Batteries dead on “new” classic 33?

[ocropper]

All who have been following. I think this will be a problem for JC to fix in the end. Talked to the service tech at dealership. Asked me to check voltages at input to converter. I did and they were in 5-6 V range vs the 12.8 we were reading at battery. Also checked the voltage on the actual positive wire from battery into house. 12.8V. Somewhere between battery and converter I am losing volts.

He suspects it is a ground issue which is way over my capabilities to check/ fixWord to wise - have dealer prove trailer works on batteries as part of PDI. No boondocking for now - very disappointed but will be at top of growing list for November drop off at JC. Big sigh. Sad to have such a big expensive rig that won’t work off batteries.

Thanks to all that have weighed in. Always helpful.

[Hermes]

Originally Posted by lsbrodsky

There are other reasons AGM's are better for our needs, but chances are good that you will cook regular flooded cells on solar.

I beg to differ... I am not familiar with the latest models, but previous AS models were notorious for cooking the batteries because the converter/charger would overcharge the batteries or not progressively charge them according to the battery manufacturer's specs which needs to take into account battery temperature.

I use my MPPT solar controller to charge my batteries (365 days per year) and not the trailer's converter/charger. To do this, I put the Use/Store switch in Store position when connected to shore power which cuts off the batteries from the converter (while leaving them connected to the MPPT solar controller). If your unit is not wired in this manner (it depends on the year/model), you can have your dealer make the ajustment.

In that situation the rest of the 12V circuit is fed from the converter. If I do need the charger (in which case the MPPT controller is generally not supplying any or little charge because of too little sunshine), I will switch to Use mode, but cut back to Store mode when the batteries are 85% charged, and then let the solar system complete the charge properly.

It's been over two years that the solar system has been maintaining my 4 deep cycle 6V lead acid batteries and I have not had to add a single drop of water in any of the 12 cells.

It depends on the charging parameters of the MPPT controller, on the capacity of the battery bank compared to your power usage and the capacity of the installed panels. If you are regularly depleting your battery bank because it is undersized relative to your power usage and recharge it with high amperage without consideration for battery bank temperature, you will have gassing (hydrogen), heating batteries and water loss. Today's programmable MPPT controllers are pretty sophisticated and I trust them more than the OEM controller in my Airstream to properly maintain my battery bank. And if your solar system is properly sized and configured, you can pretty well forget it and let it do its job, even with lead acid batteries.

[rmkrum]

Ditto. My MPPT solar charger is very gentle on my flooded golf cart batteries. The only time it messed up my batteries was when I accidentally left it set to a higher float voltage than needed. I do have a battery watering system and check batteries once a month. They only need a few ounces of water every 30 days.

My MPPT controller is directly connected to the batteries ahead of the use/store relay. This lets it charge the batteries at all times. The use/store relay isolates the OEM battery boiler converter from the batteries most of the time. The solar keeps the batteries nicely charged.