Isata 3 Freedom Edition Owners Only - Xantrex eGen System Log

[Judge64]

So we had our first night in the coach and it was a boondocking expedition to my in-laws...... not how I like to spend the holidays... but happy wife.... happy life.

It was close to 90 and humid. I started running the A/C off the Inverter before departing to start cooking down the coach. The batteries were down to about 92% SOC when we departed.

It was about an hour drive and by the time we got to our destination the batteries were back to 99% SOC between the alternator and sun and that was running the A/C on the hour drive up to get the coach cooled down.

We got setup about 4:30PM. Over the course of the afternoon and evening we had the A/C set at about 76F. We ran the microwave a short period of time. I had even had the TV's on yet so I spent some time getting those setup. I also had my T-Mobile Home Internet Gateway plugged for Internet access.

We set the A/C at 71F when we went to bed. The fully stocked fridge and freezer was chugging along at full power. We had phones and laptops charging overnight as well. We when got up we were down to about 26% SOC. We made a couple pots of coffee and were using the powered recliners. At that point we we down to 20% SOC.

I pulled out a 50' heavy duty extension cord and ran it to a 15A outlet in my in-laws garage. I changed the Inverter settings to the 15A shore power breaker size option to throttle back the charger. The voltage was about 108 - 109V and was drawing about 12A. The charger amps were about 75 - 80A consistently even though I have my charging amps set to 125A vs the 150A max so changing the supply breaker size does properly throttle back the charger.

I started charing at 9:30AM and by 3:30PM the batteries were at 100% SOC. This is about what I had calculated based on 15A shore power. This was even with our ice maker running and both fans on during the day to help cool the coach without running the A/C while the batteries charged. Today was also a cloudy day with some periods of rain so solar charging was at minimums. Also I never tripped the 15A breaker in the garage or had any issues with the Inverter / Charger.

So.... if you get your batteries down to 20% SOC or so and you only have access to a 15A outlet, you can get your batteries fully charged in a reasonable amount of time if you only have access to 15A shore power service.

We'll be running the A/C all night again so it is good to know I can use the 15A shore power to get the batteries fully charged to run the A/C overnight, charge phones and laptops and make coffee in the morning with some power to spare.

If we didn't have to run the A/C, I think we could easily make two days before needing to charge the batteries.

[burtbick]

Originally Posted by Judge64

So we had our first night in the coach and it was a boondocking expedition to my in-laws...... not how I like to spend the holidays... but happy wife.... happy life.

It was close to 90 and humid. I started running the A/C off the Inverter before departing to start cooking down the coach. The batteries were down to about 92% SOC when we departed.

It was about an hour drive and by the time we got to our destination the batteries were back to 99% SOC between the alternator and sun and that was running the A/C on the hour drive up to get the coach cooled down.

We got setup about 4:30PM. Over the course of the afternoon and evening we had the A/C set at about 76F. We ran the microwave a short period of time. I had even had the TV's on yet so I spent some time getting those setup. I also had my T-Mobile Home Internet Gateway plugged for Internet access.

We set the A/C at 71F when we went to bed. The fully stocked fridge and freezer was chugging along at full power. We had phones and laptops charging overnight as well. We when got up we were down to about 26% SOC. We made a couple pots of coffee and were using the powered recliners. At that point we we down to 20% SOC.

I pulled out a 50' heavy duty extension cord and ran it to a 15A outlet in my in-laws garage. I changed the Inverter settings to the 15A shore power breaker size option to throttle back the charger. The voltage was about 108 - 109V and was drawing about 12A. The charger amps were about 75 - 80A consistently even though I have my charging amps set to 125A vs the 150A max so changing the supply breaker size does properly throttle back the charger.

I started charing at 9:30AM and by 3:30PM the batteries were at 100% SOC. This is about what I had calculated based on 15A shore power. This was even with our ice maker running and both fans on during the day to help cool the coach without running the A/C while the batteries charged. Today was also a cloudy day with some periods of rain so solar charging was at minimums. Also I never tripped the 15A breaker in the garage or had any issues with the Inverter / Charger.

So.... if you get your batteries down to 20% SOC or so and you only have access to a 15A outlet, you can get your batteries fully charged in a reasonable amount of time if you only have access to 15A shore power service.

We'll be running the A/C all night again so it is good to know I can use the 15A shore power to get the batteries fully charged to run the A/C overnight, charge phones and laptops and make coffee in the morning with some power to spare.

If we didn't have to run the A/C, I think we could easily make two days before needing to charge the batteries.

Good to know..

We are heading out this morning on our first leg of the trip to Dynamax. We have a stop along the way to visit some friends.


It's about an hour from their house to our first campground stop. Since we don't yet have the 3" ventilation hole into the battery compartment I've been hesitant to run the A/C off the inverter too much.


But I plan on running it while we are visiting our friends. I'll crack the door and run my small fan to exhaust hot air from the box.


Then I'm thinking of keeping the A/C running on the drive to the campground, if the battery compartment isn't too hot. It would be much nicer to arrive at the destination with the coach pre-cooled.



Since I did it once accidentally on our FL trip I think that it should be OK for the 1 hour drive.


Hope you have a continued safe, and uneventful, trip.

[Judge64]

Originally Posted by burtbick

Good to know..

We are heading out this morning on our first leg of the trip to Dynamax. We have a stop along the way to visit some friends.


It's about an hour from their house to our first campground stop. Since we don't yet have the 3" ventilation hole into the battery compartment I've been hesitant to run the A/C off the inverter too much.


But I plan on running it while we are visiting our friends. I'll crack the door and run my small fan to exhaust hot air from the box.


Then I'm thinking of keeping the A/C running on the drive to the campground, if the battery compartment isn't too hot. It would be much nicer to arrive at the destination with the coach pre-cooled.



Since I did it once accidentally on our FL trip I think that it should be OK for the 1 hour drive.


Hope you have a continued safe, and uneventful, trip.

Let us know how it goes at Dynamax Factory Service.

I reached out a few days ago asking for an appointment before we head back to Florida in mid to late September. I'm 5 hours from there now vs 20 hours when we head back to Florida.

They did get back to me and said it might be tough to get in by then but they would see what they could do.



Maybe you could ask them another questions while you are there. The plumbing schematics show the bathroom sink being plumbed to the black tank. My previous coaches also had the bathroom sink drain into the black tank. That is not the case. A few of us have confirmed the bathroom sink is dumping into the grey tank. I doubt they change it at this point but the might be worth asking.

[burtbick]

Originally Posted by Judge64

Let us know how it goes at Dynamax Factory Service.

I reached out a few days ago asking for an appointment before we head back to Florida in mid to late September. I'm 5 hours from there now vs 20 hours when we head back to Florida.

They did get back to me and said it might be tough to get in by then but they would see what they could do.



Maybe you could ask them another questions while you are there. The plumbing schematics show the bathroom sink being plumbed to the black tank. My previous coaches also had the bathroom sink drain into the black tank. That is not the case. A few of us have confirmed the bathroom sink is dumping into the grey tank. I doubt they change it at this point but the might be worth asking.

I'll ask them about the bathroom sink drain question.


I was lucky when I requested an appointment. It was early June or late May as I recall. They had a slot open in early July so we snapped it up.



At that time they said it would be easier to get a slot later, but obviously they have been filling up.


Other than the slide related issues most everything on my list are pretty minor, including some verification that everything is working properly.



After getting the slide topper adjusted while in FL the slide operates much better, but still some binding of the front gear racks. That will likely be the most time consuming task for them.


If we find more issues as we get closer to the end of the warranty period then I'll schedule one more visit before the warranty turns into a Pumpkin.



Hopefully they will have a slot open up for you that can work with a 5 hour drive.



It's about an 8.5 hour drive from the house to Dynamax for us, so not horrible, and we're splitting it up with two overnight stops along the way.

[Judge64]

Originally Posted by Judge64

So we had our first night in the coach and it was a boondocking expedition to my in-laws...... not how I like to spend the holidays... but happy wife.... happy life.

It was close to 90 and humid. I started running the A/C off the Inverter before departing to start cooking down the coach. The batteries were down to about 92% SOC when we departed.

It was about an hour drive and by the time we got to our destination the batteries were back to 99% SOC between the alternator and sun and that was running the A/C on the hour drive up to get the coach cooled down.

We got setup about 4:30PM. Over the course of the afternoon and evening we had the A/C set at about 76F. We ran the microwave a short period of time. I had even had the TV's on yet so I spent some time getting those setup. I also had my T-Mobile Home Internet Gateway plugged for Internet access.

We set the A/C at 71F when we went to bed. The fully stocked fridge and freezer was chugging along at full power. We had phones and laptops charging overnight as well. We when got up we were down to about 26% SOC. We made a couple pots of coffee and were using the powered recliners. At that point we we down to 20% SOC.

I pulled out a 50' heavy duty extension cord and ran it to a 15A outlet in my in-laws garage. I changed the Inverter settings to the 15A shore power breaker size option to throttle back the charger. The voltage was about 108 - 109V and was drawing about 12A. The charger amps were about 75 - 80A consistently even though I have my charging amps set to 125A vs the 150A max so changing the supply breaker size does properly throttle back the charger.

I started charing at 9:30AM and by 3:30PM the batteries were at 100% SOC. This is about what I had calculated based on 15A shore power. This was even with our ice maker running and both fans on during the day to help cool the coach without running the A/C while the batteries charged. Today was also a cloudy day with some periods of rain so solar charging was at minimums. Also I never tripped the 15A breaker in the garage or had any issues with the Inverter / Charger.

So.... if you get your batteries down to 20% SOC or so and you only have access to a 15A outlet, you can get your batteries fully charged in a reasonable amount of time if you only have access to 15A shore power service.

We'll be running the A/C all night again so it is good to know I can use the 15A shore power to get the batteries fully charged to run the A/C overnight, charge phones and laptops and make coffee in the morning with some power to spare.

If we didn't have to run the A/C, I think we could easily make two days before needing to charge the batteries.

Day 2 of Semi-Boondocking


The coach temp was 82F and it was pretty humid at about 7:00PM. We closed up the coach and turned on the A/C and set it to 71 to cool down for the night starting at 100% SOC.

This time I shutdown my T-Mobile Home Gateway and the Winegard since it wasn't necessary to have them draining power overnight. I backed the fridge and freezer to a cool setting of 4 instead of 5.

When we got up at 5:30AM we were at 40% SOC. The A/C cycled a fair amount overnight and up until we woke up so over 10 hours of A/C time and the first hour or so it was running continuously to cool down the coach. I am pretty happy with the battery performance at this point.

We made two pots of coffee and the SOC was down to 36% so then I plugged in the coach to start recharging. The Xantrex firmware seems to be a doing a good job of regulating the current draw based on changing the Shore Power Breaker to 15A. The Inverter / Charger is drawing about 12A and the charger is pushing 80A. I know when I am on 30A at home I can get the 125 -150A of charging current. Also, the Charger started with the Adsorption charging rate this morning at 36% SOC vs going right into Bulk charging at 20% SOC yesterday.

One thing for Dynamax to consider would be the Xantrex 410Ah batteries. I put 850Ah in my Super C and that seemed to be a good capacity for power intensive appliances like the A/C, oven and stove. It looks like they run about $2K more per battery and I think I would have been willing to pay an additional 4K for the coach given my experience with 850Ah.




One unrelated note..... if you fill the water tank with 50 gallons, don't expect to have 50 gallons when you get to your destination. In my old Super C the vent / overflow drain was a few feet higher than the water tank. On the Isata 3, the vent / overflow if at the top front side of the water tank. So as you drive down hill or hit bumps with a full tank of water, water is going to come out of the fresh water tank. When we got to our destination yesterday I noticed the fresh water went from 100% to 90% so we lost ~5 gallons in transit. Not a big deal... just something to note.

[burtbick]

Originally Posted by Judge64

Day 2 of Semi-Boondocking


The coach temp was 82F and it was pretty humid at about 7:00PM. We closed up the coach and turned on the A/C and set it to 71 to cool down for the night starting at 100% SOC.

This time I shutdown my T-Mobile Home Gateway and the Winegard since it wasn't necessary to have them draining power overnight. I backed the fridge and freezer to a cool setting of 4 instead of 5.

When we got up at 5:30AM we were at 40% SOC. The A/C cycled a fair amount overnight and up until we woke up so over 10 hours of A/C time and the first hour or so it was running continuously to cool down the coach. I am pretty happy with the battery performance at this point.

We made two pots of coffee and the SOC was down to 36% so then I plugged in the coach to start recharging. The Xantrex firmware seems to be a doing a good job of regulating the current draw based on changing the Shore Power Breaker to 15A. The Inverter / Charger is drawing about 12A and the charger is pushing 80A. I know when I am on 30A at home I can get the 125 -150A of charging current. Also, the Charger started with the Adsorption charging rate this morning at 36% SOC vs going right into Bulk charging at 20% SOC yesterday.

One thing for Dynamax to consider would be the Xantrex 410Ah batteries. I put 850Ah in my Super C and that seemed to be a good capacity for power intensive appliances like the A/C, oven and stove. It looks like they run about $2K more per battery and I think I would have been willing to pay an additional 4K for the coach given my experience with 850Ah.




One unrelated note..... if you fill the water tank with 50 gallons, don't expect to have 50 gallons when you get to your destination. In my old Super C the vent / overflow drain was a few feet higher than the water tank. On the Isata 3, the vent / overflow if at the top front side of the water tank. So as you drive down hill or hit bumps with a full tank of water, water is going to come out of the fresh water tank. When we got to our destination yesterday I noticed the fresh water went from 100% to 90% so we lost ~5 gallons in transit. Not a big deal... just something to note.

Good information.


Since it stormed shortly before we stopped at our friends in KY things had coolded down quite a bit, So I didn't run the A/C while we visited for 2.5 hours. In that time the coach warmed up to 90 degrees. The battery compartment was in the upper 80's to start out.



We had about a 40 minute drive to the campground, so I started the A/C before we left. By the time we got set up at the campground the coach had cooled to 78 degrees.


The change over from inverter to shore power happened without a hitch.


The battery compartment was at about 102 degrees when we arrived at the campground.


With the door cracked and my fan exhausting hot air the compartment is now at 87 degrees.


So I'm assuming that Brian is correct that when you are driving there is some cooling effect from the moving air. I'm not sure that it is enough but it certainly helps.


I still think that adding active ventilation is the way to go.


I'll test again starting the A/C when we are about an hour from the next campground and see what the numbers are.

[Bearii]

Originally Posted by Judge64

Day 2 of Semi-Boondocking


The coach temp was 82F and it was pretty humid at about 7:00PM. We closed up the coach and turned on the A/C and set it to 71 to cool down for the night starting at 100% SOC.

This time I shutdown my T-Mobile Home Gateway and the Winegard since it wasn't necessary to have them draining power overnight. I backed the fridge and freezer to a cool setting of 4 instead of 5.

When we got up at 5:30AM we were at 40% SOC. The A/C cycled a fair amount overnight and up until we woke up so over 10 hours of A/C time and the first hour or so it was running continuously to cool down the coach. I am pretty happy with the battery performance at this point.

We made two pots of coffee and the SOC was down to 36% so then I plugged in the coach to start recharging. The Xantrex firmware seems to be a doing a good job of regulating the current draw based on changing the Shore Power Breaker to 15A. The Inverter / Charger is drawing about 12A and the charger is pushing 80A. I know when I am on 30A at home I can get the 125 -150A of charging current. Also, the Charger started with the Adsorption charging rate this morning at 36% SOC vs going right into Bulk charging at 20% SOC yesterday.

One thing for Dynamax to consider would be the Xantrex 410Ah batteries. I put 850Ah in my Super C and that seemed to be a good capacity for power intensive appliances like the A/C, oven and stove. It looks like they run about $2K more per battery and I think I would have been willing to pay an additional 4K for the coach given my experience with 850Ah.




One unrelated note..... if you fill the water tank with 50 gallons, don't expect to have 50 gallons when you get to your destination. In my old Super C the vent / overflow drain was a few feet higher than the water tank. On the Isata 3, the vent / overflow if at the top front side of the water tank. So as you drive down hill or hit bumps with a full tank of water, water is going to come out of the fresh water tank. When we got to our destination yesterday I noticed the fresh water went from 100% to 90% so we lost ~5 gallons in transit. Not a big deal... just something to note.

We're getting pretty similar boondocking numbers. I think it really helps to be able to cool the coach while driving and still arrive with full batteries.

On the water, I've noticed the same thing on a bit of water loss if completely full. At least ours doesn't start a siphon effect like some RV's and you arrive with nothing!

[Bearii]

Originally Posted by burtbick

Judge64, which Telescoping ladder do you have?


I've looked at some in the past but the reviews were a bit iffy on most of them.


Thanks,
Burt

Burt, I bought this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BFFB73TT/

Works great and will lay flat in either large compartment. You have to put it in at an angle, hold up, put it in the compartment, tip down the side closest to the door and tuck it under the door lip then it will snug down in place in the bottom of the compartment. Take it out in reverse to avoid peeling off the rubber gasket.

[Judge64]

Day 3 of Semi-Boondocking



Didn't turn the A/C on last night until 9:30PM with the batteries at 100% SOC. When I got up at 6:00AM this morning the batteries were at 50% SOC.

I plugged in about 9:00AM and the batteries were at 94% at 1:00PM. The wife isn't feeling well so I just unplugged the 15A shore power and turned on the A/C for her. I'll plug back in later today to get enough battery to run the A/C again for our last night here.

Today is the first day of having some decent sun. The Solar is generating about 425W and pushing the max 30A of charging when there aren't any clouds.

I have used a Renogy Solar Controllers in the past so I need to research the Victron Solar Controller and app. We are supposed to have 570W of PV Panels installed but at about 450W the PV Power Generation Gauge is showing almost 100%. I see no way to tell the Controller how many watts of PV panels are installed. Perhaps the app auto scales itself but I have seen screen shots were the app shows 800W of power generating and the Power Gauge is only at 75%.

The other thing I may investigate is upgrading the Victron Solar Controller to a 45A or 60A Controller. I think we could be leaving some solar charging capacity on the table with the 30A Controller. I would also consider changing the panels from being wired in Parallel to wired in Series to generate a higher PV voltage and lower amperage to the Controller since the MPPT Controllers can handle the panels wired in series.

[burtbick]

Originally Posted by Judge64

Day 3 of Semi-Boondocking



Didn't turn the A/C on last night until 9:30PM with the batteries at 100% SOC. When I got up at 6:00AM this morning the batteries were at 50% SOC.

I plugged in about 9:00AM and the batteries were at 94% at 1:00PM. The wife isn't feeling well so I just unplugged the 15A shore power and turned on the A/C for her. I'll plug back in later today to get enough battery to run the A/C again for our last night here.

Today is the first day of having some decent sun. The Solar is generating about 425W and pushing the max 30A of charging when there aren't any clouds.

I have used a Renogy Solar Controllers in the past so I need to research the Victron Solar Controller and app. We are supposed to have 570W of PV Panels installed but at about 450W the PV Power Generation Gauge is showing almost 100%. I see no way to tell the Controller how many watts of PV panels are installed. Perhaps the app auto scales itself but I have seen screen shots were the app shows 800W of power generating and the Power Gauge is only at 75%.

The other thing I may investigate is upgrading the Victron Solar Controller to a 45A or 60A Controller. I think we could be leaving some solar charging capacity on the table with the 30A Controller. I would also consider changing the panels from being wired in Parallel to wired in Series to generate a higher PV voltage and lower amperage to the Controller since the MPPT Controllers can handle the panels wired in series.

Second run with the A/C going while driving. Its a bit cooler in Indiana, in the mid 80's. I started the A/C about an hour from the campground for the night. Cooled the coach down to 76 by the time we arrived. I thought that it had died since the A/C wasn't running. But it had just reached the set temperature.


this morning when unhooking at the first campground I forgot that the A/C was still on. Killed shore power and everything switched over to inverter with no hiccup. I don't recall if the A/C was running when the shore power went away. So it may have dropped shore power and then the A/C started up.


And here at #2 stop the change over from inverter to shore power also went off with no hitch.

[burtbick]

Originally Posted by Bearii

Burt, I bought this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BFFB73TT/

Works great and will lay flat in either large compartment. You have to put it in at an angle, hold up, put it in the compartment, tip down the side closest to the door and tuck it under the door lip then it will snug down in place in the bottom of the compartment. Take it out in reverse to avoid peeling off the rubber gasket.

Was that a true 12.5 foot one, or a 12.5 foot reach?


thanks,

[Bearii]

Originally Posted by burtbick

Was that a true 12.5 foot one, or a 12.5 foot reach?


thanks,

I believe it is a true 12.5 foot one. You easily set it up against the coach at a comfortable pitch and still have a couple rungs over the edge of the roof.

[Bearii]

Originally Posted by burtbick

Second run with the A/C going while driving. Its a bit cooler in Indiana, in the mid 80's. I started the A/C about an hour from the campground for the night. Cooled the coach down to 76 by the time we arrived. I thought that it had died since the A/C wasn't running. But it had just reached the set temperature.


this morning when unhooking at the first campground I forgot that the A/C was still on. Killed shore power and everything switched over to inverter with no hiccup. I don't recall if the A/C was running when the shore power went away. So it may have dropped shore power and then the A/C started up.


And here at #2 stop the change over from inverter to shore power also went off with no hitch.

I installed the main battery disconnect yesterday with no issues. Burt and Chris, thanks for the recommendation. Chris your explanation made it simple to compare and like both of you the small wire did run down to the solar disconnect.

On another note I thought I'd try the switching of A/C from shore power to battery again. I had been thinking that the bad switch scenario may have been affecting my initial attempts.

I had the A/C running on shore power, disconnected shore power and got the immediate alarm on the inverter and everything shut down. The inverter showed error 3 which is the overload error. In fairness I did not verify there were no other loads at the time of switch over. I do not believe there were but I was in a rush and need to try this again and make sure there were no other loads.

One more observation, has anyone had the A/C shut down when traveling down the road before reaching temperature? I've had this happen a couple of times now and it eventually restarts. I was wondering if maybe it was freezing up - any good way to check that or other thoughts on what might be happening.

[burtbick]

Originally Posted by Bearii

I installed the main battery disconnect yesterday with no issues. Burt and Chris, thanks for the recommendation. Chris your explanation made it simple to compare and like both of you the small wire did run down to the solar disconnect.

On another note I thought I'd try the switching of A/C from shore power to battery again. I had been thinking that the bad switch scenario may have been affecting my initial attempts.

I had the A/C running on shore power, disconnected shore power and got the immediate alarm on the inverter and everything shut down. The inverter showed error 3 which is the overload error. In fairness I did not verify there were no other loads at the time of switch over. I do not believe there were but I was in a rush and need to try this again and make sure there were no other loads.

One more observation, has anyone had the A/C shut down when traveling down the road before reaching temperature? I've had this happen a couple of times now and it eventually restarts. I was wondering if maybe it was freezing up - any good way to check that or other thoughts on what might be happening.

While I haven't run very much goin down the road with A/C on the few times I've done so the A/C has kept working and only shutoff at temperature.


A couple of times I've forgotten that I had the A/C still on and turned off shore power. In those cases the A/C continued to run and the inverter didn't throw an alarm. But again I haven't done extensive intentional testing so that may not mean much.

[Judge64]

Originally Posted by Bearii

One more observation, has anyone had the A/C shut down when traveling down the road before reaching temperature? I've had this happen a couple of times now and it eventually restarts. I was wondering if maybe it was freezing up - any good way to check that or other thoughts on what might be happening.

I just did two one hour drives with the A/C on while driving. It was cycling On and Off normally.

I also just spent the better part of 4 days running the A/C off the Inverter. In some instances the A/C ran non-stop for well over an hour to bring the temperature down to the set point (85F down to 72F).

The A/C is working better than I thought it would after putting in the cheap version of the RV Airflow since I'm not entirely happy that some vents aren't putting out as much air as others..... but we had a few days of upper 80 temps and higher humidity and the A/C ran well.

I had the A/C usually off during the day but running all night off the Inverter and I was pleased with both the A/C and battery performance.



So did the entire unit shut down and then restart on its own?

The A/C should not stop running if the evaporator freezes up. It would just result in poor cooling performance. As I understand the design of the Coleman-Mach's.... and this is my third coach with one..... there is a sensor that plugs into the Control Box in the unit and is inserted into the fins of the evaporator coil. If the sensor detects a freezing situation, I believe it will shut down the compressor but the circulating fan will keep running to help remove the frost / ice by allowing warmer return air to pass through the evaporator. Then once the ice is gone, the compressor should restart if the thermostat is calling for cooling.

I will do a little digging to see if I can find the information about the freeze sensor. This is my first Coleman-Mach Heat Pump so perhaps the freeze sensor shuts down the entire unit? But I have never had one freeze up and I have been in a lot hot climates where it ran all day without cycling.


EDIT - Looks like the Freeze Sensor should work the same way. If it detects freezing it will shut off the compressor but the evaporator fan should still run.


I would check the Xantex app for the Remote Panel and see if you see any error messages. It is possible the Inverter kicked off for some reason but then Autorecover brought it back online without you having to intervene.

[Bearii]

Originally Posted by Judge64

I just did two one hour drives with the A/C on while driving. It was cycling On and Off normally.

I also just spent the better part of 4 days running the A/C off the Inverter. In some instances the A/C ran non-stop for well over an hour to bring the temperature down to the set point (85F down to 72F).

The A/C is working better than I thought it would after putting in the cheap version of the RV Airflow since I'm not entirely happy that some vents aren't putting out as much air as others..... but we had a few days of upper 80 temps and higher humidity and the A/C ran well.

I had the A/C usually off during the day but running all night off the Inverter and I was pleased with both the A/C and battery performance.



So did the entire unit shut down and then restart on its own?

The A/C should not stop running if the evaporator freezes up. It would just result in poor cooling performance. As I understand the design of the Coleman-Mach's.... and this is my third coach with one..... there is a sensor that plugs into the Control Box in the unit and is inserted into the fins of the evaporator coil. If the sensor detects a freezing situation, I believe it will shut down the compressor but the circulating fan will keep running to help remove the frost / ice by allowing warmer return air to pass through the evaporator. Then once the ice is gone, the compressor should restart if the thermostat is calling for cooling.

I will do a little digging to see if I can find the information about the freeze sensor. This is my first Coleman-Mach Heat Pump so perhaps the freeze sensor shuts down the entire unit? But I have never had one freeze up and I have been in a lot hot climates where it ran all day without cycling.


EDIT - Looks like the Freeze Sensor should work the same way. If it detects freezing it will shut off the compressor but the evaporator fan should still run.


I would check the Xantex app for the Remote Panel and see if you see any error messages. It is possible the Inverter kicked off for some reason but then Autorecover brought it back online without you having to intervene.

Good idea on checking the Remote Panel. I'll do that. We have started the Alaska tour. We met up and had orientation, now today is our first day of driving to cross the border. I'll probably be fiddling less and playing more for awhile. . We are getting a pretty serious heat wave up here in WA/ID, good test of the A/C for sure. Looks like several of the CG's have power issues so we'll be putting our Xantrex systems to work to keep cool. Glad we have the back up and not near the electrical demand of some of the big rigs.

[dcheyne]

I have this wire loom that is not connected to anything in the battery compartment. Does anyone else have this same un-used set

Also can someone post a picture of the venting hole that is in the top of the compartment. Mine is missing and want to make sure when repaired they local RV company does in the correct location.

[bclemens]

I believe that should be for an LED lights strip that would be mounted on the top edge of the compartment facing inward towards the compartment. That was a recent change from a light "inside the compartment" (as I got blinded looking in at night) to a hidden LED strip that would shine inside.

[Judge64]

Originally Posted by dcheyne

I have this wire loom that is not connected to anything in the battery compartment. Does anyone else have this same un-used set

Also can someone post a picture of the venting hole that is in the top of the compartment. Mine is missing and want to make sure when repaired they local RV company does in the correct location.

If you go to this post, you will see the ventilation hole under the bed where I ran the cable for the Xantrex Bluetooth Remote Display Panel.


https://www.forestriverforums.com/fo...ml#post2952586

[dcheyne]

Yes i see that one under the bed, what i was looking for is the hole in the battery compartment.

The only hole i have in the battery compartment is on the right side back wall where all the cables are routed