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Pahaska · 10-05-2017, 09:34 AM

I stopped by storage after breakfast this morning to put things back together and clean up after installing the new Blue Sea ML-ACR yesterday. The new ACR had been operational for about 18 hours.

The ACR was at room temperature. No power wasted there.

First thing I noticed was that the voltages on the chassis and house batteries matched perfectly and the Magnum was indicating float. With the old BIM, the chassis battery was always kept at a fair state of charge, but there was always a noticeable difference between the two readings, indicating that the old BIM had isolated the batteries after reaching some level of charge on the chassis battery.

I decided to delay installing the remote until after two upcoming trips which will cover most of this month.

FlyFishinRVr · 10-05-2017, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pahaska

I stopped by storage after breakfast this morning to put things back together and clean up after installing the new Blue Sea ML-ACR yesterday. The new ACR had been operational for about 18 hours.

The ACR was at room temperature. No power wasted there.

First thing I noticed was that the voltages on the chassis and house batteries matched perfectly and the Magnum was indicating float. With the old BIM, the chassis battery was always kept at a fair state of charge, but there was always a noticeable difference between the two readings, indicating that the old BIM had isolated the batteries after reaching some level of charge on the chassis battery.

Thanks for the update John.

Yes, that makes sense. The PCI BIM has a built in timer that only allows it to stay closed for a set period of time (1hr according to their literature). I don't know how long that "lockout" timer then runs, but based on my experience and now yours, it appears to be long enough to allow the two banks to change voltage levels by a noticeable amount (EDIT: looking at the PCI spec, it indicates that it monitors the voltage level and once either bank goes below 80% SOC, it will close again, so it's voltage dependent and not based on time). It looks like the ACR will solve that, and should allow you to arrive at your destination each night with full batteries.

Enjoy your trips!

amirm · 10-05-2017, 10:47 AM

Thanks for the pictures. That ACR is quite large! Looks like twice the size of the BMS?

FlyFishinRVr · 10-05-2017, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pahaska

I attached the generator input to one of the several disable leads. That way, the generator will be limited to charging the house battery only and not the chassis battery. I prefer it that way.

The one lead from the old BIM that I have not used is the lead from the switch on the dash that links both batteries for starting the engine in case the chassis battery is low. That linkage will be available through the remote, when I install the remote. I haven't yet decided where I will locate the remote.

You may want to rethink this for your upcoming trips. Without the remote switch installed, and without being able to charge the chassis battery via the genset/Magnum, if for some reason your chassis battery were to die, you'd have no way to start your engine. Until you install the remote switch, you may want to remove the genset disable so you could at least fire the genny up and get your coach started if needed. I guess you could always do this as a "field update" if the need arises, but personally I don't like fiddling with stuff while I'm on the road.....

amirm · 10-05-2017, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlyFishinRVr

You may want to rethink this for your upcoming trips. Without the remote switch installed, and without being able to charge the chassis battery via the genset/Magnum, if for some reason your chassis battery were to die, you'd have no way to start your engine. Until you install the remote switch, you may want to remove the genset disable so you could at least fire the genny up and get your coach started if needed. I guess you could always do this as a "field update" if the need arises, but personally I don't like fiddling with stuff while I'm on the road.....

My chassis battery is completely disconnected right now from house system. So I bought one of those portable jump start kits that also has USB power and flashlight.

Shame that we have two batteries in the chassis but one doesn't act like a back up for the other. Will have to look at fixing that situation.

Pahaska · 10-05-2017, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlyFishinRVr

You may want to rethink this for your upcoming trips. Without the remote switch installed, and without being able to charge the chassis battery via the genset/Magnum, if for some reason your chassis battery were to die, you'd have no way to start your engine. Until you install the remote switch, you may want to remove the genset disable so you could at least fire the genny up and get your coach started if needed. I guess you could always do this as a "field update" if the need arises, but personally I don't like fiddling with stuff while I'm on the road.....

All nights for both trips will be on hookups and many days will be on the road, so I don't need to worry much about the chassis battery ever getting low. If I ever possibly needed the generator for charging the chassis battery, it would be one snip with the diagonal pliers.

Pahaska · 10-05-2017, 05:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by amirm

Thanks for the pictures. That ACR is quite large! Looks like twice the size of the BMS?

Part may be perspective since the camera was nearer the ACR.

The ACR is not effectively much larger than the BIM. The BIM is like a porcupine with incoming wires, either on tabs or on screw terminals, plus the studs for the battery cables. There has to be some space around the BIM.

The only exposed points on the ACR are the studs for the battery cables. All control wires are in one insulated cable. It can be mounted right up against other items.

I like the fact that my battery cable terminals are much better shielded now since they are on the bottom of the ACR