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Battery balance question
Hi all,
My dash balance light was coming on for a short time when starting but now is staying on during this trip. I read other forum posts (Thanks to Jon specifically for the clear guidance).
My configuration is a Vanner EM70D monitor, Cooper Bussman Equalizer and I have a battery tender to maintain the batteries from shore power. The batteries are about 9 months old. I haven’t tested each battery yet.
I am hoping for some guidance based on the readings I took today.
Power at equalizer:
Bus not running – 13.12V, 24.88V (1.36V diff)
Bus Running on high idle – 15.88V, 28.22V (3.54V diff)I think this is telling me the equalizer (which is pretty old) is likely in need of replacement.
I am hoping you can give me your thoughts on how best to narrow down the issue and next step.
Should I test each battery? Is there a way to test the equalizer? Should I be concerned about the alternator given the difference when charging?
Thanks as always!
Mike Harper
2004 Marathon XLII -
14 Replies
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Replace the Vanner Monitor. Why my balance light was illuminated .
1999 XLV X-6872, liberty #440 -
I’ve never heard of your equalizer brand? Find the manual for it and read the trouble shooting section and/or call them. If you had a Vanner brand equalizer this would be possible.
The Vanner monitor EM70D is giving you a warning like it is supposed to do. A voltage difference greater than 0.5v between the voltage reading on the 12v post and the voltage reading on the 24v post divided by 2 turns the balance light on. Also, any voltage greater than 15v turns the balance light on. Go on the Vanner website and read about it.15.88 is killing your new batteries by overcharging them. You should (almost) never see more than about 14.8v on a 12v lead acid battery.2005 XL Thompson Coach
Rarely tow anything behind us.
Sold: 1993 Liberty that we loved for 12 years. -
Don. Thanks! I’ll take a look at adjusting the alternator voltage regulator. Didn’t see much on the net about the equalizer as far as a manual goes. I’ll call around tomorrow see if inverter services has any ideas. Might be time to get a vanner.
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Just to close out on this thread. It turned out that my charger had blown two fuses and was not charging the batteries so two of the batteries had been discharged when plugged into shore and sitting for a bit. That caused the imbalance. Once I got the charger working and batteries charged, all measurements are good and balance light is not coming on at all.
Also, the alternator is charging at 14.16 volts. Not sure exactly why it was showing so much voltage but obviously related to the battery issue.
Thanks as always!
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Assuming the charger is for the chassis batteries, why are you charging them?
Unless you are storing the coach for several months they should remain charged for at least 3 months.
If however they are depleted in a short period of time you have a battery issue or you have a phantom current draw. If your chargers are putting out that much voltage it will not take long for your batteries to be cooked.
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Jon, yes it is for the chassis. I added it as the converter pulled at least one thing thing off the chassis (don’t ask me why), the macerator. Sometimes we have it sitting for 3 mos at one site which led me to add the charger a few years ago.
I changed the chassis batteries (after 8 years) last June which is when I think the fuse went on the charger. Unfortunately, it does not indicate it is not charging and I missed it. We had parked from about Oct 10-Jan 10 then headed out to FL. Initially the balance light came on only when we started driving for a few minutes, but after sitting in FL at one site from Jan 12-Mar 1 it came on all the time, which led to this post.
In summary, the issues only started after sitting for some extended periods and I do suspect we are getting a little “drain” when parked but it doesn’t seem high enough to be too concerned. For the past 5 years the charger method worked well without impact, until the fuse went. Lesson learned where to look first.
Mike Harper
2004 Marathon XLII -
I agree with what Jon said on March 9th. We too have a three stage smart charger for the chassis batteries which is OFF most of the time. I only turn it on when I need it (usually after inadvertently leaving something on overnight or few a days). I’ve never not used the coach for three months like I think Jon does annually, but I put it in cold storage (no power) on December 2nd and will “wake it up” in early or mid-April. I’ll give you a report of that experience when it happens.
I’m confused as to how you’ve concluded that changing the house batteries impacted the charger for the chassis batteries. If the macerator is wired into the chassis batteries, I don’t think it should be pulling any power until you use it. Or does the macerator always have a little draw?
I too have experienced the BAL light being ON for a short time when I fire the Detroit up and sometimes as I go down the road it goes ON and OFF once in a while. If you have an original Vanner Monitor that’s more than 15 years old, I recommend you replace it with a current unit. Our Vanner Monitor “melted down” at about 15 or 16 years of age. Could have set the coach on fire but didn’t. It just melted all the plastic airlines above the it.
I’m told the wiring between the Vanner Balancer and the Vanner Monitor should be protected with fuses. This is where my criticism of the Vanner Monitor starts. The monitor should have those fuses built into it; we shouldn’t have to field wire fuses ourselves! Next the monitor should have LED lights that light up telling us when there is an imbalance. We should be able to see at the monitor if there is a problem without having to go to the dash. Finally, the monitor knows what the voltage is at the balancer (how else does the monitor know to turn a dash light on?). So … WHY don’t have the monitor have a digital readout of the voltages from both sides? It has the data, let us know what the numbers are without having to get out a DMM. Rant over.
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Hi Dick. Yes, I have the fuses at the monitor but agree with your rant.
The reason I believe the battery change impacted it, is that two of the three fuses in the charger lines were blown which is why they were not being charged. According to the Guest charger manual, if the fuses blow, the charger will still show a ready light (green) but will not charge. I never look in the compartment to see if the red charge light is on so when I looked in I saw the green light and assumed all was good. I suppose them blowing could have occurred anytime, but given my years of no problems and the changing of the batteries being the beginning of seeing the balance light occasionally I think that was probably the timing when the charger fuses went and it stopped charging. Lesson learned for me on that front.
I agree that I likely do not have a large draw on the batteries, but again it sat once for 3 months and again for 2 months with only regular starts and not enough time for a recharge. When I checked the batteries this week 3 of the 4 were down below 12 volts – ie. discharged. Once I figured out the fuse issue, I replaced them, charged over one night and all of the batteries are at 13.17 volts and well balanced.
Will keep an eye on it going forward, but hope I have it solved until I have a fuse problem with limited drive time in the future.
One thing I strangely enjoy with my bus is the fun of tracking something down and solving it which is what makes this group so great!
Now off to my speedometer problem….
2005 XL Thompson Coach
Rarely tow anything behind us.
Sold: 1993 Liberty that we loved for 12 years. -
OR outlawed macerators and forced converters to remove or disable these to sell them. The claim was that that RVers were pumping the poo into ditches along the road instead of using legitimate dump stations.
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
And how exactly does OR enforce that law? I have a macerator and cannot even see it without a flashlight, and only then because I know where it is.
If OR had people write laws about banning macerators they should have gotten folks that had a clue. Entertainer conversions typically have tank drains on both sides with inside the coach controls. It is not uncommon to pull onto the shoulder where the slope is typically away from the road and with the push of a button the tank drains. If they park on the outside of a curve on the on or off ramp the view of them dumping is obscured. What they should have done to satisfy their concerns about illegal dumping is eliminate all inside the coach switches, and any outside switches should be near the tank drain so they get their shoes splashed if there is no hose attached.
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Just out of curiosity why do we need the ability dump the tanks from a button inside? My Bus has no such button, and if it did I would disable it due to possible electrical malfunction.
2005 XL Thompson Coach
Rarely tow anything behind us.
Sold: 1993 Liberty that we loved for 12 years. -
Ours has an electronic dump on both sides and the first thing I did was disable inside switches,,don’t know what they were thinking, could not imagine trying to get familiar with a new coach and dump in the middle of a campsite, not on our watch .
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Talk about thread drift original topic balance light and wind up dumping black tanks ,
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LOL,
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