|
|
Post by ronc on Apr 2, 2020 14:11:31 GMT -5
I have a Truma AquaGo on demand water heater ... lately it's been faulting for "low voltage". I have two Lifeline GPL4D AGM 12 volt batteries (210 amps each) that are about 4 years old. I called my local Lifeline dealer and we talked about my batteries. When I told him I was plugged into shore power and had been for the last 8 months ... he told me that most inexpensive (cheap) converters deliver a high charge for about 2 hours then go into float mode ... none of this is based on battery condition, just time. Knowing what I know about RV manufacturers, I'm sure the converter the factory installed is as cheap as possible. To get the batteries to recover, I have turned the shore power off 3 times based on a 3 hour full charge cycle. The battery voltage displayed on my inverter was 13.1 V ... after the power on off cycles it now reads 13.7 so something to be said for cycling the shore power. My AquaGo seems to like the change and is not faulting. The lesson learned is that when plugged into shore power for a long time, your batteries will not be fully charged. This is important to auto level systems (like LCI's level up) that rely on batteries to operate.
Thought I would pay this nugget forward.
|
|
|
|
Post by johnr on Apr 3, 2020 7:04:08 GMT -5
Is that a propane water heater or only electric? Have you thought about upgrading your converter?
|
|
|
|
Post by lynnmor on Apr 3, 2020 8:32:11 GMT -5
Write down the brand and model number of the current converter and then contact Randy at Best Converter. |
|
|
|
Post by ronc on Apr 3, 2020 10:21:13 GMT -5
Is that a propane water heater or only electric? Have you thought about upgrading your converter? It is propane only, but it does use 12v dc for ignition and fans. It would be a good idea to up grade the converter, that’s no doubt. |
|
|
|
Post by laknox on Apr 3, 2020 10:26:51 GMT -5
Just an aside, whenever I hitch, or level, I have my truck plugged in and, if possible, running.
Lyle
|
|
|
|
Post by ronc on Apr 3, 2020 13:30:32 GMT -5
Just an aside, whenever I hitch, or level, I have my truck plugged in and, if possible, running. Lyle A good plan. I usually leave the shore power plugged in thinking that would be best for leveling and extending slides, or retracting levelers and slides ... but it turns out that might not give me the "help" I need unless I recycle the power. Plugging in the truck should provide charging for the batteries. |
|
|
|
Post by capemayal on Apr 4, 2020 7:39:16 GMT -5
'18 DG 380FLF - I switched out the 1 12v battery that came with the coach. Installed 2000 GP inverter/charger and 4 6v wet cell bats. Haven't had any problems. I can go up to 5 days using everything except microwave and ac. Very statisfied.
|
|
|
|
Post by Edd505 on Apr 4, 2020 15:48:09 GMT -5
Just an aside, whenever I hitch, or level, I have my truck plugged in and, if possible, running. Lyle Good advice, I do this also and it allows the turbo to cool before shut down. |
|
|
|
Post by capemayal on Apr 4, 2020 19:31:33 GMT -5
Back in the day, I always let my diesel turbos cool off for a good 5 minutes before shutting down. Today, they said its not necessary, but I know what worked then, so I'm not going to change it - and, maybe, take a chance.
|
|
|
|
Post by Edd505 on Apr 5, 2020 20:34:07 GMT -5
Back in the day, I always let my diesel turbos cool off for a good 5 minutes before shutting down. Today, they said its not necessary, but I know what worked then, so I'm not going to change it - and, maybe, take a chance. I owned a class 8 and put 750K on it, one turbo, letting it cool before shut down. I do not let it cool if I have not been towing, towing always. |
|
|
|
Post by nvguy on Apr 5, 2020 21:25:15 GMT -5
Same here- if the truck has been under load- I sit and let the turbo (and everything else) stabilize temp wise.
|
|
|
|
Post by laknox on Apr 6, 2020 11:24:09 GMT -5
Same here- if the truck has been under load- I sit and let the turbo (and everything else) stabilize temp wise. When my remote start was working, it had an adjustable setting where you could set a 5-10 minute "cool down" timer and it'd automagically shut down. Lyle |
|
|
|
Post by ronc on Apr 6, 2020 14:25:29 GMT -5
Just an aside, whenever I hitch, or level, I have my truck plugged in and, if possible, running. Lyle My auto level does a "dip" before leveling ... I always pull the truck out of the way for that ... but I do plug in the shore power before that, so I get the charging from the converter during the arrival phase of travel. During departure, plugging in the truck would be more helpful than leaving the shore power connected. I'm a big fan of making sure the truck is fully warmed up before towing and fully cooled down after towing so I'm good in that regard. |
|
|
|
Post by capemayal on Apr 6, 2020 16:25:07 GMT -5
Just an aside, whenever I hitch, or level, I have my truck plugged in and, if possible, running. Lyle My auto level does a "dip" before leveling ... I always pull the truck out of the way for that ... but I do plug in the shore power before that, so I get the charging from the converter during the arrival phase of travel. During departure, plugging in the truck would be more helpful than leaving the shore power connected. I'm a big fan of making sure the truck is fully warmed up before towing and fully cooled down after towing so I'm good in that regard. Yes, the dip is there. The leveling system is hard on the batteries if they're down. First thing after unhitching is shore power. |
|
|
|
Post by laknox on Apr 7, 2020 10:37:08 GMT -5
Just an aside, whenever I hitch, or level, I have my truck plugged in and, if possible, running. Lyle My auto level does a "dip" before leveling ... I always pull the truck out of the way for that ... but I do plug in the shore power before that, so I get the charging from the converter during the arrival phase of travel. During departure, plugging in the truck would be more helpful than leaving the shore power connected. I'm a big fan of making sure the truck is fully warmed up before towing and fully cooled down after towing so I'm good in that regard. I wan't clear. I don't remain hitched; I unhitch, pull forward until the pin clears the tailgate, then level, while still plugged into the truck. Having the connector in the bed makes this real simple. Just reverse when hooking back up. We boondock more than CG camp, so this is the norm. The couple times I've been in a CG, I plugged into the pedestal before doing anything else (other than unlocking the door so DW could use the head). :-) Lyle |
|
|
|
Post by laknox on Apr 7, 2020 10:47:52 GMT -5
One thing I don't like about the auto-level system is that it always seems to level UP. So far, I've never seen my jacks DROP to level. I'd love to be able to keep my rig level, but drop the entire thing 1-2". This concerns me when boondocking as, on uneven ground, it's not unusual to have wheels on one side off the ground, but I've also had the other side significantly unweighted. One time I actually dropped the corners, manually, about 2", to make sure that my chocks had some bite on the tires on at least one side. Anyone else notice this?
Lyle
|
|
|
|
Post by midlotexan on Apr 7, 2020 12:51:34 GMT -5
I was in a spot two weeks ago, that when we leveled up, it picked up passenger side tires, maybe 4 inches. I had yet to have this happen. We hooked back up, and moved to another spot. The spot we had been in had a huge crown favoring the drivers side.
Just didn't think that could be safe.
|
|
