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Old 07-14-2018, 09:46 AM   #21
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2018 Interstate Grand Tour Ext
St auguatine , Florida
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They are AGM batteries. Do you have a help number for weekends on airstream? I only have M-F 9-5. After using a charger for 90
Minutes followed by 23 hours on shore power the van us still dead. The only thing with light is Magnum which says, No Comm.
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Old 07-14-2018, 10:06 AM   #22
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There should be a phone number in your manual, but not sure if it is manned on weekends. Try the dealer's service dept. maybe?

Sorry for your troubles!

Peter
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Old 07-14-2018, 11:33 AM   #23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by carpenc View Post
They are AGM batteries. Do you have a help number for weekends on airstream? I only have M-F 9-5. After using a charger for 90
Minutes followed by 23 hours on shore power the van us still dead. The only thing with light is Magnum which says, No Comm.
Hi

It would be a good idea if you could fill in the details of your RV on your user profile. That helps people stay focused on your specific year and model. It also helps those of us who occasionally don't catch the "Sprinter" sub-forum notation.

Bob
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Old 07-14-2018, 12:29 PM   #24
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Quote:
Originally Posted by carpenc View Post
They are AGM batteries. Do you have a help number for weekends on airstream? I only have M-F 9-5. After using a charger for 90
Minutes followed by 23 hours on shore power the van us still dead. The only thing with light is Magnum which says, No Comm.
Hi

It would be a good idea if you could fill in the details of your RV on your user profile. That helps people stay focused on your specific year and model. It also helps those of us who occasionally don't catch the "Sprinter" sub-forum notation.

Bob
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Old 07-14-2018, 02:07 PM   #25
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Sedona , Arizona
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Quote:
Originally Posted by carpenc View Post
They are AGM batteries. Do you have a help number for weekends on airstream? I only have M-F 9-5. After using a charger for 90
Minutes followed by 23 hours on shore power the van us still dead. The only thing with light is Magnum which says, No Comm.


I know things are hard in the initial stages, especially when things don’t go as expected. One of the difficulties is using the appropriate terminology to describe a problem you don’t understand! So with that in mind, please let us have the following initial information:
Did you buy this AI new from a dealer? Otherwise what is the year?
Can you start the AI (with the AI chassis battery)?
When you leave the AI plugged into shore power, are the coach batteries switched on (enabled) or not?
If the Magnum is displaying No Comm, that is a symptom of the coach batteries in the off setting, and they need to be on for the Magnum to do its duty. I should qualify this by saying it affects only certain years, and mine will charge without the coach batteries being on.
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Old 07-14-2018, 02:23 PM   #26
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On my 2014.5, solar will charge the batteries with the disconnect switch in the off position. The solar controller is directly wired to the batteries.

If the SB-164 "fix" has not been installed and the Magnum has not been switched off, the Magnum searches for loads on the outlets that the inverter serves. If anything was left plugged in and is turned on, that will flatten the batteries in a hurry.
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Old 07-14-2018, 02:46 PM   #27
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My battery did not go completely dead, but I was getting a red low warning on chasis each time before I turned the engine in my 2018 AI, and I took it to mercedes and they replaced it. They could find no explanation. They said its sometimes just a bad battery.
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Old 07-15-2018, 10:30 AM   #28
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Bob, Thanks fir the advice. I just filled in the details. Am taking unit to dealer again tomorrow. Don’t know what else to do sense putting it on charger for 90 min folliwed by shore power for 13 hours didnt work although the Magnum screen breifky came on and said, “No Comm” . Any ideas what I could/shoukd do if that pops up again?
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Old 07-16-2018, 06:46 AM   #29
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Hi

No idea what to do with weird Magnum screens. Hope the dealer can straighten things out.

Bob
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Old 07-16-2018, 07:30 AM   #30
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Quote:
Originally Posted by carpenc View Post
Here it is 2018 and the sane problem exists in the18s.!!!! I am sitting in a camp near my home trying to charge brand new batteries with a charger. Airstream tech said letting it sit without shore power fir two weeks drains the batteries. That shouldn’t be since you are supposed to be able to boondook for longer with solar etc!? The dealership, RV One in Winter Park Fl told me NOT to ht the red battery disable inless I was going to park it for months.
Hi carpenc,

We're very sorry to learn about the issue you are having with your batteries. Please send us a direct message with your contact information and the last 6 digits of your VIN so we can share it with our Customer Service and Technical Support team.

You can also reach Airstream Customer Service and Technical Support at customer_support@airstream.com

Thank you.
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Old 07-18-2018, 09:24 AM   #31
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I had the same problem with my '17. Some Fusions were wired incorrectly at the factory. See my posts fir "dead battery".
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Old 07-18-2018, 02:19 PM   #32
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hpjack View Post
I put a battery tender on the Airstream and the f350. This solved the problem you are having.
May hide the problem, but certainly doesn't solve it.
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Old 07-19-2018, 10:37 AM   #33
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dustin View Post
I bought a new 2017 International Serenity 23’ Airstream.
After just a month the “New” Interstate Batteries died. Brought it to the “Interstate Battery Dealer and they replaced them. A headache especially after paying $70K for an Airstream!
Same issue occurred with our 2017 27' International Serenity; dead International batteries were replaced under warranty. Airstream needs some serious QC upgrading in their organization. Extreme pride-blindness....
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Old 07-19-2018, 10:45 AM   #34
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mellington View Post
Airstream needs some serious QC upgrading in their organization. Extreme pride-blindness....
Airstream needs to replace the p-poor Battery Interface Manager (BIM) with something better. For instance, the Blue Sea ML series that will maximize the battery charging and not leave you with partially charged batteries after a day's driving.
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Old 07-19-2018, 12:47 PM   #35
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pahaska View Post
Airstream needs to replace the p-poor Battery Interface Manager (BIM) with something better. For instance, the Blue Sea ML series that will maximize the battery charging and not leave you with partially charged batteries after a day's driving.
I agree - but replacing the solar charge controller with something better would also help most owners. Especially now that they are installing three 100 watt solar panels.
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Old 07-20-2018, 07:07 AM   #36
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I agree - but replacing the solar charge controller with something better would also help most owners. Especially now that they are installing three 100 watt solar panels.
Hi

At least on some of the trailers (yes we have TT's and MH's mixed at several points in this thread) they have gone to Victron solar charge controllers. I can't say the old one gave us any problems. The Victron definitely gives you a better view of what it's doing.

Bob
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Old 07-20-2018, 08:42 AM   #37
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Charge controllers

Quote:
Originally Posted by Boxster1971 View Post
I agree - but replacing the solar charge controller with something better would also help most owners. Especially now that they are installing three 100 watt solar panels.
I just had Lew Farber replace the 50w panel with 3 - 100w panels and a Victron controller to replace the Sun Explorer on my 2013 Lounge. It works great.

I kept the old 50w panel to use off the van to charge some batteries I use for amateur astronomy telescope control purposes. The Victron 75/15 Bluetooth enabled controller I bought for that purpose works very well with the old 50w panel.

Something like the Victron controller would have made the original 50w panel of some use, as opposed to no use, as installed on the AI with the Sun Explorer.
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Old 07-20-2018, 08:48 AM   #38
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How to check an electrical system for parasitic draw.

First use the 0 to 10 amp selector on a multimeter. An amp clamp will give inaccurate readings at small current levels. Hook in series with the batteries.

Now pull every fuse one by one and write down the difference in amp draw. You can now determine what is using power and what is not.

A faulty charge controller will back feed the solar panels from the batteries of a night time.

You can check your charge controller by hooking in series between the battery and charge controller and checking current draw when its night time.
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Old 07-20-2018, 09:05 AM   #39
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Hi

How well a clamp amp does on low currents depends a *lot* on which one you buy. If it's only got a 400A scale on it ... yes, it will be nutty reading low currents.

Bob
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Old 07-20-2018, 02:46 PM   #40
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Shermy1987 View Post
How to check an electrical system for parasitic draw.

First use the 0 to 10 amp selector on a multimeter. An amp clamp will give inaccurate readings at small current levels. Hook in series with the batteries.

Now pull every fuse one by one and write down the difference in amp draw. You can now determine what is using power and what is not.

A faulty charge controller will back feed the solar panels from the batteries of a night time.

You can check your charge controller by hooking in series between the battery and charge controller and checking current draw when its night time.

This might not work well on an Interstate as several items on the coach batteries are controlled by un-accessible thermal circuit breakers and hidden inline fuses.
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