Life (Part 1)

Bulk Charge - The first stage of 3-stage battery charging. Current is sent to batteries at the maximum safe rate they will accept until voltage rises to near (80-90%) full charge level. Voltages at this stage typically range from 10.5 volts to 15 volts. There is no "correct" voltage for bulk charging, but there may be limits on the maximum current that the battery and/or wiring can take.

Absorption Charge: The 2nd stage of 3-stage battery charging. Voltage remains constant and current gradually tapers off as internal resistance increases during charging. It is during this stage that the charger puts out maximum voltage. Voltages at this stage are typically around 14.2 to 15.5 volts.

Float Charge: The 3rd stage of 3-stage battery charging. After batteries reach full charge, charging voltage is reduced to a lower level (typically 12.8 to 13.2 volts) to reduce gassing and prolong battery life. This is often referred to as a maintenance or trickle charge, since it's main purpose is to keep an already charged battery from discharging.

[FIRE UP]

Originally Posted by RJay

FIRE UP,
Thanks for the pics they help a lot. The coach connections to the battery bank are the way they should be. Do you know the value of the charge rate setting in the inverter? I would guess your battery bank is in the neighborhood of 350 to 375 amp/hr. is that accurate?

RJay,
No sir, I don't know the charge rate for the "Absorption phase" of the charger. I do know it for the "Bulk charge", it's 25 amps. I do know it for the "float Mode", it's 5 amps.

Originally Posted by resqguy

Is this normal? I thought the charger sensor wire was supposed to be on the + side.

You symptoms sound like the problem I had with my Horizon. The charger sense line was never run all the way to the batteries.

resguy,
I haven't changed the "heat sensor" position on the batts since we've owned it. It came that way. What I will do, based on your observation, is look into the manual for that inverter/charger and make sure that the sensor wire is where it's supposed to be.

Originally Posted by stuhly

Over the years with our otr trucks that had three and in some cases four batteries we found that if you had a bad battery and just replaced one or two that the older ones would kill the new ones We had a lot better luck changing all at the same time Found the same to be true on Const Equip also

stuhly,
I was under that impression too for most of my RVing life but, when we first brought the coach home, about a week or two after, we had one of the "new" house batteries go bad, just like the one did a couple of days ago. After asking here and other places, the majority of the answers to my inquiry of changing all three or just the bad one was, REPLACE ONLY THE BAD ONE! Well, I figured most of the boys knew what they were talking about and I followed their suggestion of changing only one battery. That might have been a mistake. We'll see.

Originally Posted by Midniteoyl

If I read it right, the batts went bad while floating, not charging.

Funny that the PO also had just changed the batts, no?

Well, if I presented it that way, my apologies. You see, that charger DOES have a three stages and it did do the "cooking" while in the "bulk" charge mode. I've been there twice when it's changed from either bulk or absorption to float. The batteries just sort of simmer down and be quiet. Yes, it is kind of funny that the P.O. did have them changed, (we've got receipts) and they've gone bad, or at least two of them did. But, like I stated earlier in this thread, if the charger was bad, why not cook them all? Two of them were barely lukewarm and the out one was seriously hot.


To all,
Thanks so much for your help here. To clear up something here, in my post above, I say that the "Positive" cables come off the outer batteries and one goes directly to the frame, well, that's a typo. It should have said the NEGATIVE cables come off the outer battery and one goes directly to the frame. I can't seem to find the "Edit" tab for correcting things in my posts, if I find anything that needs fixing.

When we purchased this coach, the wiring and cable setup for the house batteries was done in such a manner that the charge and distribution main cables came off the inner batteries. I was told that, that was not a good way to wire them. So, like "Tim Allen", I REWIRED THEM!!! I put them in the wiring configuration you see them in the picture.

One more thing, if, they're all connected in the manor that you see in the picture, with those monster battery cable links, than how is it possible that current could be drawn off any one particular battery, no matter how they're wired? I would think that basically, you'd have "one" battery in a configuration like that. But, also like stated earlier, I'm certainly no expert.
Scott

[DAN L]

Originally Posted by FIRE UP

RJay,
No sir, I don't know the charge rate for the "Absorption phase" of the charger. I do know it for the "Bulk charge", it's 25 amps. I do know it for the "float Mode", it's 5 amps.



resguy,
I haven't changed the "heat sensor" position on the batts since we've owned it. It came that way. What I will do, based on your observation, is look into the manual for that inverter/charger and make sure that the sensor wire is where it's supposed to be.



stuhly,
I was under that impression too for most of my RVing life but, when we first brought the coach home, about a week or two after, we had one of the "new" house batteries go bad, just like the one did a couple of days ago. After asking here and other places, the majority of the answers to my inquiry of changing all three or just the bad one was, REPLACE ONLY THE BAD ONE! Well, I figured most of the boys knew what they were talking about and I followed their suggestion of changing only one battery. That might have been a mistake. We'll see.



Well, if I presented it that way, my apologies. You see, that charger DOES have a three stages and it did do the "cooking" while in the "bulk" charge mode. I've been there twice when it's changed from either bulk or absorption to float. The batteries just sort of simmer down and be quiet. Yes, it is kind of funny that the P.O. did have them changed, (we've got receipts) and they've gone bad, or at least two of them did. But, like I stated earlier in this thread, if the charger was bad, why not cook them all? Two of them were barely lukewarm and the out one was seriously hot.


To all,
Thanks so much for your help here. To clear up something here, in my post above, I say that the "Positive" cables come off the outer batteries and one goes directly to the frame, well, that's a typo. It should have said the NEGATIVE cables come off the outer battery and one goes directly to the frame. I can't seem to find the "Edit" tab for correcting things in my posts, if I find anything that needs fixing.

When we purchased this coach, the wiring and cable setup for the house batteries was done in such a manner that the charge and distribution main cables came off the inner batteries. I was told that, that was not a good way to wire them. So, like "Tim Allen", I REWIRED THEM!!! I put them in the wiring configuration you see them in the picture.

One more thing, if, they're all connected in the manor that you see in the picture, with those monster battery cable links, than how is it possible that current could be drawn off any one particular battery, no matter how they're wired? I would think that basically, you'd have "one" battery in a configuration like that. But, also like stated earlier, I'm certainly no expert.
Scott

check these resources...

SmartGauge Electronics - Interconnecting multiple batteries to form one larger bank

The 12volt Side of Life (Part 1)

Electrical Tutorial