Echo Charger

[Edward Buker]

Gary,

What you need for a temporary charger is a good 20 to 30 amp charger that will do some continuous duty charging and if possible will taper the charge (smart charger) but that may not be that important. This charger would go on the house 6V bank where you see 12V from ground to the main lead going to the coach. The Echo Charger will take care of the chassis batteries from the house bank. The hard part is getting a quality continuous duty charger today. You do not need a large charger on wheels just one that will do a 20 amp continuous job.

Later Ed

[Gary Wolfer]

I just googled how to test a freedom 2oD and found a post from last month here by Mathew Harger It would be nice if he would chime in and let me know what he ended up doing. I know the remote on the freedom inverters use a telephone flat cable from the inverter to the remote as I had to rerun a shorted phone cable in my old Safari. It was a real pain. I have had no real problem with either this coach or my safari with the modified sine wave as far as not satisfying some appliances. I also had the overload come one the first time I reset the remote and it went away but that is probably when the inverter went bad. I replaced the chassis batteries and an echo charger since that happened. I had the freedom 2,000 in my old Safari bench tested in Colorado Springs when I had problems a few years ago and was told it had a larger heavier magnet than the new inverters and we ran it up to 3,000 watts on the bench.
If I have to change and get a new magnum will it work upside down? My inverter is in a lousy place in a bin hanging from the ceiling in the back and the transfer switch is on the side wall of the same bin. The toilet and holding tanks are between that bin and the battery compartment.

I vaguely remember pulling out the inverter in my safari there was a hot and ground cable and I think I had to take a plate off the front and the wires from the transfer switch were wire nutted inside there ( am I right?)

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

Gary,
You might want to check your house batteries. IMHO the symptoms you are describing could be cause by a bad battery.
Steve

[Gary Wolfer]

Steve when I charged my batteries yesterday with the alternator and took a reading with the multimeter the voltage across the 6v battery bank was less thank 13v like 12.75 and the reading across the two chassis 12v batteries was 14v That was right after I shut the engine down and went out to the battery box and checked. Would you suspect a dead cell in a 6v battery could do that? Or just wouldn't take a full charge ? The house batteries are dated 2012 I just replaced the chassis batteries.

[Edward Buker]

Gary,

12.75V sounds pretty normal with the alternator shut down depending on where the batteries were charge wise when you started out. If they needed some charge then the battery voltage would be down in this range and if they were already fully charged then the voltage would be more like the 13.8 to 14V range like the chassis batteries were.

With the engine and alternator running if the house bank has 13.5 to 14.4V on them then most likely the battery bank is O.K. from a bad cell point of view. A shorted cell pulls a lot of current, tends to boil out, and it will be hard for the alternator to overcome that load and hold the voltage at normal charging levels.

The Magnum chargers can be mounted in any plane including upside down. There is a set of connections for the AC input and output that uses a Romex type two screw clamp. The transfer relay may be an interior installable option so you would need to discuss that with your dealer if you go this way. The 12V lugs are stand off type so that the battery cabling can approach from a variety of angles. Hope this helps.

Later Ed

[Gary Wolfer]

ED when I had my Safari I had the freedom 2000 bench tested and it was ok then we put it back in and added 4 new 12v AGM Deca Batteries. We also installed a 300 Amp Fuse and fuse holder between the house batteries and the inverter positive lead. I stopped that night and plugged into a 50 amp shore power and the overload light went off. I reset it and went on the next day and when I stopped My house batteries were dead. I had to order a new fuse because it blew. (There was never a large fuse in the Safari between batteries and inverter before I bought it. The 4 house battery positive and negative leads were both connected to the end batteries. The tech that put in the fuse and the new agm batteries said they were originally wired wrong and hooked one positive battery to the en closest to the engine and the negative at the other end of the group so that all 4 batteries were charging at the same time. before the first two were being charged then when they had a full charge the other two started. What I am wondering is This coach I see at least 3 fused cables. I am wondering if one of the fuses is blown. I am not sure why I see 3 but there are two under the bed (like the ones you linked for me) and one more in the bin where the inverter and transfer switch are located. It appears I can take out the inverter hot wire at the fuse right there inside the bin at the fuse. I called the service tech twice today and they never called me back. I am desperate and do not want to keep charging with the alternator if I ordered a new inverter if it would be a unbolt and rebolt switch I understand the remote cables are phone cables and interchangable so I would have to have a new remote if I went to the magnum ms 2812. (would it be Plug and Play)

[Edward Buker]

Gary,

I feel for the predicament you are in and wish there was a way to get you some help. I would hate for you to order an expensive inverter if the one you have is working O.K. and it is just a fuse or something else that can be fixed easily. If the current charger inverter is bad then the Magnum 2812 is an excellent choice for a replacement. There are no major wiring changes given the AC wiring you have now to the current inverter charger is what you would use for the Magnum. Also the DC wiring, just two large cables from the house bank are all that is needed. The temperature sensor is a different one and that would have to be run to the house battery bank. The existing phone cable I think would work for the new readout control panel. All in all not too much effort is needed to change this out. This is plug in play in a sense, but there are set up menus to go through and I am not sure about the transfer switch, seems that is some kind of internal plug in module that is an option on this charger. Maybe a Magnum owner can chime in on that subject.

It looks like you are on the Oregon Coast from your posting. Where exactly? Maybe there is another Beaver owner out that way that could help you trouble shoot this. Richard Tracy had a mobile service guy come to his RV in Newport and he trouble shot his leveling pump that had a bad solenoid. He seemed to be pretty happy with this person and maybe could pass along the name if you are near the Newport area. I called him to try and get the name but he was not answering at the moment so I left a message. I think some help is in order if we can stir some up...

Later Ed

[Gary Wolfer]

I am in waldport just 20 miles south of Newport. I called an auto electric company this morning and they said when the service guy came in they would have him call me. I had to call back an hour later and they said he was next door working on a project and they would have him call back. He never did so I guess he did not need the work. There was a road service guy here locally but he passed away of cancer not long ago. I think I will go to the fire department and ask them who does their work as they use inverters in fire trucks and ambulances. I think many rv techs do not have the knowledge needed to do complex wiring maybe I am wrong. I will find a charger tomorrow to get me by until I find out.

[Roy C Tyler]

I know it is a little ways from you, but when I bought my Beaver last year from Guaranty in Junction City Oregon, they replaced the inverter and all of the batteries.  Unfortunately they did not replace the alternator and it went out a month later but they did pay for the alternator and the mobile mechanic that came to fix it.  They seem to have some very sharp techs working there.

[Gary Wolfer]

Chuck you are right Guaranty was where I bought my first Diesel pusher(Safari Sahara) Safari's and country coaches and Many high end coaches were built there thru the 90's before the economy turned around and they all went broke. Guaranty was one of the largest sales outfits in the country. My problem is my wife had Back Surgery last week and would not be able to travel right now. If I cannot find someone to do the work I may have to try to do it myself. I need someone to come out here if I can. If not my son lives in my old Safari here in the park and she might have to stay there for a couple days. Worst case senario.

[Jerry Emert]

Just replaced the xantrex with a Magnum MS-2812.  The cable for the xantrex will work for the Magnum but you will have to rewire the plug on one end.  For some reason they switched the wires around in the Magnum plugs.  Its the same way on the cable going to the remote.

My xantrex also had built in genstart circuits in it and the Magnum needs external modules for the genstart and the battery monitor along with the different temp sensor and remote.

I have a separate transfer switch in my coach but there is some references in the xantrex paperwork to a transfer switch internal to the xantrex, so you may have that.

My inverter was fried by a mis-wired 30 amp connection yes I now have a TRC hardwired 50 amp surge guard in my coach.  The inverter section worked fine but it would not charge the batteris or pass 115 into the coach.  It had me fooled for a little while because most of the elec. outlets worked and as soon as I replaced the transfer switch the A/Cs worked.
Hope this helps.
Jerry

[Edward Buker]

Gary,

Richard Tracy called me back tonight and is going to look up the name and contact info for the mobile RV tech that he had work on his rig in Newport. I'll give the guy a call and see how familiar he is with these systems and if he passes muster I will send his info along to you. I think your thought about the local fire department and who they have for electrical system service is a great idea....locals usually have a pretty good handle on who has a good reputation and knowledge.

So I think this is where you might want to go regarding the tech conversation...

1. I want to verify that the house and chassis batteries are wired correctly and that the voltages look appropriate when not charging.

2. I want to verify that the three main  fuses have continuity and identify what each is for.

3. I want to test the charger inverter output in charge mode is at the proper voltage level at the charger and also at the house battery bank.

4. I want to make sure if all of the above is correct that the inverter function is also working.

5. If the house battery bank is being charged properly then I want to verify that the Echo Charger is charging the chassis battery bank properly.

Gary, if you go in to discuss what you want done to sort out your electrical charging/battery system problem, this list includes the logical steps that need to be understood. Obviously one or more of these will likely be a problem and once that is known you can go from there with the tech or on your own to get what is needed to fix this problem. Seems this is the best we can do to try and help from here.

Later Ed

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

Gary,
Have them test your batteries too.
Steve

[Gary Wolfer]

I Went to the auto electric shop today and they finally made an appointment with me for tomorrow. They will be checking the 12v system from shore power post to fuses. I also purchased a good charger that is automatic 6 and 12 and wet cell to agm with a 2 amp 12 amp and 30 amp with a 80 amp starting feature. I am charging the house bank and hopefully when It gets to 13.5 it will charge the chassis batteries as well. If not I will charge the chassis batteries one more time with the alternator so the tech has good battery power when he gets here in the morning. I will post the findings tomorrow. Thanks for all your help. I may need more help if I have to get an inverter.

[Edward Buker]

Gary,

Glad you found some one to lend a hand. I had not heard from Richard today so I could not come up with a name on my end. Glad you found a decent portable charger and can get the banks charged. Keep us posted.

Later Ed