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Old 10-09-2019, 07:38 PM   #1
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M2 dead chassis battery

Coach has been sitting all summer in the garage with the house batteries plugged in. wanted to check out the insides and the steps wouldn't extend. Turns out the chassis battery is dead. Why????


The only thing different is I had the steps in. Is there a pull on the battery with the steps in??


I fired up the coach using the battery jumper switch on the dash. Should I have been using the chassis disconnect switch by the drivers seat?


Any wisdom available is welcome.
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Old 10-09-2019, 09:34 PM   #2
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What do you mean "House batteries plugged in?" You mean, shore power? Or did you specifically plug a charger onto the house batteries? If plugged in, did you have it set properly for the charger to activate off the inverter?

If that was the case, I would say you need to plug in or disconnect the chassis batteries as well.
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Old 10-09-2019, 09:51 PM   #3
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I mean 'shore power', 50A service. What do your mean 'set properly'? It was set up by Dynamax 2.5 years ago and nothing has changed and has always worked flawlessly. Except, for now with a dead chassis battery.
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Old 10-10-2019, 08:14 AM   #4
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There is a relay that controls what set of batteries get charged. In a perfect world once plugged in to 50 amps house batteries would get charged and then chassis batteries. I would put a meter on the chassis batteries to see if they are getting charged. Dirty terminals or a malfunction of the relay would prevent the chassis batteries from charging.
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Old 10-10-2019, 08:18 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rskeans View Post
I mean 'shore power', 50A service. What do your mean 'set properly'? It was set up by Dynamax 2.5 years ago and nothing has changed and has always worked flawlessly. Except, for now with a dead chassis battery.
Sometimes I have seen the inverter settings get wiped or accidentally put in standby model. If everything was working flawlessly up to this point... #1 Hooray!. #2, then I would also check that. Maybe there is an issue with the BIRD or solenoid and it is not paired up the chassis. Also make sure the chassis battery was not disconnected and thus the chassis parasitic draw took them down? It sounds like you did not disconnect, but worth a check.
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Old 10-10-2019, 10:08 AM   #6
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My battery charger is in Running Springs (I'm in Havasu now). Running off to Home Depot now to get one for this location.

I always thought that when on Shore Power, power was a 'pass through' bypassing the inverter. Oh well, learn something every day.
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Old 10-10-2019, 10:50 AM   #7
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It is "pass through", but the old Xantrex Inverter has a power button that is not actually a power button, but puts the inverter into "Standby Mode". Normally that means you have NO power to anything.

BUT, it is an Inverter/Charger. So while it might pass through power, it still controls the charge line to the batteries. Again, if that has not changed, then it could be something else. But you can in fact, if you have 50amps in, still turn down the charge line to I think 5 amps. Which might not be enough to cover both.

Anyway...lots of possibilities...just need to narrow them down.
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Old 10-10-2019, 02:08 PM   #8
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On the Xantrex main screen there is a selection called Cascading. It is enabled but I cannot find any definition for that or if I want it.

Do I want this enabled?
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Old 10-10-2019, 02:16 PM   #9
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Page 74

The Cascading feature is found in the System Settings menu only when two inverters are configured as a stacked pair (see “Stacking Configuration Menu” on page 57). A stacked pair has one Master unit and one Slave unit. The cascading feature allows manually entered inverter/charger settings on the Master unit to be automatically cascaded (or copied) to the Slave unit when the two units are meant to have the same settings. Cascading helps simplify the duplication of settings of one inverter into another. The feature is Enabled by default but may be Disabled to accommodate different settings for the Master and Slave units. Review with a qualified system designer before adopting different settings for the Master and Slave units.

If you don't have two inverters stacked, I'm not sure it matters.
Attached Files
File Type: pdf Inverter - Xantrex -Freedom SW 12 Rev-F.pdf (6.81 MB, 18 views)
File Type: pdf Freedom SW 3012 Troubleshooting Guide.pdf (1.51 MB, 23 views)
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Old 10-10-2019, 04:41 PM   #10
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I have the 2018 37TS and it is always plugged into shore power any time it is parked inside. I only had 1 time that the chassis battery was dead. It seems that even if the dash radio is turned off, but if the key is in the ignition (turned off of course), the radio can turn itself on if you get a weather alert like a tornado warning. When I used the house batteries to start it, the radio immediately began working in the weather alert mode.

Since that time I always take the key out of the ignition and put it in the cup holder, have never had the problem again (2 years) and I've never changed anything in the charger/inverter configuration. I don't know 100% if removing the key fixed the issue or if we have never gotten another weather alert to activate the radio.

Even if the radio was left on, you would think the charger would have been able to keep up with the small draw from the radio, so I am basically guessing.
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Old 10-10-2019, 05:42 PM   #11
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Thanks for the input Randy. My habit is to always keep the key in the house. Bought a charger (DeWalt) this morning but the batteries aren't responding. After 3 minutes the DeWalt shuts off in a fail safe mode. Right now I'm trying the DeSulfate mode to see what happens. Weird!
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Old 01-17-2020, 03:18 PM   #12
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Hi Bob,

Seems I have the same problem. plugged into 50Amp service. House batteries fully charged. Chassis batteries dead. Hasn't happened before.

Inverter says it is in Float mode. and no charge getting to the chassis batteries but charging the house batteries.

With the engine running both house and chassis are charged.

like you said "weird"
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Old 01-17-2020, 04:34 PM   #13
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Ken - I called in a Mobile Repair guy here in Havasu. He's an old fart like me with lots of experience. As a bonus his MH is also on a Freightliner. The chassis batteries were shorted out. Replaced those a couple months ago. Had to leave here and just returned to Havasu last week. There is no power pass thru in the Bird solenoid. He jumpered it so that the new chassis batteries would get charged. Returning Monday to replace the solenoid. When all this went down we lost power to the radio. He plans to trouble shoot that problem. I suspect a fuse behind the radio, but who knows. Not easy to get to. I was following your thread and noted a comment that the SDC-107A (whatever and wherever that is) powers the dash and radio. Maybe that is my radio problem? This old body can't craw around like it did 20-30 years ago. I need to rely on the guys familiar with these HM chassis.



If I were using the MH all the time I would never have noticed the problem. The alternator would have kept the chassis charged all of the time. But in parking it it showed up. This could have been a problem since day one. I'm a little discouraged now. DW wants to hit the road. Gotta understand this problem first. Then today she said let's sell it and get another. Gee's, it's only got 13K miles on it. How about fixing it?

We'll see how the mobile guy does in tracing the problems. Frankly I think that the Dynamax factory guys are the only guys capable of sorting out the problem. However I don't think they would be very happy to see this rig. We'll see what happens.
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