Dougie Brown
Well-known member
Firstly, a Happy New Year to everyone. Here's to health, happiness and most of all, peace.
The coach and car have been stored under cover and on shore power for the last 9 months for charging. The coach was hooked straight into the 30A 120V and the car was charged with its own float charger, drawing its power from an external outlet on the coach. There is a Trik-L-Charger fitted and the coach is configured with 2 x house batteries which are physically located alongside the engine battery.
When we flew in a couple of days ago & got to the store, the 120V outlets on the coach were working (so the car battery was fully charged) but the house and coach batteries were dead as a doornail. The 3-phase (Powermax PM3B-45) converter was intermittently outputting between 2V & 4V which clearly was the cause of the issue.
I got jump-started, got to the campground, removed the converter and attached a 2/10/50A Harbor Freight charger directly onto the house batteries, set at 2A trickle. 48 hours later, they have charged to 11.8V and are holding their charge. It remains to be seen whether either has suffered damage.
The disconnected heavy-duty +/- wires running from the (removed) converter read exactly 12.00V without the temporary Harbor Freight charger connected to the batteries.
The engine battery has rejuvenated via the Trik-L-Charger and is now being charged on its own and seems to be ok.
I have ordered a new Powermax 75A 3-phase to replace the 45A one which should be here this week. Meantime, I'll leave the temporary charger disconnected until or unless the house batteries start dying.
HOWEVER - my main concern is the green LED amperage display (showing the 120V current being used) inside the coach. It's not working which makes sense to me as I assume it requires 12V from the converter to operate the actual display (albeit the display shows 120V current). To test this, I briefly connected the temporary charger to the now-disconnected heavy-duty converter wires at a 2A setting and checked the LED display. It still did not work.
Is it likely I'm worrying unnecessarily about the display and it will pick up once the new converter is fitted? Also, what governs the exact 12.00V voltage on the heavy-duty wires which run from the converter? The house batteries are nearer 11V.
Thanks,
Dougie.
Edit by staff: changed message icon to topic solved
The coach and car have been stored under cover and on shore power for the last 9 months for charging. The coach was hooked straight into the 30A 120V and the car was charged with its own float charger, drawing its power from an external outlet on the coach. There is a Trik-L-Charger fitted and the coach is configured with 2 x house batteries which are physically located alongside the engine battery.
When we flew in a couple of days ago & got to the store, the 120V outlets on the coach were working (so the car battery was fully charged) but the house and coach batteries were dead as a doornail. The 3-phase (Powermax PM3B-45) converter was intermittently outputting between 2V & 4V which clearly was the cause of the issue.
I got jump-started, got to the campground, removed the converter and attached a 2/10/50A Harbor Freight charger directly onto the house batteries, set at 2A trickle. 48 hours later, they have charged to 11.8V and are holding their charge. It remains to be seen whether either has suffered damage.
The disconnected heavy-duty +/- wires running from the (removed) converter read exactly 12.00V without the temporary Harbor Freight charger connected to the batteries.
The engine battery has rejuvenated via the Trik-L-Charger and is now being charged on its own and seems to be ok.
I have ordered a new Powermax 75A 3-phase to replace the 45A one which should be here this week. Meantime, I'll leave the temporary charger disconnected until or unless the house batteries start dying.
HOWEVER - my main concern is the green LED amperage display (showing the 120V current being used) inside the coach. It's not working which makes sense to me as I assume it requires 12V from the converter to operate the actual display (albeit the display shows 120V current). To test this, I briefly connected the temporary charger to the now-disconnected heavy-duty converter wires at a 2A setting and checked the LED display. It still did not work.
Is it likely I'm worrying unnecessarily about the display and it will pick up once the new converter is fitted? Also, what governs the exact 12.00V voltage on the heavy-duty wires which run from the converter? The house batteries are nearer 11V.
Thanks,
Dougie.
Edit by staff: changed message icon to topic solved