General Boards > Technical Support
coach voltage question
Edward Buker:
The dash voltage gauge and the silverleaf are reading the chassis battey (starting battery pair) and not the house batteries that are being charged by the inverter/charging circuit. These batteries will be held at about 13.8V at the output terminals of the bank. If you have an echo charger then the chassis battery pair will also be charged but the voltage level by design will be about 1/2 volt lower than the house batteries, maybe 13.2V. You can take an external meter and measure at the battery banks and see what is being charged and what the voltage levels are. If you do not have an echo charger then what you observed is perfectly normal. There is some discharging of the house batteries and it will take a little time for the alternator to supply enough charging current to get the batteries up to 13.8V. If you have an echo charger then you may want to check out the battery banks and see if the voltages are as expected.
Later Ed
Bruce Benson:
Joe -
You probably have the Xantrex Echo Charger mounted on the left wall of your battery compartment. It sounds like it might be toast. I have gone through a couple of them. I think part of the problem is the fumes in the compartment eventually compromise the components of the Echo Charger.
Personally I think Xantrex is about the worst supplier on my rig. Their inverter/ charger has failed 3 times and is spooky at present. It cannot be repaired, period. They will be happy to rip you off with a factory reconditioned one with almost no warranty for about the same price that you can buy a new one on Ebay. Never again! Aren't you glad you asked?
I found a good replacement for the Echo Charger at less than half the price. It is called the Ultra Trick-L-Start. It is a fully sealed unit so the gases in the bay have no effect on it. I am very pleased with it and the years of service it has provided. Compare this with the 2 year Xantrex garbage.
http://www.lslproducts.com/TLSPage.html
I would expect the battery to stay in the high 12 volt area, say 12.8 on the trickle charger. I am a little surprised at your voltage with the engine running though. I would expect to see a solid 14.2 on that. Perhaps there is a gaging error that is misleading you in all of this? I have no idea about Silver Leaf calibration.
Gerald Farris:
Joe,
If your Echo Charger is not charging, the most common reason is a blown fuse. Check the two inline fuses in the two wires to the Echo Charger. There is a fuse in the both the input and output wires. They are located about 6 to 10 inches from the Echo Charger.
The Echo Charger is designed to take house battery current when it is above 13 volts and charge the chassis batteries, so your chassis batteries will always stay charged when you are plugged in to shore power and charging your house batteries. Here is a link to the Echo Charger owners manual. http://www.xantrex.com/web/id/421/docserve.aspx
Gerald
Joey and Jackie Cashen:
Thanks for the good information especially the Trik-L-Start. I replaced my echo charger 4 years ago. The green light on the echo is on indicating that the fuses are OK? I ran the coach yesterday and got voltage up to 13.8. Plugged in overnight and voltage is at 12.5. The coach starts well and charge builds up after running a short time. Any cause for further concern?
Thanks, Joe
Bruce Benson:
Joe-
I believe that the green light does indicate that all is well with the Echo Charge. My recollection is that when mine failed the light would not come on at all.
I think that the power for the light comes from the house battery. The Echo Charge then senses the chassis battery and if the voltage difference is greater than 10 volts it would shut down and the green light would flash. The fuses should not be hard to check but it would seem that both would have to be intact now that we know that the green light is on.
Assuming that your alternator is producing the 14.2 volts that it should, your voltage reading when it is running is .4 volts lower that the actual voltage produced. If that is the case, the 12.4 volts that you see when the engine has been off for some time is really 12.8 volts. The 12.8 volts would seem a normal reading to me.
If your leveling system was on for the 2 months you were parked, I can fairly assure you that your chassis batteries would have needed some help to start the engine if the Echo Charger were not working.
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