Type of batteries in 2021 Crosstrek 20XG?

mom4m · 11-18-2020, 06:08 PM

Ok - this is a really dumb question - but how do I figure out what type of batteries I have in my brand new 2021 Crosstrek 20XG? It's the brand new one with 4x100ah batteries. The information on the Coachmen page talks about the old setup with a single 330ah AGM. I can't find anything that talks about the new battery setup in any detail. Some of the Youtube videos say they are Lithium, others don't say. I'm having trouble with my Battery monitor and solar monitor so I want to see if the battery type is defined correctly.

Thanks.

SeaDog · 11-19-2020, 08:15 AM

Welcome to the forum its a great place to get your questions answered. My advice is to pull one of the batteries and read what its says on the side of the battery that way you know for sure.

mom4m · 11-19-2020, 08:22 AM

Thanks. Planning to do that. We currently have blank screens on our battery monitor and Go Power solar display. And something is beeping...sounds kind of like the smoke alarm (but it's not). My hunch is that we blew a fuse or something - or the inverter/convertor thing is very unhappy. We're total newbies and planned to go camping tomorrow as a shake down. Aargh.

Garrette · 11-19-2020, 04:31 PM

Check your CO/LP alarm. It will beep if batteries are low.

mom4m · 11-19-2020, 04:40 PM

Thanks. Good suggestion - but no. We're at the point of having nothing showing on any monitor (and the beeping is gone). Feels like the inverter/converter is totally off (although the power switch is on). Had the RV dealer on the phone - unfortunately not extremely close to us. They did check their records and it appears we have AGM batteries.

Currently have it plugged into 15amp at home to see if it'll trickle charge the battery enough to have something come back on. Even the fuse box has no indicators lit (nor the "idiot box" of indicators). Going to take it to a campground tomorrow to see if 30amp shore power gets anything to light up. If not, we'll take it to the dealer for some in-person diagnosis. They need to install 1 blind that got overlooked anyways.

camaraderie · 11-20-2020, 03:07 PM

The one thing I don't hear from you is "meter" ... hard to diagnose without at least voltage readings from VARIOUS places. Suggest you get a digital voltmeter (preferably with AC/DC clamp for amps)...and watch a short you tube video on how to take votage and amp readings to start.
The EASIEST way to tell what kind of batteries you have is to look down at the tops. If there are no removable single or 3cap covers you have an AGMs. Charging profile will not be any different than for flooded wet cells but care and feeding is different. Now you also MAY have a lithium bank of 4 ...BUT that would have been roughly a $6000 dealer option & you'd know that! . If you have FOUR 100amphour batteries you have group 27 or 31's and 400 amp hours total of which HALF is usable before you need to recharge!! So you have 200 USABLE amp hours to play with before needing a full recharge which in bright sunlight would take your 190 watt solar panel THREE to FOUR days to recharge. I would suggest that you plug into electric and recharge overnite with a charger that supplies at least 40 to 60 amps of charging current. A trickle charger will take DAYS. With an 11kBTU air conditioner you will use roughly 150 amp hours of battery /inverter power in ONE hour...which you may note is 3/4 of the total the power you have to use for everything before recharging. There is no free lunch so I suggest you eliminate things like A/C, electric coffee pots, space heaters, hair dryers so as to stretch your battery life OR buy a portable generator that you can use to recharge daily and power those type things while it is running. Or be like me and plug in everywhere you go!

Looks like a neat concept...enjoy!!

mom4m · 11-20-2020, 04:16 PM

Thanks for the detailed reply. We’re currently at a campground plugged into 30 amp source. Will get a voltmeter. If we get them charged we need to figure out what drained the batteries so much. We weren’t running anything at all. It was parked on our driveway. So much to learn. 😋

camaraderie · 11-20-2020, 08:08 PM

Good...since you are plugged in to a campground...put the meter on the battery terminals while pluged in and if you get a reading of 13.2V or higher...all is well with the charging system.
Lower means the charger isn't getting current to the battery. May be because the battery cut off switch is in the wrong position...flip that switch and see if the reading changes. If so...great...if not, you have to find where your converter is... chances are near your coach circuit breakers and fuses...not the Ford Truck fuses.
While still plugged in...put the meter on the two output wires on the converter...if those are 13.2 V or higher the converter is OK and there's a problem in the wire connections between the battery and converter.
If not 13.2 Volts...check the fuses ON the converter and replace as needed.
If that doesn't work...check the AC outlet the converter is plugged in to for 120V or so of AC voltage. If no voltage check the breakers in the RV and check the voltage at the pedestal for 120V AC.... THEN it is time to call an electrician!
Hopefully you'll have the diagnosis long before that!

mom4m · 11-22-2020, 10:17 AM

We didn't actually have the multimeter at the campground - but thanks for the helpful information. Ended up coming home early (it was supposed to be a shake down trip) because with no power, it was a bit dark and cold. Heading to the dealer as soon as we can. We plan to have the RV parked in our driveway all winter. Don't want it to drain down again. We had assumed that if everything was turned off, the solar would be enough to keep the batteries topped off. Is that not true? I keep seeing "don't let the batteries go below 50%". Can't imagine people are actually going out and checking them every couple of days. Should the battery disconnect get flipped off once we figure out that the batteries are 100%? I'm feeling like I know a lot less than I thought I did!

camaraderie · 11-22-2020, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mom4m

We plan to have the RV parked in our driveway all winter. Don't want it to drain down again. We had assumed that if everything was turned off, the solar would be enough to keep the batteries topped off. Is that not true? I keep seeing "don't let the batteries go below 50%". Can't imagine people are actually going out and checking them every couple of days. Should the battery disconnect get flipped off once we figure out that the batteries are 100%? I'm feeling like I know a lot less than I thought I did!

1. If you are parking in your driveway all winter then the simple and safe thing to do is to BUY a PHYSICAL battery disconnect switch as opposed to the already installed manufacturers disconnect switch... OR simply REMOVE the black wire from the negative post of your batteries ONCE you have fully charged them to 100%. They will stay above 50% for months. Checking to see that they are over 12.3V can be done monthly or less as you get to know the rate of self discharge of your batteries.
2. As you may have guessed...there are parasitic loads that your mfr. cutoff switch does not eliminate which is what the removal of your negative wire cures. There is NO need to charge anything while the coach is in storage. The 50% rule is for you when ACTIVELY camping and not plugged in anywhere. Many people don't realize how drained their batteries actually are in use. Going below 50% kills the batteries much earlier in terms of how many charge/recharge cycles they have in their life. If you boondock a lot...you'll need to get a REAL battery monitor. Search Victron on this forum for descriptions of what a real one will do for you. NOT needed if you always plug into a campground.
3. You have 400 amp hours of batteries. You can USE 200 amp hours so you need something that can put those amp hours back into the batteries to fully charge them. A charger or Converter should be sized in the range of 10-20% of capacity...not more...so you need something in the 40to80 amp range. The amps don't go back into the batteries at a constant rate so to get to 100% charge again will take at least SIX hours to put back the 200 amps. NOT recharging fully is the biggest killer of batteries. Most think an hour or two is plenty...it ain't!
4. On an average bright sunny day 100 watts of solar panels will put back 25 amp hours into a battery bank. If you need 200 amp hours...you need 8 days with a 100 watt panel...or 1 day with 800 watts of panels. Most people supplement their chargers with solar to top off or maintain the charge.
Hope this is helpful.

mom4m · 11-23-2020, 05:48 PM

Thanks again. Headed up to the dealer tomorrow with some better questions to ask. Hopefully they'll figure out we did something dumb due to inexperience and there is some hidden fuse or breaker they didn't tell us about. I've been watching a bunch of videos - so I think I understand a little more about how our solar controller monitors that part of the system - and what our battery monitor (we do have a "real one" on the system) is supposed to show. Our biggest question is why didn't anything charge from shore power or alternator. Our Renogy inverter/converter has no obvious reset or fuse or breaker. We'll also discuss best "driveway state" to keep it in (i.e. - battery disconnect off and inverter/converter off ?) We'll get there....

CT20XG · 04-06-2021, 02:19 PM

Had the same issues with the 2021 Crosstrek 20XG, wouldn’t charge while driving, shore power wouldn’t charge all the way, solar wasn’t making sense. Just got off the phone with Jason from Coachmen and he was super helpful and we figured out the issue. After verifying a few fuses under drivers seat, and the solar was working correctly we determined it was the renogy control panel that was not set up properly. I had it on shore power for 24 hrs and it wouldn’t charge past 79%, and inverter fan wouldn’t turn on anymore with the switch on. What we had to do was reset the controller to show the battery was at 100%, and reset the amp hours to 400 instead of 100 which it was set at. You do this by holding the “ok” button to bring you to the setup screen. From there you toggle through the amps line and change the 1 to a 4. After you hit ok and get back to the main screen, press and hold the up arrow to reset to 100% charge. Now this only works if you know your batteries are actually charged and at 100%. We knew ours were because it had been plugged in long enough and the inverter fan was not on. Hope this helps some people

CT20XG · 04-06-2021, 02:22 PM

To add to my above post, basically the controller is lying to you and the batteries are full. It wouldn’t charge while driving because they were already charged, just displaying an incorrect number of 59% or whatever your case may be. This is the same case for shore power.

mom4m · 04-06-2021, 02:27 PM

Thanks for the helpful reply. Mine turned out to be some things not connected (like the alternator not connected to the batteries...) Coachmen helped out our dealer to sort it out. Now working great. However - when I got it back from the dealer, mine was also set to 100 amh and the displays were all messed up. I followed the same procedure that you described and now my solar and Renogy essentially read the same. Our 2021 20XG is becoming what we hoped it would be.

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