How low can you go? (Batteries)

[Jim Flower]

What am I missing here? I run my fridge on propane while The airstream is in storage for weeks at a time. The fridge will drain the battery in no time at all. I don't think that it is a good idea to use the battery to run the fridge if the battery is not receiving a charge from an external source.

[chaseav]

Originally Posted by Jim Flower

What am I missing here? I run my fridge on propane while The airstream is in storage for weeks at a time. The fridge will drain the battery in no time at all. I don't think that it is a good idea to use the battery to run the fridge if the battery is not receiving a charge from an external source.

I think you're referring to what I said... I'm trying to run my fridge "on propane" but that requires battery power too.

[Troutboy]

AS uses the basic industry standard when it comes to the electrical system. Best bet is to study (forums great place) and replace.

I ripped out all the power and installed solar on a brand new 2017 AS last fall. Wife thought I was crazy, saying why do this to a brand new camper?

I had read everything could here and decided it was best in the long run to do it ASAP. Since that, all summer, no issues whatsoever and I understand the system and how it works.

Sad that you pay so much for top of the line, but sooo many inferior parts used that get the job done, but not the best or top of line.

When you buy AS or any SOB, you have to put time not it to make it better and yours, there is no off the shelf premium that I know of yet.

[OTRA15]

FYI Troutboy's thread is here:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f382...-a-162955.html

Well done!

Peter

[Adventure.AS]

Originally Posted by chaseav

<snip>... the importance of not filling your batteries with water when the air temperature is below freezing. No joke, ... <snip>Attachment 294569

Water added to a battery when it is below freezing will likely freeze. Water expands when it freezes and will crack your battery case and allow sulphuric acid to leak.

[TravlinMan]

Originally Posted by gypsydad

My 2017 battery disconnect switch does not disconnect either, while on shore power. I am installing a knife kill switch when I get back to TX in couple weeks.

Hi gypsydad, the way they wire that switch is very strange and it may actually be disconnecting without ya knowin it. When ya plug into shore power and press the rocker switch down, nothing actually happens that ya can notice. The switch returns to the center position, the light remains red and the battery indicator will continue to read 13.6, which is silly. However, if ya have a solar controller or other monitoring device connected directly to the battery you'll see that the battery has been cut off and the voltage should be dropping if you aren't solar charging.

[OTRA15]

Is everyone assuming that you all have the same Use/Store/Disconnect switch? Unless you are controlling. precisely by mfg/model number of switch, I would venture a guess that Airstream could easily have used different switches even in the same model year for the same model, not to mention different models in different years.

A real switch-er-oo?

[TravlinMan]

Ha! Well mine looks like the one in chaseav's picture. Looks like it's in the same place as that pic too but I can't tell.

[chaseav]

With the propane sensor and sub woofer disconnected my overnight reading held steady at 12.5. That's down from 12.7 but as I understand it you can't get an accurate reading from the voltmeter unless you've been unplugged for something like 4 hours. Continuing to monitor...

[TravlinMan]

Originally Posted by chaseav

With the propane sensor and sub woofer disconnected my overnight reading held steady at 12.5. That's down from 12.7 but as I understand it you can't get an accurate reading from the voltmeter unless you've been unplugged for something like 4 hours. Continuing to monitor...

Chaseav your batteries are most likely gonna fail if, like ya said previously, a bunch of cells dried up cause ya never added water. My batteries will hold 12.7 overnight even with the propane detector attached.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by OTRA15

Is everyone assuming that you all have the same Use/Store/Disconnect switch? Unless you are controlling. precisely by mfg/model number of switch, I would venture a guess that Airstream could easily have used different switches even in the same model year for the same model, not to mention different models in different years.

A real switch-er-oo?

Hi

Regardless of what the panel or switch looks like, AS apparently does change how they do the disconnect process between models. There very definitely are changes between years as well. The verbiage in the manuals is often cut and pasted year to year and model to model. Catching detail issues when doing that is not easy. If you think it is, try writing a manual ... been there done that many times. If you have never done it, you'd be amazed at what it takes.

The thing to dig into on any model is the electrical schematic. It still may not be 100% but there is a much better chance of it being right. In any case of the words and the diagram not agreeing, I'd always trust the diagram.

The nice thing about this is that it's drop dead easy to test. Go out in the evening (so no sun on the solar) and look at the battery voltage with your multimeter. I'd hope it's something like 12.7V. Plug in shore power. It should go up to around 13.6V, that tells you the converter is running. Try a light, that will tell you if you have 12V to the accessories. Now hit your store / use switch. In store, the light should be off. Wait a couple of minutes for things to settle a bit. If the battery is still at 13.6V your converter is still hooked up. If it's below 13.2V the battery is doing fine and settling down with no converter. No rocket science, now you know what's what.

Bob

[TravlinMan]

We'll see there's a difference I guess because when mine is in store position and plugged into shore power, the lights will work. The only thing that shows it's in store mode is my solar controller which shows the voltage slowly drop to 12.7 (a multimeter will do the same). in use mode, it shoots up to 13.7, meaning it's charging from the converter. Otherwise, all works as normal. Now, if I disconnect shore power and put it in store mode, then everything goes dark.

[rmkrum]

The reason it works weird is that the switch operates a very clever magnetic LATCHING relay. Pressing 'Use' locks the relay ON, pressing 'store' locks the relay to OFF.

All the red LED tells you is you have power to the 12 volt bus to the fuses. The converter turns it on if you have shore power, the batteries turn it on when you have charged batteries and the switch has been put to USE and the relay is ON.

Before I fixed it, my solar charger would also power the light, but would not charge the battery when the relay was in STORE. Dummy me ruined a set of batteries that way..until I got the solar stuff wired directly to the batteries...

(Engineer: Noun. "A highly educated and skilled person who takes a grand design concept all the way to a major malfunction...")

[TravlinMan]

My solar controller is not factory and is wired directly to the battery so it does charge them whether or not that switch is in use or store, which is nice.

[rmkrum]

Originally Posted by TravlinMan

My solar controller is not factory and is wired directly to the battery so it does charge them whether or not that switch is in use or store, which is nice.

Ditto. I installed an AMSolar 150 Watt MPPT controller system with heavy cable to the panels and batteries. Keeps everything hot in storage...once I got the wiring sorted (wry grin)

[alano]

Wiring the solar charger directly to the batteries has the added advantage of allowing the batteries to be disconnected from the converter while on shore power for extended periods for those of us with single-stage converters, and still allow the batteries to be maintained by the solar charger. Now that was a mouthful!

[Rich W]

Originally Posted by TravlinMan

My solar controller is not factory and is wired directly to the battery so it does charge them whether or not that switch is in use or store, which is nice.

My solar IS factory but is wired directly to the batteries. When in Store and not on shore power, the red light is off but the solar is charging the batteries. I keep my AS in a storage lot, propane detector wired, but the batteries stay charged up. It stays there months on end (I know, sad, isn't it?) and the batteries stay topped off.

If I'm on shore power, the red light is on but batteries are on solar if the switch is in Store, on the converter is it's in Use. I've made a chart for this, but I don't think it applies to all AS. Newer AS may be configured differently.

[TravlinMan]

Originally Posted by richw46

My solar IS factory but is wired directly to the batteries. When in Store and not on shore power, the red light is off but the solar is charging the batteries. I keep my AS in a storage lot, propane detector wired, but the batteries stay charged up. It stays there months on end (I know, sad, isn't it?) and the batteries stay topped off.

If I'm on shore power, the red light is on but batteries are on solar if the switch is in Store, on the converter is it's in Use. I've made a chart for this, but I don't think it applies to all AS. Newer AS may be configured differently.

I am editing this to say I reread that chart fifty times and I think mine's the same.

[chaseav]

Originally Posted by TravlinMan

Chaseav your batteries are most likely gonna fail if, like ya said previously, a bunch of cells dried up cause ya never added water. My batteries will hold 12.7 overnight even with the propane detector attached.

Right. I have a new set of batteries in there now and am hitting the reset button on my diligence in taking care of them. Those batteries were almost ONE year old and I contend that if my electrical system was working "properly" (defined as having a battery charging system capable of:
a) not over charging and boiling batteries; and b) does not have a somewhat substantial "phantom" draw OR;
c) has a battery disconnect switch that indeed cuts power like it should)that there is no way for a lead-acid battery to go bad and require replacement within one year of normal use. By "normal" I mean very rarely using them but giving them lots of time to charge while on the road.

I take responsibility for not understanding how high maintenance lead-acid, marine batteries are in an RV application but had my system functioned as represented to me and as it SHOULD, even with total neglect, they should last much longer.

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by chaseav

. . .
. . . even with total neglect . . .
. . .

Disagree!

Failure to read the owner's manual and monitor the battery water is operator error of the first order.