battery charging - Page 2 - Escape Trailer Owners Community
Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×

Go Back   Escape Trailer Owners Community > Escape Tech > Problem Solving | Owners helping each other
Click Here to Login
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 06-10-2013, 05:29 PM   #21
Senior Member
 
float5's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Denison, Texas
Trailer: 2015 21'; 2011 19' sold; 4Runner; ph ninezero3 327-27ninefour
Posts: 5,136
The kill switch is under the table on ours, on the bench wall where the electrical is located. We have it down now because we are back in storage.
__________________
Cathy. Floating Cloud
"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.... "
Emerson
float5 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-10-2013, 06:22 PM   #22
Senior Member
 
cpaharley2008's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Central, Pennsylvania
Trailer: Escape#5 2022 E19
Posts: 26,268
is should be down by the converter, silver toggle switch
__________________
Jim
Sometime life gets in the way of living.......
cpaharley2008 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-10-2013, 06:47 PM   #23
Senior Member
 
KarenH's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Bellingham and Glacier, Washington
Trailer: 2013 Escape 15A
Posts: 2,051
Send a message via Skype™ to KarenH
When I optioned the dual six-volt batteries with a disconnect switch, I was told the latter was part of that option. At the time, I inferred that with the single 12-volt, it might not come with the package. But like Jim, I'm often wrong.
__________________
Karen Hulford
2013 Escape 15A, "Egbert"
'93 Ford 150 XLT or
'22 GMC Acadia Denali
KarenH is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-10-2013, 06:49 PM   #24
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Kelowna, British Columbia
Trailer: 2008 Escape 17b
Posts: 1,868
We've got two group 27 batteries. One under the curb side rear dinette inside and one on the bumper. The one under the dinette is in a sealed and vented battery box. The kill switch shuts off that battery only. Reason being that its a PIA to unhook should electrical work need to be preformed and that kill switch makes it easier. We always have the switch on and both interior and exterior battery get solar charged.
J Mac is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-10-2013, 08:00 PM   #25
Senior Member
 
woodie's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Kelowna, British Columbia
Trailer: Escape 15A
Posts: 106
My kill switch is located under the front table under the drivers side bench seat.The switch kills power to things that are always drawing some power,like the smoke detector and the lights on the built in stereo/dvd player.So when in storage or not in use you can shut that off from draining your batteries.
Also my batteries are only one year old and this is the first time they where run right down,and I won't let that happen again.
Still don't know if while the kill switch is off,and you are plugged into house power,is the charger charging the batteries or not.
__________________
2007 Toyota Tundra
2011 Escape 15A
woodie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-10-2013, 08:20 PM   #26
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Kelowna, British Columbia
Trailer: 2008 Escape 17b
Posts: 1,868
Woodie, I may be wrong but, I think you should leave the kill switch on always.
Keep your rig plugged in when shore power is available.
Is there any way you can just manually turn your stereo/dvd player off? The electronics won't draw much power on stand-by and the smoke detector won't draw a lot of power either.
If you are plugged in your batteries will charge.
J Mac is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-11-2013, 06:58 AM   #27
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: n/a, Texas
Trailer: Escape
Posts: 721
On my trailer the batteries do not charge when plugged into outside power if the kill switch is off. The lights, etc work, but the electricity is disconnected from reaching the batteries. The battery status leds on the monitor will show the status, but will not show charging unless the switch is on. (For some reason my switch is on in the down position.)
Also, several comments questioned the strength of the converter/charger to do the charging job. The model installed in my trailer is the 8955, which has maximum output of 55 amps, and includes 3 stages for charging. The specs appear to be consistent with industry standards. Why isn't it sufficient?
Viajante is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-11-2013, 10:55 AM   #28
Senior Member
 
fudge_brownie's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Janesville, WI, Wisconsin
Trailer: Escape 19 (sold) Escape 21 2014
Posts: 1,879
The big complaint on the 8955 is that the unit never goes into the boost mode. This is the highest (fastest) mode of the three stages of charging. Because the unit does not properly sense the state of charge on the batteries it uses the middle mode, and the resulting longer charge time.

Some users of the 8955 have managed to get the unit into boost mode by turning on lights, enough to draw about 20 amps, before starting the generator or using shore power. Not sure how plugging in solar is affected. Would anyone have an idea if it would help on a solar power charge? If you have LED's that would be quite a few lights to get 20 amps. Interesting idea, remember that once the charging starts turn off the lights.

Another help is to replace the wiring with a heavier gauge wire and insure a solid and secure ground to the chassis. I cannot comment on the need for this as I do not know what Escape is using. I though I read somewhere here on the forum that it is 10 gauge between the batteries but I have not confirmed that. Anyone know what gauge wires are in Escapes?
__________________
Paul and Janet Braun
2003 Toyota 4Runner V8 now 2012 Toyota Sequoia V8
Escape 19' 2010 now 2014 Escape 21'
fudge_brownie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-11-2013, 03:54 PM   #29
Senior Member
 
Vermilye's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Oswego, New York
Trailer: 2017 Escape 21C, 2018 Ford F150
Posts: 5,363
My 17B was wired with #10. When I added a 1000 watt inverter I changed the wiring between the batteries (a pair of 6V) & inverter to #0, and #6 between the inverter & converter. Since I have solar, I've never had the converter go into the boost mode, in fact, the fan has never come on except for a brief time when first turned on, probably because the batteries has never been below 85%.

By the way, if you have solar, it is wired so that even with the battery disconnect switch off the solar controller is still connected to the batteries. I've never checked to see if the charge line from the tow vehicle is before or after the battery disconnect...
__________________
Jon Vermilye My Travel Blog
Travel and Photo Web Page ... My Collection of RV Blogs 2018 F150 3.5EB, 2017 21
Vermilye is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-12-2013, 03:28 PM   #30
Senior Member
 
woodie's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Kelowna, British Columbia
Trailer: Escape 15A
Posts: 106
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vermilye View Post
My 17B was wired with #10. When I added a 1000 watt inverter I changed the wiring between the batteries (a pair of 6V) & inverter to #0, and #6 between the inverter & converter. Since I have solar, I've never had the converter go into the boost mode, in fact, the fan has never come on except for a brief time when first turned on, probably because the batteries has never been below 85%.

By the way, if you have solar, it is wired so that even with the battery disconnect switch off the solar controller is still connected to the batteries. I've never checked to see if the charge line from the tow vehicle is before or after the battery disconnect...
The more I read about it,the more it looks to me like solar might be the way to go.Vermilye did you instal your solar set up yourself?And is it roof mounted or portable and what system did you choose?
__________________
2007 Toyota Tundra
2011 Escape 15A
woodie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-12-2013, 05:19 PM   #31
Senior Member
 
Vermilye's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Oswego, New York
Trailer: 2017 Escape 21C, 2018 Ford F150
Posts: 5,363
I installed the inverter, but the solar was installed by Escape. They installed a GoPower 95 watt system. It is roof mounted. So far I've been happy with it.
__________________
Jon Vermilye My Travel Blog
Travel and Photo Web Page ... My Collection of RV Blogs 2018 F150 3.5EB, 2017 21
Vermilye is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off




» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Escape Trailer Industries or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:32 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright 2023 Social Knowledge, LLC All Rights Reserved.