Smart shunt issues in 2023 Classic

[KCurtis]

I spent all day following Airstream supports steps on resetting my smart shunt in my Classic. I still can’t get any more data than the Charge percentage. Has anybody had this experience before?

Here is an image showing you what I am seeing:

[ITSNO60]

Originally Posted by KCurtis

I spent all day following Airstream supports steps on resetting my smart shunt in my Classic. I still can’t get any more data than the Charge percentage. Has anybody had this experience before?

Here is an image showing you what I am seeing:

What other data are you looking for? In order to see "Time Remaining" you have to go into settings and enter your total battery capacity and select a discharge floor level.

I find that Time Remaining is not that helpful if your loads vary a lot as it keeps changing to match the load.

The display you posted shows no power is being used and no charging is taking place, if this is what you mean and power is being used or charging is taking place but not showing on the display it could be wired incorrectly. Is this a new install or has it been working?

[3OnOurWay]

The shunt can take a day + and a full charge to synchronize and begin providing the remaining data you are looking for. With out charge and discharge

[bbdo]

We had a similar issue and the root cause was actually a loose ground wire up front. The smaller ground coming off the shunt itself. The buss bar location had pushed it out, rather than tightened it down. This created all sorts of weird behaviors that AS support tried to help with. All were resolved once I put it back.

[KCurtis]

Okay, thanks for the responses. I will take a look to ensure the cables are all connected. I need to pull the couch apart to check the smart shunt wiring too.

[KCurtis]

I just took the couch apart and the inverter is blinking low battery fault.

[KCurtis]

Okay, after a long conversation with Brent in Airstream support we decide the smart shut was defected.

[KCurtis]

Dang phone! The shunt was defective!!

[kb0zke]

Better English: "The smart shunt had defected." <grin>


Are you deporting it back to China?

[KCurtis]

Still on the road. I finally landed in an area that could get Amazon deliveries in 2 or 3 day instead a week after we left. I installed the new smart shut yesterday and my batteries charged to 14.3 in roughly an hour. Last night before I went to bed it was sitting at 14.2. This morning they are at 13.58, which it the floating value. We unplug from the post this morning and the refrigerator isn’t freaking out and the button lights are no longer flashing. If your Airstream Classic is freaking out on power I would suggest you check your smart shut. One other thing that happened it when I pulled the power wire on the old one it no longer was giving power. I had to try both shuts to ensure this was NOT the issue with the other one and it wasn’t. I guess when I pulling on it it broke somehow. They included 2 new wires with the kit, so I pulled a new wire and connected it to the positive post and that fixed the issue.

[KCurtis]

Just wanted to update you all on this issue. By the time we finished our 3 month long trip we had all kinds of electrical issues. It is at the dealership now and they found all kinds of loose connections with the wiring. The Cerbo wasn’t mounted to the floor in my Airstream. That caused some issues with monitoring it using the app and the console getting correct battery information. They also found a bad red wire the goes from the battery to the box under the couch. They noted a couple of more loose connections in other areas too.
I am looking forward to getting all of this taken care of so we can stop for a night without hookups. We had to leave our first Harvest Host stop on our trip due to the electrical issues. Everything was fine while we were hooked up to power thankfully.

[BGClassic]

Originally Posted by KCurtis

Just wanted to update you all on this issue. By the time we finished our 3 month long trip we had all kinds of electrical issues. It is at the dealership now and they found all kinds of loose connections with the wiring. The Cerbo wasn’t mounted to the floor in my Airstream. That caused some issues with monitoring it using the app and the console getting correct battery information. They also found a bad red wire the goes from the battery to the box under the couch. They noted a couple of more loose connections in other areas too.
I am looking forward to getting all of this taken care of so we can stop for a night without hookups. We had to leave our first Harvest Host stop on our trip due to the electrical issues. Everything was fine while we were hooked up to power thankfully.

Thanks for posting this update. Sorry to hear you had so many electrical problems. I'm so happy I spent six weeks upgrading our electrical early this year for our Alaska trip. I found several loose connections, and excess cabling, and got to replace runs with larger gauge cabling. After the upgrades, we spend a week going from one Harvest Host to another, doing our shakedown testing, back in April. That enabled us to boondock in Denali NP and at several Canadian provincial parks. At the end of our trip, we stopped at Jackson Center for a bit more warranty work.

I also remember how my Cerbo GX was just hanging out in the front storage locker, not mounted, in a rat's nest of cables.

I think it takes a few years, and several thousand miles, to get these rigs dialed in correctly.

Good luck going forward.

[KCurtis]

It has been at Airstream DFW now for 2 weeks. I asked them to check the breaks and bearings too and I am glad I did. One of the bearings was bad and Dexter agreed to replace the axle.

They found many wire connections loose and 1 larger gauge red wire that needs to be replaced because it had a short in it. This explains the inconsistencies I have had starting a year ago. I am going to meet with the electrical tech when I pick it up to see exactly what wires came loose. I will update this thread then.

[BGClassic]

Wow! How many miles do you have on the trailer? Odd that Dexter would replace the entire axle for a bad bearing, or I am missing something. But, that's good on Dexter. I replaced the entire brake assemblies at about 19,000 miles before our Alaska trip this summer. A couple looked borderline.

I am so glad I got to learn my entire electrical system when I installed the Victron MP II. I even upgraded the ground buss bar near the 12V distribution box, since I found so many loose connections, and a few that had popped off.

It's easy to believe this story after you see the rat's nest the factory delivers.

I hope they get everything squared away for you. Looking forward to your update.

[KCurtis]

It has around 35K miles on it. Since our home is in North Texas we have to travel many miles just to get out of Texas.

I haven't talked to them, but I will once I pick it up.

[DNW]

Originally Posted by KCurtis

Since our home is in North Texas we have to travel many miles just to get out of Texas.

That would be very weird for me. I can see the next state from our family room, living room, dining room, bedroom and bathroom.,, The FURTHEST I could travel without going out of state is around 100 miles...

[KCurtis]

I have a house in the Dallas area. It takes up to 8 hours to get out of it if I head northwest. Heading directly east is is around 3 to 4 hours depending on the exact route. I feel for those that live in South Texas. They have 12 to 15 hour drives getting out of the state depending on how far south they live. Texas is a BIG State for sure.

[Redbarron55]

And at the Airstream factory tour they said how the extensively check out all of the trailers...

[BGClassic]

Yep. And in his case, the factory installed that shunt. Believe the lithium batteries are installed by the dealer. I have found a few loose connections, and my shunt and other components were in the pile of the rat's nest before relocation. I guess components can fail prematurely, though. But, as the saying goes, "if it looks good, it will work good."

[DNW]

Originally Posted by BGClassic

Believe the lithium batteries are installed by the dealer.

Oh-kay...

But the only option for ordering a Classic is WITH LiFePO4 batteries, right? So even if that IS the case, that the dealer actually installs the batteries, the controller should be set up for same. Or am I just a fledgling?