We now fit in....

Topic: We now fit in.... (Read 1062 times) previous topic - next topic

We now fit in....

February 16, 2019, 05:52:47 pm

After one crazy long day we are now proud owners of a 1994 U280 3600. Flew to San Diego with my son and drove home in pouring rain and 60 mph gusts. She drove amazing! One handed at 65mph with cruise on. Should have gone this way years ago!

I had been trying to do as much research as possible prior to purchase but still amazed at how much there is to learn. Still trying to figure out how to get house power when plugged in. Batteries are charging and 120v is present but lights are still on battery?? Our trailer we just plug in and lights would be full voltage not dependant on battery condition, not sure? It does have a Xantrex 3000 which seems like a very versatile and nice unit.

Thanks to all for everything that has been contributed to this great site and hopefully in time I can be a contributor.

David

Re: We now fit in....

Reply #1 – February 16, 2019, 07:27:15 pm

There should be a breaker for the charger probably in the box at the foot of the bed. Be sure it is on.

Re: We now fit in....

Reply #2 – February 16, 2019, 07:35:26 pm

98% of inside house lights are all 12 volt, so through the batteries/convertor/invertor (on the 12 volt side). There "may be" some 110 volt lights - microwave and perhaps bath sink surround.

Re: We now fit in....

Reply #3 – February 16, 2019, 07:45:14 pm

I have "0" 120 volt lights in my 95 U280, all are 12volt and powered by coach batteries / inverter / charger.

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Reply #4 – February 16, 2019, 07:53:03 pm

If you have any 110 volt lites, check the ground fault breaker on the 110 plug ins in the bathroom or kitchen.

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Reply #5 – February 16, 2019, 08:24:38 pm

I may have been mistaken all this time with our trailer but when I plug in my lights go extremely bright. The motor home was down to 10.5v (will be replacing house batteries after sitting for so long) plugged in with inverter showing charging at 15A lights still dim. Based on responses I guess that is correct until battery voltage comes up?

Re: We now fit in....

Reply #6 – February 16, 2019, 08:47:08 pm

Congrats on your ownership and welcome to the forum.

Sounds like you have a great first project - Figuring out how it works.

After 6 years, I am still trying to figure out how mine works.

Have fun.....

If you check what the folks suggest you will find your problem/no problem;.

Re: We now fit in....

Reply #7 – February 16, 2019, 09:18:01 pm

Quote from: Familyrig – February 16, 2019, 08:24:38 pm

The motor home was down to 10.5v (will be replacing house batteries after sitting for so long) plugged in with inverter showing charging at 15A lights still dim.

David,

Congrats on acquiring the U280. I may be somewhat biased, but I think you made a excellent choice!

The sentence quoted above makes me wonder about the condition of your battery cable connections. With the coach (house) batteries "down to 10.5v" I would expect to see higher than a 15A charging rate. It is possible that the battery connections are very corroded, and preventing the charger from seeing the true battery condition. Or, if the coach sat for a long time unattended before you purchased it, you may have one or more batteries that will not take a charge. At any rate, cleaning up the battery terminals and cable ends wouldn't hurt anything, and might help.

Good luck learning all about your coach, and feel free to ask questions. We're here to help! Just remember, our advice is free, and you get what you pay for.

Re: We now fit in....

Reply #8 – February 16, 2019, 09:39:56 pm

Thank you guys for the warm welcome. We are so excited and love the coach!

The Xantrex will charge at a higher rate (up to 150A) but I set it down to 15A based on my cheater I have to use to plug into my house. I may be wrong but the outlet is on a 20A circuit for my garage and believe it will trip the breaker if I exceed that in charging amps?

Re: We now fit in....

Reply #9 – February 16, 2019, 09:41:55 pm

Congrats and welcome

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Reply #10 – February 17, 2019, 07:17:01 am

Congratulations! Wishing you and yours a wonderful traveling experience!

Re: We now fit in....

Reply #11 – February 17, 2019, 08:04:13 am

Quote from: Familyrig – February 16, 2019, 09:39:56 pm

Thank you guys for the warm welcome. We are so excited and love the coach!

The Xantrex will charge at a higher rate (up to 150A) but I set it down to 15A based on my cheater I have to use to plug into my house. I may be wrong but the outlet is on a 20A circuit for my garage and believe it will trip the breaker if I exceed that in charging amps?

Wait for someone else to confirm this, but I believe 12 volt 15 amp charge setting should use approx. 1.5 amps on your shore power cord (120 volts versus 12 volts). 100 amps on 12 volt setting would be "approx." 10 amps on shore power cord.

See: Calculate AC to DC Amperage Through Inverter | BatteryStuff

Edit: I found the manual and the shore amp draw setting on the 2500 series shore power amp (110 volt) draw are:
AC service setting [max. current draw]
10, 15 , 20 , 30 amps

So it appears your choice of 15 amp (on the imput side) is correct. The output side to batteries at 12 volt can still exceed 15 amps into the battery pack - but that's ok.

Re: We now fit in....

Reply #12 – February 17, 2019, 08:12:24 am

Quote from: AC7880 – February 17, 2019, 08:04:13 am

Wait for someone else to confirm this, but I believe 12 volt 15 amp charge setting should use approx. 1.5 amps on your shore power cord (120 volts versus 12 volts). 100 amps on 12 volt setting would be "approx." 10 amps on shore power cord.

See: Calculate AC to DC Amperage Through Inverter | BatteryStuff

While not exact........... this is very close to accurate, some efficiency loss through the inverter/charger.

Re: We now fit in....

Reply #13 – February 17, 2019, 08:14:02 am

Don't jump to conclusions about the condition of the batteries until you have tried to fully charge them. A long slow trickle charge could be all they need to be revived. I also agree with the fact that after a coach sets dormant for a period of time that corrosion will build up between the battery terminal and the cable ends. I would completely disassemble all battery terminal connections and clean them, even the back side of the house battery terminals where the cables are stacked. I missed that area when I got my coach and it caused the inverter to go bad. I found that a "Black" hard substance, almost like enamel develops on the surfaces between the terminal ends causing a resistance and not allowing current to flow into the batteries to charge them. Welcome to the Forum, Good Luck with You New Venture...

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Reply #14 – February 17, 2019, 10:21:57 am

That 15A limit setting on the Xantrex is the incoming AC side. If you increase that higher it will trip your 120V circuit. I have the same inverter and leave it at 15A during storage.

Re: We now fit in....

Reply #15 – February 17, 2019, 11:52:22 am

Quote from: brrving – February 17, 2019, 10:21:57 am

That 15A limit setting on the Xantrex is the incoming AC side. If you increase that higher it will trip your 120V circuit. I have the same inverter and leave it at 15A during storage.

Edit: I found the manual and the shore amp draw setting on the 2500 series shore power amp (110 volt) draw are:
AC service setting [max. current draw]
10, 15 , 20 , 30 amps

So it appears your choice of 15 amp is correct. The output side to batteries at 12 volt can still exceed 15 amps into the battery pack - but that's ok.

Re: We now fit in....

Reply #16 – February 17, 2019, 11:54:47 am

Quote from: AC7880 – February 17, 2019, 11:52:22 am

So are you saying if you set it to 100 amp it will use 100 amps of shore power? Or does it not go that high on that particular invertor?

No, less than 15 amps 120 volt A/C to 100 amps. 12 volt D/C

Re: We now fit in....

Reply #17 – February 17, 2019, 12:30:19 pm

OP states he has the Xantrex 3000 unit.

I was also thumbing through the manual (linked below). This unit has a Power Share setting that will control the maximum amp draw on the shore power circuit. The battery charger will only be allowed to use 80% of the Power Share setting - the rest goes to AC loads. Quote from manual:

"Power Share The Freedom SW 3000 charger uses AC input line 1 to charge the batteries. The Freedom SW 3000 charger shares incoming power with AC loads on line 1 only. The AC loads have priority, which means that the charger will reduce its output with large AC loads and increase the output again when the AC load decreases. The regulatory maximum for continuous AC loads is 80% of the breaker rating that the loads are connected to.
The Freedom SW 3000 senses pass-through current going to the AC load. The difference between the pass-through (load) and 80% of the Power Share setting is the current that is available for charging the batteries.
For example, if the AC input of the Freedom SW 3000 is from an AC panel with a 30A breaker, the Power Share setting on the SCP should be selected as 30A. Based on this, the charger will control the charge current so that the total current draw is equal to or less than 24A in this case. Should the load current be more than about 24A, the charger output will reduce to 0A, but the Freedom SW 3000 will continue to supply the loads."

So if you are plugged into a 20 amp outlet, and don't have any other AC devices (like air conditioner) powered up, you could set the Power Share to 20A, or possibly even 25A. The 25A setting would allow a max of 20A going to the charger, but should not trip the shore outlet circuit breaker. The battery charger will be able to almost reach full 150A output (if required) using the 25A Power Share setting. Quote from manual:

"The charger is power factor corrected to use AC current as efficiently as possible and only requires 22 amps to provide rated charger output."

Link to manual:

Xantrex | Power Inverter, Inverter Charger, Battery Charger Manufacturer(975-0545-01-01_Rev-A).pdf

Re: We now fit in....

Reply #18 – February 17, 2019, 02:48:06 pm

I set my Xantrex to 25 amps and get the 150 amp charge which quickly steps down and charges without tripping any breakers.

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Reply #19 – February 17, 2019, 06:51:49 pm

Thank you everybody for all the research and help. It seems we are on the same page in regards to maximum shore power input load being used but did not take into account the 120v to 12v conversion in regards to Amp load. I need to see if there is a separate setting to adjust max charging amps allowed while still maintaining the same power share setting. It seems to me there should be two factors that I can set.

Thanks again!

Re: We now fit in....

Reply #20 – February 17, 2019, 10:02:02 pm

David, as was mentioned above, a LONG SLOW charge may be what your batteries need. That's also the safest route. If a battery is damaged, a high (fast) charging rate may cause major damage (as in an explosion), and you don't want that.

Remember that when you are checking voltage at the battery, you want to do so after disconnecting the charger AND letting the battery rest for several hours. Also, the best way to check a battery is with a load tester. If you don't have one, remember to disconnect all batteries in the bank before testing the voltage.

Batteries are happiest if they are all the same. If you find a bad battery, and all of them are getting old, you will probably be happier overall if you just replace all of the batteries in that bank. I think your coach as one bank of batteries in/near the engine that provide the electrical power for the engine and automotive side of things, and another bank that powers the house side. You don't necessarily have to replace ALL of the batteries at once, but do change all of the batteries in a bank together. Of course, if the batteries are all fairly new, and one is bad, you ought to be able to have that one replaced under warranty. Be sure to find out why it failed if you can.

Re: We now fit in....

Reply #21 – February 18, 2019, 09:29:33 am

David,
I believe i had a combination of issues happening that were drawing the house batteries down the first night we had the unit home. I did not notice the previous owner turned the fridge on 12v not gas when testing and i believe i may have left the rear heater unit on through the night after we parked without plugging in(not used to 2 units). Last night I was able to pull and clean all connections. I went ahead and swapped out the 2 single 12v deep cycle batteries for 4 Costco 6v batteries. I am very used to this setup, running these in our trailer with solar for a few years. Still not sure how to hold the batteries down, the original bar is to large to go through the opening on the batteries, so strapped down until I can find a better solution. I am slow charging the other 2 batteries and will load test this afternoon. Thanks for all the help.

On a side note, took the wife and kids out for a cruise in the country and they absolutely loved it. We put new bedding on and slept in it last night in the driveway. My wife is going to work on deep cleaning the inside today while I am at work(love her).
David

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