20 replies to this topic

[Oakleyrossi]

Looked around the forum but couldn't quite find any insight. I have my camper off in the garage for the winter (first winter with new 2017 hawk). I recently looked at my Victron Control app and noticed a low voltage warning.  I plugged in the camper to shore power and 3 days later I still am getting the same warning. State of charge says 100% and voltage readout is at 11.71. Nothing has changed in the 3 days of being plugged in. Voltage won't go up and warning still on. Wondering if if I should lower my low voltage warning, currently at 11.9, which was what the factory setting was. 2 AGM 79AH batteries. Also curious with camper off and battery temps at around 39 degrees should I be expecting different results that I would see in the summer? Any insight on best way to maintain proper charge during the winter? I live in Tahoe so temps in the garage will be fairly low most of the winter. 

 

Thanks

[Bwht4x4]

I leave my 2013 Hawk (still on the original batteries) plugged into shore power any time it's not on my truck.  Haven't had a problem yet.  In Aug I spent 30 days on a hunting trip and the original batteries still have what seems to be full capacity even being 5 years old.

[longhorn1]

How long has the camper been off the truck and what was the voltage reading before you plugged it in? Did you have the silver power pull off? You shouldn't go below 12.2+/-. We store our camper outside at a storage place covered. Power is off and every 4-6 weeks I plug in my portable panel. At 5 weeks it was 12.7. My concern is what you let it go down to and for how long. Batteries might have been damaged if they were discharged too low.

[longhorn1]

I got 5 years out of our batteries and on a trip we had low voltage. Stopped at Rocky Mountain FWC and they checked things and replaced the batteries. Still had issues when we camped without shore power. Stopped back in RMFWC and they checked the whole electrical and found the solar charger was bad. Replaced it and all is well. Don't know whether it was the solar charge all along, but with 5 year old batteries the clock was ticking.

[Old Crow]

Sounds like the Iota DLS-30 charger isn't charging.  Some possibilities come to mind...

 

- Master switch (aka Kill Switch) -- must be set at the Out position for the DLS30 to charge the batteries via shorepower (see p 57 of the FWC 2017 owner's manual)

 

- AC circuit breaker for circuit to the DLS30 is flipped off (thus no power to the DLS30)

 

- Master AC circuit breaker is flipped off (thus no power to the DLS30 circuit breaker (or to the DLS30)

 

- Shorepower not actually active (not plugged in properly, GFCI blown, bad plug/receptacle, etc) (Check for power at the AC receptacles in the camper)

 

- Reverse polarity fuse blown on DLS30-- (particularly if you had done anything with battery connections since the last time it worked.  All it takes is a momentary polarity reversal).  Note- when the DLS30 is running you should have a minimum of 13.6v at the batteries.  If you have 13.6+ (and your solar isn't charging), you need not look at the fuse (which is a pain to do).

 

- Inline fuse on DLS30 positive lead to battery is bad.

 

- DLS30 broken. (see DLS series features and troubleshooting video on the Iota web site for info on how to test the DLS30.)

 

The 100-per-cent State of Charge number can't be correct if you're seeing a voltage reading of 11.7-ish volts. If you have a multi-meter, check voltage at the battery-- just to confirm the Victron is giving you a good voltage reading.

 

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Edited by Old Crow, 11 December 2018 - 11:00 PM.

[pvstoy]

Looks like everything is well covered above...  First thing is to pull the silver battery cutoff knob.

[ckent323]

Oakleyrossi,

 

Are the SOC and voltage you are referring to coming from a Victron Solar charger controller? 

Do you have a Victron battery monitor as well?

 

If you are still experiencing problems it would be helpful if you could use a camera or another cell phone and take a picture of the Victron Display(s) as well as the settings you have made.  If you post those it will help folks who are trying to help you diagnose this.

 

Better yet, if you can print out your battery charge log for the Victron that will also be helpful.

 

It is odd that the Victron would report the battery at 100% when it is only at 11.71 V since AGM SOC at 11.7 V is about 20% (maybe less).

 

As Old Crow wrote: it is appropriate to put a multi-meter on the battery to confirm tor refute the voltage that the Victron is reporting and then check to see if the camper master power switch is pulled out.

 

Regards,

Craig

Edited by ckent323, 12 December 2018 - 02:42 AM.

[Wandering Sagebrush]

You may be below the voltage threshold for your charger to kick in. I had the same thing happen. The camper was was going back on the truck, so I just drove around. It worked fine on shorepower after that. If you can’t put it on the truck use an external battery charger for a bit, then plug it in to see if your IOTA kicks in. Hopefully it will. You should make a habit of connection shorepower on a regular schedule.

Edit: do check the items that OC mentioned prior to my suggestion

[Oakleyrossi]

Thanks everyone.  I thought I had the kill switch out but I didn't. Did that a couple hours ago. Don't really have the ability to put it back on the truck right now. I will do a multi-meter test and see what that comes up with and also get a few screen shots of what the battery monitor is stating. It hasn't been off the truck that long and when we took it off I know I was comfortably in the 12's although can't remember what that was. I will also check some of the fuses to see what may be happening there. 

[Oakleyrossi]

But a multi-meter on the batteries each reading 11.8. Pulled the kill switch and all of the sudden batteries reading 13.9 and getting the same readout from my app. Now my question is....am I good?and should I just leave plugged in ?