Sunseeker 2013 Battery Questions

[LTRVing]

Just took delivery, very excited. It will be a month or so before we head to warmer climates. A few newbie questions, if I may:

1) If stored outside, should the battery(s) be pulled and place on a trickle charger?
2) If not, I can run electrical to the RV, would that suffice in keeping everything happy?
3) Where exactly are the batteries?

Thanks for your patience and help

The Millers

[A32Deuce]

Welcome to the group. Any water on board? If battery's are fully charged, just turn off bat. disconnect switch near entrance door. I believe bats. are under a step. Did not say what model you have. My SunSeeker's are under a step. If you leave it plugged in, then you must check water level in the bats. The converters that come with these units are not staged and put out a constant voltage which tends to boil off the water in the bats. Just refill with distilled water NOT TAP water.

[LTRVing]

Thanks for the welcome, this forum fills in lots of knowledge gaps for us. We're in the North and it gets cold, no water on board, everything water related winterized ok. Model is 317ODS. I assume that the engine battery may not start the coach after a month in the cold, hence some of my concern.

[A32Deuce]

Well I'm in South Jersey and it sat from November till we left in the beginning of February, and started right up. Same as my regular vehicles when we come home after 3 months. They all start right up if the bats. are in good shape. As long as it is charged, it should be fine. There should be a booster switch to use house bats. to help start coach. Under drivers left side of the seat on mine.

[lucky55616]

From my understanding, batteries have a much lower rate of self discharge during colder temperatures so they will stay charged for a longer time during winter months than hot summer months. I have a 3010DS and live in Minnesota where it gets very cold and plan to run both the genny and engine once a month during the winter months to keep all the batteries charged. There is no electricity source close to where it is stored so I do not have an option to keep it on shore power.

[A32Deuce]

That isn't a bad idea for the genny as long as it is under a load. The coach would do better if you drove it. When the genny runs under a load and fully charges the bats. then it will charge engine bat. Unless you drive the coach and get to operating temp. really does more harm. You could run y hook up a charger to coach bat and charge it.

[OKpete]

LTRVing:::: Welcome and congrats on new rig. You are at the right place for any assistance. I have found everyone really helpful and friendly. I have a 2013 3170DS AND LOVE IT. If you read a lot of these posts you will see mine where I had had problem of leaving my rig plugged in last winter and cooked the batteries. The style converter does not drop down to just trickle to maintain charge. This year I am using a seperate trickle charger to maintain. I still will check battery status and remove charger until I see a drop. I used compressed air to winterize for the first time and found it simple to do. I put antifredze in black and grey tanks and traps but do nof put it in water lines becausd it takes too long to get taste out . Cannot wait for springtime.

[Tom48]

Originally Posted by OKpete

LTRVing:::: Welcome and congrats on new rig. You are at the right place for any assistance. I have found everyone really helpful and friendly. I have a 2013 3170DS AND LOVE IT. If you read a lot of these posts you will see mine where I had had problem of leaving my rig plugged in last winter and cooked the batteries. The style converter does not drop down to just trickle to maintain charge. This year I am using a seperate trickle charger to maintain. I still will check battery status and remove charger until I see a drop. I used compressed air to winterize for the first time and found it simple to do. I put antifredze in black and grey tanks and traps but do nof put it in water lines becausd it takes too long to get taste out . Cannot wait for springtime.

We have a fairly cheap converter. It is IOTA but four $19 retail I added a plug in module that makes it a full on 4stage charger and for the love of me, at $19 retail, I do not understand why it is not built in to the thing from day one. Take away the stock connection port on the converter and the case and packing for the adapter and it would have been a $2 difference it mfg cost.

[Myrle]

Originally Posted by LTRVing

Just took delivery, very excited. It will be a month or so before we head to warmer climates. A few newbie questions, if I may:

1) If stored outside, should the battery(s) be pulled and place on a trickle charger?
2) If not, I can run electrical to the RV, would that suffice in keeping everything happy?
3) Where exactly are the batteries?

Thanks for your patience and help

The Millers

Under the steps. I keep shore power it will keep batteries up.

[Delco Bobby]

The FR owners manual says that it is a multistage charger and so does the literature for the converter. Here is the quote from the owners manual...

"Battery Charging The converter also operates as a battery charger, when it is connected to a 110 volt power source. If the battery is below its full charge, the converter charger will begin operation at a rate that reflects the level of discharge. When the battery is again fully charged, the converter charger drops its charging level back to a maintenance level, to keep the battery fully charged. "

Now I have read posts which state that the supplied converter can fail to work properly and that will not be noticed by you a battery problem occurs. Supposedly the converters can be tested for proper function.

Some people replace their converters with a higher quality American made unit which is probably the smart path if you planned on keeping your RV for years. Since you are new to this like me, it is probably smarter to keep it the factory one if it works. Just check the fluid levels.

Bobby

Originally Posted by A32Deuce

Welcome to the group. Any water on board? If battery's are fully charged, just turn off bat. disconnect switch near entrance door. I believe bats. are under a step. Did not say what model you have. My SunSeeker's are under a step. If you leave it plugged in, then you must check water level in the bats. The converters that come with these units are not staged and put out a constant voltage which tends to boil off the water in the bats. Just refill with distilled water NOT TAP water.

[camper Dave]

Personally I would leave the starting battery in but drive the coach once a month to keep it and working parts up to snuff. As for the coach batteries I'd take them out and store them in the garage which is warmer then the coach and put a maintainer on it but check the water levels frequently. If the water gets low the plates sulfunate and so long batteries.

[Mike968]

I have a little 2.5w solar panel I put in the windshield when my Sunseeker is parked. It plugs into the dash cigarette lighter (the one that stays hot when the vehicle is off) and keeps my chassis battery charged. It even works when the RV is covered.

[MNtraveler]

Originally Posted by Delco Bobby

The FR owners manual says that it is a multistage charger and so does the literature for the converter. Here is the quote from the owners manual...



"Battery Charging The converter also operates as a battery charger, when it is connected to a 110 volt power source. If the battery is below its full charge, the converter charger will begin operation at a rate that reflects the level of discharge. When the battery is again fully charged, the converter charger drops its charging level back to a maintenance level, to keep the battery fully charged. "



Now I have read posts which state that the supplied converter can fail to work properly and that will not be noticed by you a battery problem occurs. Supposedly the converters can be tested for proper function.



Some people replace their converters with a higher quality American made unit which is probably the smart path if you planned on keeping your RV for years. Since you are new to this like me, it is probably smarter to keep it the factory one if it works. Just check the fluid levels.



Bobby

Land of 10,000 Lakes
2016 Forester MBS 2401R

[MNtraveler]

I'm not sure that description is safe for extended storage, at least without close checking of battery water levels. The PD4000 Series Power Control Unit has three stages including a storage mode. (Actually in other models they call this four-stage BOOST, NORMAL, STORAGE, and EQUALIZATION mode which is 14.4V for 15 mins. every 21 hours - but this manual describes it as 3 stage with this anti-sulfation cycle as part of the STORAGE mode.) Even at that and with the anti-sulfation cycle, they do say to check the batteries periodically. See attached.






Land of 10,000 Lakes
2016 Forester MBS 2401R

[Ridenfun]

Like Mke 968, I use 2.5, 4 or 5 watt solar panels on several different stored batteries, incuding my RV, boat, and a battery in an unpowered shed which supplies 12 volt power for internal lighting. I've done this for over 13 years on my boat, first dual purpose deep cycle battery on the boat lasted 9 years.
I'd go that route if you don't have power available. Any of these sizes will suffice and not risk any over charging, as long as you have any parasitic loads shut off.

[slamac]

I'm a newbie at this forum thing but by reading all of your posts I'v learned how to operate and or fix, so far everything on me 2013 3010ds and more. As for keeping the house batteries maintained in winter or summer, I plug my RV into a timer that only runs one hour in summer and 2 hours in winter per day. Check the Water with a hydrometer about once a month and add distilled water if necessary. should not need distilled water with moderate use unless your charger is not working correctly. This has worked for me both in my RV's and my boats for many years. I get several years form a good brand deep cycle battery or batteries.

[LTRVing]

I had a tech fix a few loose ends today, (warranty), he said that the charging system on this 3170DS is designed to charge the battery, the once charge trickle to keep it topped off, as long as it was plugged in to AC. Since we just took it over to storage, I pulled the battery, and placed my own trickle charger on it.

BTW, I see it can accept two batteries, any great reason to daisy chain a second battery, beside longer life?

Tom and Linda

[slamac]

As far as I know daisy chaining only increases amps adding longer time to discharge. But, the down side is if one battery goes south you need to replace them both with identical batteries. You can't add a new battery to an older one.