Different ways to charge batteries?

[Gorde Lang]

We have a 2000 Marquis Tourmaline

When we start the Generator, does the generator automatically charge all 6 house batterys and 2 12 Volt coach Batterys?  All the batteries are less than 1 year old. My Prosine panel shows batterys are at 11.50 even after running the generator for several hours. When I push the battery charger on the Prosine panel it activates and turns off and switches back to standby. We also have 2 fairly small solar panels on the roof. Should we be concerned with the batterys being at 11.50? Thank you, Gordon Lang

[Steve Huber]

Gorde,
If your batteries are at 11.5 v they are fully discharged. Running the generator with the inverter battery charger on should charge them unless you have a bad Bird or Echo charger. I think your coach has a Bird, which allows both house and chassis batteries to charge at the same time. If it has an Echo charger the house batteries charge first and then the chassis batteries. You can determine which by looking in the battery bay. It should be labeled. Sounds like you may have a bad (shorted) battery or a faulty Echo or Bird system. If it is a bad battery, you should see high amperage on the inverter/charger display when it tries to charge.
Steve

[David T. Richelderfer]

We had to have our Xantrex SW series 2500w inverter removed and replaced over this winter.  The reason was the inverter's battery charging circuit became erratic and would not charge the House batteries high enough to actuate the BIRD system to allow power to crossover and charge the Chassis batteries.  Thus, the House batteries would be maintained from 12.5v to 12.7v, while the Chassis batteries would fade down over a week or so due to the maintenance demand by the engine and transmission brains.  The BIRD system must see >13.1v BEFORE it will allow the charging power to crossover to the other battery bank... and this is true if the charging power is originating from the engine's alternator or the inverter on either shore or generator power.  It's a bi-directional system.

We now have a new Xantrex Freedom 3000w that is working very well.  The batteries are being better maintained now by the new inverter versus at any time during our ownership by the old inverter.  The new inverter goes through a three-step charging process - bulk, absorption, and float.  In the absorption phase the batteries are taken up to 14.5v and the batteries have become stronger... as strong as they were when new, and they're  2 1/2 years old.

My point in adding this opinion is that there is another potential problem source - that being the inverter may be going bad like ours did.  Again, if your inverter is not charging your House batteries to a high enough point (>13.1v), then the BIRD system will not actuate to crossover the charging current to your Chassis batteries.  The Xantrex Heart Echo Charger - one of several types - requires 13.0v to crossover the charging.

http://bacrallies.com/PDF/PDF%20Manuals/intellitecbigboyandbird/BIRD.pdf

[Gerald Farris]

Gorde,
Your coach does not have a "Bird" system, but it does have an Echo charger that will maintain the charge in your chassis batteries if the house batteries are being charged if it is functioning properly. However, it sounds like your inverter is not charging the house batteries, and if so, none of your batteries will be charged by the generator unless your generator has an onboard alternator, but most do not. Also, be sure that you have a good source of 120 volt AC current from either shore power or generator.

The first thing to do if your Prosine inverter will not charge your batteries is to reset the inverter by disconnecting all power from the coach for about 5 minutes. Do this by removing the main ground cable from both battery banks while your generator is NOT running and you are NOT plugged into shore power. After five minutes reconnect the battery cables and plug into shore power or start the generator. If it still will not charge the house batteries, be sure that you have good 12 volt DC and 120 volt AC current at the inverter, and if so you will need to start looking for a replacement inverter because the Prosine inverters are not repairable.

If this does not make sense to you, or if you need more information, just call me and I will walk you through the diagnosis.

Gerald

[Edward Buker]

Gorde,

Regard Gerald's comments that are spot on,  even if you have an alternator on your generator system (I do) it is so tiny that the alternator output would never recharge a bank of discharged batteries. It is intended to handle one starting battery in systems that have a dedicated isolated local battery just for the generator which we do not.

Later Ed