CMP 20 faulty readings

[Jesse Bufford]

Recently purchased our 2002 Patriot Ticonderoga and trying to learn and fix some things. Does anyone know where the solar regulator might be on our coach? We are getting a fault code on the solar regulator and it is showing 25.5v on the coach batteries and from the solar output.  The testing I have done shows the normal 12+/- readings everywhere on the coach as well as in the battery bay.  Have dropped it off at the local rv service and so far they are getting the same readings. They stated everything seems to be wired correctly, but as of yet have not identified the problem. It also shows 225a discharge, but that would drain the cells quickly and that is not happening. Hoping some previous experience might benefit the mechanic and help my wallet (HA).

[LaMonte Monnell]

Mechanics love to"look" for problems it seems. I had my dash air worked on and a week after I picked it up the cold was again gone.

Drove back up in the car and talked with the service manager.

He said bring it in and that there must be a leak somewhere on a hose somewhere from the front of the motor home to the back.

All the a/c hoses and 40 ft long search at $130 an hour, I'll use the genset and roof air from now on.

[Gerald Farris]

Jesse,
I can not answer either of your questions with a certainty, but a call to Silverleaf should give you a little help in solving the issue. Also, Ken Carpenter at BCS (Beaver Coach Sales) may be able to tell you the location of your solar controller, so that would be worth a call also.   

Silverleaf Electronics Inc.
2490 Ferry St SW
Albany, OR 97322
541-967-8111

http://www.silverleafelectronics.com/ 

Gerald

[Jesse Bufford]

  Thanks for the info.

[Keith Moffett]

Jesse
We had similar readings on our 02 Marquis with a Magnum charger / inverter.  The fix turned out to be replacement of the temp sensor on the batteries.  It is a small black plastic sensor attached to one of the batteries and connects to the inverter by a phone style cable.  It even has a telephone connector on it.  Ours got wet and began sending bad info to the charger which was cycling the batteries wrong.  A new sensor was $35 and it fixed the chargeing and the CMP 20 readings.

Welcome to the club.

[George Harwell]

Not sure about your coach but my 03 Monterey has the solar controller mounted on a panel that closes the holding tanks area. It is the rear bay door on the curb side forward of the rear axle. When open it reveals a carpeted wall with a large panel held attached by 4 screws. There are many things mounted on the board and there is ample wiring to allow the panel to be removed from the bay. Hopefully someone with your model coach can help verify the location.

[Stan Simpson]

Not sure about your coach but my 03 Monterey has the solar controller mounted on a panel that closes the holding tanks area. It is the rear bay door on the curb side forward of the rear axle. When open it reveals a carpeted wall with a large panel held attached by 4 screws. There are many things mounted on the board and there is ample wiring to allow the panel to be removed from the bay. Hopefully someone with your model coach can help verify the location.

That's where ours is too, but 2002 was BM (before Monaco) I think, so it may be in an entirely different place. At least I think it was BM.

[mike groves]

I had a similar issue, ie giving bad battery readings, and found a blown mini fuse on the controller box (silver boxes in the basement of my coach).  Another owner told me exactly which fuse it was and he was right.  Just look for the shiny boxes and see if there are fuses (beneath them) and pull and look at each.  You might want to disconnect the house batteries first.

Mike

[Jesse Bufford]

Thanks for the replies.I'm sorry for the delay on replying, but we were camping and then had to deal with cleanup from the storm (very minor). Unfortunately I still have not found the solar regulator. Receive a call from Beaver Coach Sales with name and location, but it was not where they indicated.  I removed the panel in front of the curb wheels and it's not there. 

I do not have a temperature sensor attached to my batteries that I can locate either.

Hopefully someone that has the same model and year as mine can send me a picture and location.  Silverleaf electronics expressed that it is showing max values of what programming is, not realistic readings. Basically an open circuit.

RV service tech has been unable to find problem either (several hours).

The fun continues in a couple days. Have to go do some electrical work at the old farm tomorrow.

[mike groves]

Could that open circuit be a blown fuse on the transmitters?  I too purchased a solar control from BCS, the replaced a cheap fuse and tried to return the solar controller.  The restock fee was overwhelming!  Thanks BCS.

Mike

[Jesse Bufford]

If I can EVER find the solar regulator, I can check the fuse.  That is part of the problem.  Will do some more searching over the weekend, hopefully.

[mike groves]

The fuse that I replaced wasn't on the solar controller.  I haven never found my solar controller either.  The fuse is on the CMP-Sensor boxes (some of them) which are the silver boxes in your basement.  Mine are located on the back wall of the basement (not the side wall of the coach).  I don't know where yours are but mine are attached there.  At least one had a fuse at the bottom which was blown.  I replaced it and my problems with bad readings went away.

Mike

[Jesse Bufford]

I will try to locate all of mine. Some are upside down in the bays.
Thanks.