Isata 5 solar/battery help

[mbzdiesel]

Got a new 2020 isata 5 36DS. Used it for the first time recently and disappointed at the performance of the solar system. Battery’s went dead within 1 hour during middle of a sunny day. All that was running was the fridge. Could the battery’s be bad, settings wrong? Also the solar system would shut off a few times within an hour and I would have to push the button to turn back on. Please help, instructions provided don’t help.

[Whalenss]

Hello and welcome.

My comments are based on my 2017 I5DS so there may be equipment differences. There are others on this forum more knowledgeable on electronics.

How many coach batteries do you have and what was the state of charge when you started running off of batteries? This will show on the solar controller display, inverter controller or a the precision screen tab

My solar controller just runs. There are no switches to turn on or off. Could you be referring to the inverter turning off thus no electric to run frig ( shuts electric off to everything ) while on batteries? If so there is a setting change in the invertor controller to make.

Attached is a pic of my solar and inverter controllers for reference. Currently in shore power.

[DavidMort]

We have a 17 as well.

If you have the Xantrex the settings may be wrong.

Charger needs to be "enabled"
Inverter needs to be "enabled"
Search mode needs to be "disabled"
In basic settings battery type needs to be set to "AGM"

If settings are correct try running the generator for 3 hours or plug in for 3 hours. Then shut the generator or unplug and see how it goes. I think the full charging cycle will take over 4 hours if you batteries are depleted.

You need to have batteries fully charged before you start dry camping. Solar can keep up with refrigerator on ours during day. We normally need to run generator in morning and evening to charge up batteries. Depends on you battery capacity and usage.

If you system is cutting out probably due to low voltage.

[mbzdiesel]

i had the generator on for hours, the battery gauge on the solar panel showed fully charged when i shut the gen off. after this it seemed like the solar or batteries couldnt keep up as they went dead within an hour during a sunny day.

i only have 2 batterys that came with the unit, i have a magnum inverter not Xantrex. yes i was referring to setting on the inverter panel

[DavidMort]

Originally Posted by mbzdiesel

i had the generator on for hours, the battery gauge on the solar panel showed fully charged when i shut the gen off. after this it seemed like the solar or batteries couldnt keep up as they went dead within an hour during a sunny day.

i only have 2 batterys that came with the unit, i have a magnum inverter not Xantrex. yes i was referring to setting on the inverter panel

What I would look at for this is:

I would look at the charging current going into batteries to see that they are getting charged.

I would look at the charging current from the solar to make sure it is providing current during charging and use.

I would monitor the current when you are unplugged/generator off. Turn inverter off and look at battery current to make sure there is not something that is drawing current. If nothing there turn various things on and off to see if the current is reflected in the monitor.

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If the batteries are good and fully charged you should see a large current draw to pull them down that quick.

I don't know about the magnum inverter settings. But with two batteries you should have about 100 amp hrs usable before voltage gets too low and cuts out. The 100 amps usable is at a relatively low rate around 10 amps.

Check what the cut out voltage is. It may be set too high.

Not sure what you solar adds but maybe 10 amps.

Look at battery current. Turn refrigerator off and on to see change.
Our refrigerator is rated at 6 amps at 120V so it is possible for it to draw around 60 amps at 12 V from the battery through the inverter. I have never seen anything close to that on our coach.

Plug a tea pot/coffee maker in or run the microwave for 20 seconds and watch the current. Either should spike the current to around 100 amps. Doing this for an extended period time will deplete your batteries fast.


Need to look at settings on Magnum and check that the charger is charging the batteries at high enough rate to charge them in about 4 hours. With 2 batteries rated at 130 amp hrs each the initial charge current should be around 40-50 amps.

If charger is working then may be bad batteries.

[bclemens]

Originally Posted by mbzdiesel

i had the generator on for hours, the battery gauge on the solar panel showed fully charged when i shut the gen off. after this it seemed like the solar or batteries couldnt keep up as they went dead within an hour during a sunny day.

i only have 2 batterys that came with the unit, i have a magnum inverter not Xantrex. yes i was referring to setting on the inverter panel

Just an FYI....batteries will not fully charge in 2 hours if they are completely drained. What you see on the solar is the "charge voltage". You really need to wait 10-15 minutes before you check battery levels.