New problem..

[bajarick]

Not as serious! Truck and camper have been bundled up for a couple months. Solar panels covered. Older house batteries went way down. I put it up and plugged the shore power on. Fridge working. Fans working. No water pump. Dark happened and the fans stopped and none of the DC worked. Up this morning and switched the charger from low to high and I had DC again...for 5 minutes the the charger shut off. There is a toggle switch next to the high/low charger. I think it controls whether the alternator will try to charge the batteries? Anyway the toggle just flops and doesn't do anything anymore. That's the only thing that seems different. Waiting for enough sun to check more. Any ideas? I think I posted a pic of the toggle switch. This is a 2002 Alaskan

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

I’m not sure about the charger, perhaps it won’t switch to “high” if your batteries are in extreme discharge, but I suspect you may need new batteries.

Edit: you might also have a parasitic drain on the batteries.

 

[bajarick]

I want to replace with lithium just didn't want to do it now!

 

[Vic Harder]

Sounds like your shore power is not charging the batteries at all, just your solar is/was. Likely that switch that just flops around now. Are you comfy digging into the wiring?

 

[bajarick]

Comfy but not happy! The charge controller, renology pmw, says I've got 19 volts coming in but no amps. Batteries are 2.2 volts so toast. AC outlets working but the converter isn't converting. Do the batteries have to be ok for the converter to power the DC outlets? The cc too?

 

[Vic Harder]

Much depends on how your particular camper is wired. In my rig all the DC power comes from the batteries unless I am actually plugged in and the ACDC charger is working. If your battery voltage is 2.2, yup, they sound dead. Have you got a “known good” battery you can swap in temporarily? If my batteries were dead/off (BMS can shut off the batteries under certain conditions) then I would have no DC either, I believe.

 

[bajarick]

Thanks. I'm going to try running the truck and then maybe jumping the batteries in the morning to see if that brings back the charging. No spare batteries here. AC off shore power is fine.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

I wonder if you have a blown fuse or popped circuit breaker on the converter. You might check to see if there is one, and if it has popped to protect the converter.

 

[bajarick]

I'll check for one. Pretty tight in there!

 

[bajarick]

Ok. Got myself in there. Iota instructions say the fuses are easily replaced...once you take everything out to get to them. They both look good but I'm going to replace them anyway! The limp toggle switch I asked about earlier is out too. One wire goes to the converter and the other to the fuse panel. Does anyone know what it is for? Could I just put those wires together without the switch? I'm going out to look for a toggle switch.

 

[JaSAn]

My experience has been that the newer 'smart' chargers will not charge a battery with very low voltage. For that you need an old 'dumb' charger to get the voltage up.

Also if your batteries will allow (I'm assuming AGM), run a couple of equalizing charges to get cells back in balance or (not as good) a reconditioning charge that some smart chargers have.

I have gotten an extra year or two out of a LA battery doing this.

 

[bajarick]

Batteries are flooded. Was just reading about the new chargers.
I got new fuses and a switch. Still don't know what the switch does though....

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

With one wire to the converter, and one to the fuse panel, my best guess is that is the path for all DC circuits, and “perhaps” the only path to charge the batteries with shore power. Although there could possibly be another path from the converter to the batteries.

 

[bajarick]

Got it connected....not back together! That toggle switch was the problem. I couldn't find one as hefty so I'm leaving things open til I find one. Batteries aren't charged enough to keep the charge controller on without the charger running. Be interesting to see if they'll come back. Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

JaSan’s mention of running a conditioning cycle is spot on. There’s a chance you might get a bit more life out of them.

 

[Vic Harder]

And in the meantime, no reason not to by pass the switch altogether. It would be good to know what it does. If it really is a “kill” switch, then replacing it with a breaker would be a good solution too. Still, I wonder if all it does is turn ON the iota? Can you take a picture of where it connects on the iota?

 

[bajarick]

It is a kill switch. On/off. I guess I wasn't using the iota much before. Very light usage. The panels were covered for 2 months...hail prone spot! I should have disconnected the batteries. Neighbor has a charger so that's next.
By the way. If anyone has to get into this take the cabinet door off! Agghh.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

If it is a kill switch, I suspect the IOTA may not have the IQ module module that provides a float function, and if the charger is left on and charging for an extended it might cook the batteries. There are a few threads, probably in the FWC forum, on how to identify whether or not it’s present.

 

[bajarick]

Thanks all for your help. It is indeed a kill switch! I ended up getting a LiTime 100 amp hour battery to replace the marine batteries. The iota can be set to a lower charge rate which I would recommend unless you are watching what the charger is doing, or just leave it off. Lithium doesn't like overcharging! Works well!