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ADVICE ON CHASSIS BATT ISSUE
OK, I’m ready for opinions.
Hotter than heck, stopped for the evening, road air on, engine idling, battery balance warning light on. Checked voltages, rock solid at 27+ and 13.5-6. Ordered new battery monitor. Balance warning light stayed on most of trip out and voltages appeared to remain good whenever I scanned gauges.
Trip home: No warning light at all and numbers looked good until I pulled in to storage unit. Warning light flickered which called my attention to low side readout which was fluctuating from 13 to 14.1 over a brief period…high side steady.
I am now convinced I actually have a problem. Went back next morning after all was cooled off (if you call 100F cool!) with coach on a 24v battery maintainer in float, voltages at 26.3 and 12.7 steady.
It appears I have an intermittent problem of some sort. I’m wondering if it could be a bad battery(s) or equalizer. Batts are 4 year old NAPA agm, equalizer appears to be oem 60-100D; coach approching 250K miles.
Interested in comments, but don’t tell me to disconnect and test batts because if I go through that much work on a 4 year old batt bank, I’ll just replace them. Yes, I’m the kind of guy who pays a Doctor for advice and doesn’t follow it!! LOL
1999 XLV X-6872, liberty #440 -
13 Replies
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Single 50DN?
First part sounds like you are talking about the chassis batteries, then you are talking about house AGM?
Both the chassis and the house have equalizers on a Liberty Elegant Lady.
I am not aware Liberty has a battery balance warning light for the house, or even a good way to compare house 12 and 24v other than a dash 24V gauge and the generator 12V gauge.
At low RPM the voltage output on a 50DN lopes up and down a little. At high idle it stabilizes.
Best way to check house battery voltages (but not separate battery voltages) is in the electric compartment at the bus bars. The dash gauges are not the easiest to read or get a reliable reading from.
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
Single 50dn, Talking about chassis batts
I’ve never noticed the voltage on the 50DN changing that much at idle. In theory, for a 1 volt change on the low side, high side voltage would have to vary by 2 volts.
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If the monitor is new I would suspect one or more of the chassis batteries.
I’ve gone
through this on both of my coaches.
You have to check each battery separately 😡
1999 XLV X-6872, liberty #440 -
The monitor and the equalizer are both old. I suspected the monitor until I saw low voltage fluctuation…now I suspect equalizer or batts?
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At 4 years old, I think your Napa’s are ready for a change out.
voltages at 26.3 and 12.7 steady. If you measured this at the Equalizer, it’s bad.
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You’re probably right about the NAPA’s just because; but those voltages are normal in my experience for float on charger (engine not running) when your bank is temp sensed and it’s over 100F.
Can you quote me a price on four group 31 Lifeline’s shipped to 86403? And where are you? I may be in Colorado and Texas soon.
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Joel????? What monitor? Neither my 97 or my current 06 have a battery monitor for the house., That is what has me confused.
As to batteries, I know some dispute this, but having temperature compensation protects batteries and extends their life. Your get to see some very high temps so without temperature adjusted voltage the batteries at 4 years can have issues.
It is a pain to get at them if you have an entertainment center, but if you know how long they provide useable voltage, such as when you dry camp why not shut off shore power and see how long they take after being charged to float to get to what you expect to see after a night in the rest area.
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It’s chassis batts and monitor I’m talking about. See post at 3:04
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I just replace my chassis batteries every two years. They seem to just last about 2 1/2 years and being in Florida it seems that he just kills them. I would rather replace them when I’m getting something else done on the bus, then have to do them in a campground myself just to get an extra six or eight months out of them. Geo
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We experienced a similar issue whenever the OTR AC was turned on. Replaced the 4 batteries and all was good.
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Joel,
I have to learn to read.
1999 XLV X-6872, liberty #440 -
I wasn’t disputing your temp compensated voltages, my point was your Equalizer should show less than .5 volt between the 12 and 24. Your 24v was 26.3 and the 12v side equaled 25.4, a difference of .9 volts.
PM sent regarding group 31’s.
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See…the original premise of this thread was do I need batteries or an equalizer because I was wondering if bad battery(s) could have the effect of showing me an imbalance warning?
Think I’m going to replace batts and have another run at it before I buy an equalizer.
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