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Total Coach System by Silver Leaf Question
My 2005 Royale XL has a Total Coach System by Silver Leaf. We have been dry camping for the first time. So, I set the system to auto start the generator when the batteries got low. I enlabled the Auto, them I was asked to “arm” the autocharger. I did that. For the first time in over a week we hit the threshold for the autocharger (11.4v) to start the generator. It did not. I got a yellow light on the TCS panel. I cannot find any documentation that tells me what the yellow light means. And of coarse why did it not start? And why do I have to arm it after I enable it?
Any thoughts would be appreciated. I have not called Silver Leaf yet, that’s my next move.
Thanks,
Roy
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7 Replies
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Hi Roy and Martha,
This is just a question/observation….. do you have a separate battery for your generator? It seems that 11.4 might be too low for the genny to start if it is wired to the chassis batteries.
Of course my knowledge is limited… I learn everyday on this site.
Safe travels,
Mark
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Hey Roy,
Are you able to manually start the generator by using the Silverleaf control pad? The last Royale we had in the shop that exhibited similar issues (original complaint was that gen auto start wasn’t working) there was not any generator control at all through the Silverleaf system. We determined (with Silverleaf support) that the Silverleaf unit had failed and needed to go back to the factory for repair.
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Thanks Mark and Kyle,
Yes, we have a separate gen start battery and the generator starts normally fine. Could very well be the Silver Leaf system. I use it seldom that it is not a high priority. I always have to hit the start button twice, so I was curious if the system would try a second time when it did it started on the first.
Thanks again for your thoughts.
Roy
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Roy,
I hope you’re not running your house batteries down to 11.4… If you are, keep me on speed dial.
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Tom;
The 2014 Magnum ME-ARC Owner’s Manual says you can run your batteries down to 50% which they say is 10.0 to 11.4 VDC.
Following is a direct quote from Page 21 of the 2014 Magnum ME-ARC Owner’s Manual when talking about where to set the Low Battery Cut Off (LBCO) –
In some applications, such as those in- stalled in an off-grid home or when doing a lot of RV dry-camping, you may want to cycle down to 50%* by setting the LBCO from 10.0 to 11.4 VDC (12-volt models),Now, I think discharging your batteries to 10.0 – 11.4 VDC is a big mistake. I agree with you and Lifeline and feel that a battery is 50% discharged at 12.11 – 12.18 VDC and you should never discharge your batteries below 12.11 VDC.
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Tom,
Thanks for you knowledge and input. I only know what I read in the original Royale owners manual. It states that the Autocharge will start the generator when the “preset threshold of 11.4 Volts is reachedl. I got there once this last week. It states on another page that “for optimum battery life, batteries should not be cycled lower than 60% state of charge”. According to their chart on another page, 60% would be 12.3 v. Interesting contradictions. So, what is your recommendation?
Roy
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11.4 volts is for all practical purposes a dead battery. 12.2 to 12.4 is around 50% discharged.
If you use 11.4 V for autostart your batteries aren’t going to last very long. Do some research and you will learn how damaging such deep discharges are and how the life of the battery is affected.
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