Low voltage alarm

[John From Detroit]

Interesting item:  On my Damon, I have installed a "RIG RUNNER" (tm) 12 volt distribution panel for use with radios, GPS and the like (it even feeds the pressure pro) this is a strip of fused Power Pole pairs (Anderson asexual connectors (Ther is no male and female, mated pairs mate is all, and only the right way) desigend for ham radio use.

Well.... it has a "low voltage" alarm in it, and whenever I make a turn that alarm may well go beep in step with the turn signals

It is hooked to the HOUSE batteries, not the Truck battery.  It appears the turn signals are a HOUSE function



*** Split off from original message by RV Roamer on 6/17/2005

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

John,
This is a very strange situation, so I took the liberty of splitting it off into a separate thread for further discussion.

I would be very much surprised if the turn signals are powered from the house batteries, at not intentionally.  And even if they are, a blip of the turn sigbal should not cause the voltage to drop so much that a low voltage alarm goes off.  I surmise that the turn signals are feeding back to the ground side of your Rig Runner, thus reducing the effective voltage (the difference between hot and ground) whenever the signal flashes.  The wiring for the toad turn signals is one place this sort of thing might happen.

Where did you source the power for the Rig Runner? And how is it grounded?  "Chassis ground"  normally goes to the chassis battery, while "house ground" is normally wired direct to the house batteries via a terminal block.

 

[John From Detroit]

The Rig Runner is hooked almost direct to the house batteries (there is a 40 amp fuse in the hot lead, is all) Direct to the house batteries

And yes, it's possible that there is a feedback loop, but when I first noticed it ALL I had hooked up was the rig runner, so there was no chance of a ground loop of any kind,,,, As for it's low-voltage alarm, I'd have to check the spec but I suspect it's a bit paranoid,

Though it is not bothered by sitting idle with a bunch of 12 volt lights turned on, water pump and Fantastic fan... The only thing that gets a beep out of it is the turn signals.

Might be an inductive coupling between it's heavy duty wires and the lead for the turn signals, that's about the only thing I can think of

By the way, if you like to add radios GPS and the like, the Rig Runner system from West Mountain Radio is very nice, Kind of pricey, but very nice  The one I have has basically 13 "Sockets" and fuses, the one on the end is 40 amp, and is the "input" the rest have smaller fuses (All the way down to 1 amp) and are "outputs" however in theory you could use any pole as input.

The connectors are color coded and designed so they can only be plugge in one way

What's more, you can assemble the connectors in different ways so you can use the same connectors for different voltages and NEVER have a problem.  I'm very impressed with them  Work great.. Optionas include a lighter plug "input" cord (fused, 10 amp I think) and assorted output cords (including "lighter socket" type) pre-wired for many rigs  Or you can crimp on your own connectors with the optional professional grade (and price) tool.... Neatest crimps I've ever seen outside of factory jobs.

 

[John From Detroit]

Well, I finally figured it out

It's not the low-alarm, it is the high one... When the turn signals (or a few other things) call for power the alternator kicks it up a bit, since the house batteries are at full charge already... They go over a bit,,, it's just barley trigguring the over voltage alarm on the Rig-Runner

I'm guessing an over protective alarm... In any case, should be easy to deal with now that I know what it is

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Interesting, John.  An automotive voltage regulator runs on the high side compared to Rv chargers, usually up in the 14.5V range even when the chassis battery(s)  is fully charged. I think that is because it is geared to handle large operating loads (headlights, power windows, etc) and is not "just a battery charger".  But I would think your Rig Runner alarms would be cognizant of that.  What does the over-voltage threshold appear to be?