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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / RVs / July 2009Battery charging Issues
OK, so what's with the Onan? Two yr. old coach with 10KW Diesel Onan and 370 hrs. on the clock. The engine runs fine. When trying to re- charge the house batts, I can watch the charging amperage run up to around 80 - 90 for about 6-8 seconds...then amperage drops to zero for about 20-25 seconds. Then it kicks back in, running up to 80 amps again before dropping to zero. I've checked the breaker at the generator and it's not thrown. Inverter (Magnum 2012-I have two of them) overloads haven't tripped. The engine alternator charges when running down the road and I can charge batteries when plugged in. I recently replaced the "BIRD" and associated contactor solenoid, along with 8 new house batteries. All seemed to be working normally, but I hadn't checked generator charging 'till recently. I crawled into the basement to listen for sounds. I can hear the inverters cycling on and off, apparently in response to the charge/ invert cycling. I don't feel or hear the solenoid between chassis and house batteries cycling and the new BIRD has correct output voltages. No cycling of the transfer switch either. I can run all functions on generator power including air conditioners, but it just won't charge. Both Onan and Magnum tech help guys claim their products either work correctly or will shut down completely, so do not feel their products are the problem. Still, something is happening to the "juice" between the generator and the inverter/chargers, but what could it be? Who's got some great ideas on this? > OK, so what's with the Onan? Two yr. old coach with 10KW Diesel Onan and > 370 hrs. on the clock. The engine runs fine. When trying to re- charge [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > the generator and the inverter/chargers, but what could it be? Who's > got some great ideas on this? Any possibility it's the invertors cycling and causing the load change? Disconnect the inverters and put a load on the generator, like the A/C and see if the it stills cycles. Joe, I should have mentioned I can run the air conditioners off the generator...no problem. The inverters just don't seem to like the power furnished to them.... >Joe, I should have mentioned I can run the air conditioners off the >generator...no problem. The inverters just don't seem to like the >power furnished to them.... How did you determine that? Have you measured the output voltage on the converter? Chuck -- All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent. Thomas Jefferson Chuck Norris Two years could give a wire time to corrode. Can you see the wire end connections? Do any of them look as if they have swelled any? > OK, so what's with the Onan? Two yr. old coach with 10KW Diesel Onan > and 370 hrs. on the clock. The engine runs fine. When trying to re- [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > the generator and the inverter/chargers, but what could it be? Who's > got some great ideas on this? >OK, so what's with the Onan? Two yr. old coach with 10KW Diesel Onan >and 370 hrs. on the clock. The engine runs fine. When trying to re- [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] >the generator and the inverter/chargers, but what could it be? Who's >got some great ideas on this? Sounds like the chargers are overheating and shutting down, cooling off and trying again. Repeat the cycle. What happens if you plug in to a power pedestal instead? If it still does the same thing you have a capacity problem. If it only happens on the generator you have a wiring problem between the generator and charger. How did you determine that? Have you measured the output voltage on the converter? Chuck, what is THAT"? Which are you referring to, please? I'll take a shot at it... Because the inverters shut down, I'll saying they don't like the power....MAYBE. As for the generator and the A/C's....they DO run with the generator running. >How did you determine that? Have you measured the output voltage on >the converter? > >Chuck, what is THAT"? Which are you referring to, please? "The inverters just don't seem to like the power furnished to them." >I'll take a shot at it... > >Because the inverters shut down, I'll saying they don't like the >power....MAYBE. As for the generator and the A/C's....they DO run >with the generator running. -- All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent. Thomas Jefferson Chuck Norris Nothermark, I can charge just fine when plugged into the pedestal....the charging issue is only with the generator running. But I'm not so sure the problem is between the generator and inverter. What if there's a short on the downhill end of the inverter, causing the inverter/chargers to shut down? >Nothermark, I can charge just fine when plugged into the >pedestal....the charging issue is only with the generator running. >But I'm not so sure the problem is between the generator and >inverter. What if there's a short on the downhill end of the >inverter, causing the inverter/chargers to shut down? If the inverter runs off the pedestal then the problem is not the output side of the inverter. Something is not right between the generator and inverter or the generator is not putting out the correct voltage and/or frequency. Measure the input to the inverter and the output of the generator under load and see if there is a difference. If there is no difference then you probably have a generator problem. I finally got under there and pulled the covers to both Magnums. With shore power off and the gen running, I measured 118.0v and 121.5 on the respective inputs from the generator. Frequency was 60.5 HZ. Output voltages were essentially the same voltage...maybe a tenth less. So then I went in and turned off the inverters and found the system to be charging continuously-the inverters not tripping out and the roof A/ C's running, other loads applied, etc. But when turning the inverters to "on", they trip on/off, of course. Then I turned off the two 30 amp breakers downstream of the inverters' output and they still cycled on/ off....however, for a brief second one of the remote display panels flashed in RED the words "A/C Overload". Again, this was with generator running and no shore power, inverters on and both downstream subpanel breakers (load) off. So this appears to tell me the generator is OK, the transfer switch is fine, wiring to the inverters is OK, but something perhaps in the Magnums is amiss. If turning off the load downstream from the inverters doesn't help, it would appear downstream wiring is also OK. Does this shed any light on the situation? I think I need to call Magnum once again and see what they think. _________________ I finally got to talk to another guy at Magnum who went through settings on my remote display panel. He had me lower the normal settings for "A/C Cutout Voltage" from 100V to 80V. Now under generator power the inverters/chargers run just fine with no cutting in/out. While I'm ecstatic the issue seems to be resolved, I'm a little miffed the first two guys I spoke with DID NOT find anything wrong with those settings I was operating under. :banghead I asked him why I should think to operate under such a low figure as 80V. when clearly the generator was putting out about 120V...who woulda thunk it? He said that was just the way it was and sometimes that is what was required to make the inverters perform properly. So be it...... :dontknow My thanks go out to all on this board who exerted their brain power in trying to resolve this issue-I truly appreciate all the input. It's nice to have so many offering their sincere efforts to resolve issues such as this.... :clap |
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