Battery charging while driving

[CED1]

23 Europa 32kd with Magnum inverter doesn’t appear to be charging while driving. Firefly says no charge. Charges on shore power and generator. Tried shutting batteries off and then back on and checked firefly wiring. Any ideas?

 

[Tony Ramirez]

The Magnum only charges with Shore power or Gen power. Has nothing to do with driving. Depends on how you are wired if the alternator will charge your house batts.

 

[Aussieguy]

inverter takes power from battery to produce 120v
while you are driving ,it can't charge the battery while it is in Inverter mode

It is a Inverter or a Charger depending on if shorepower is ON/OFF .

when you hookup shorepower at the campsite it can then go into charging mode.

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Alternator charging
the alternator may charge the battery while you are driving
that is a function of the power management system and depends on which system you have

when alternator is charging it is independent of the INverter
you may see the charge at the battery monitor/panel

 

[bclemens]

^^This^^ The Alternator will charge the batteries while driving, not the Inverter/Charger. This is done via the BIM or Li-Bim.

Online owners manual will have more info on the BIM. Owner's Kit

Also, you can find some videos on batteries on our YouTube page. Dynamax RVs

 

[CED1]

Brian, thank you for the info, I think what confused me was there is no info on the firefly (reading no charge)

 

[bclemens]

Brian, thank you for the info, I think what confused me was there is no info on the firefly (reading no charge)

Since the inverter is not doing the actual charging (which is what Firefly talks to) then the only way you will know, is the house batteries may say 14 volts or 13.6-ish...so you know it is showing a charging voltage from the alternator.

 

[tewasch]

So if your house battery voltage in the Firefly view does not increase when you start the engine, then the Li-Bim, BIM has not connected the chassis battery to the house battery or the chassis' alternator is not working.

There is also a "boost" function (as I recall) on the front dash which can manually short the chassis battery to the house battery. You might play with this also to see how the chassis battery and alternator can influence the house battery.

Others are also right. The magnum power converter and the DC/AC inverter have nothing to do with the alternator charging.

Oh, one more thing. As I'm lead to believe (although I have not looked for it) there is a circuit breaker under the driver's seat on the wire that connects the two batteries. If this had tripped, then you would see chassis battery charging but no house battery charging.

Good luck!

 

[mjbenedict]

23 Europa 32kd with Magnum inverter doesn’t appear to be charging while driving. Firefly says no charge. Charges on shore power and generator. Tried shutting batteries off and then back on and checked firefly wiring. Any ideas?

You have three charging sources in your motorhome.

Magnum inverter - when powered by shore power or generator
Solar - powered by the sun
Chassis alternator through BIM - when engine running with BIM timing/voltage checks

Note: the BIM or LI-BIM (battery isolation manager) only connect the two banks (chassis and coach) together based on monitoring voltage and time (or dash button pressed). This allows both banks to be charged from the three sources above. The only indicator(s) that your coach batteries are being charged from the engine running are higher voltage reading and/or positive current showing on battery monitor if you have one. The BIM will disconnect based on time to check resting voltage and/or protect alternator from overheating due to excessive current on lithiums. The connection cycles on and off.