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Old 10-10-2020, 08:21 PM   #41
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Originally Posted by Brian B-P View Post
what makes you think it's only 1/3 charged?
See the battery symbol to beside the 13.18? That's what makes me think it isn't fully charged. Normally that rectangle is all filled in. And the yellow light is displayed rather than the green when it's fully charged.

I wasn't clear at all with that picture. That is a 12volt tester that I have plugged in to one of the 12v outlets.
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Old 10-10-2020, 08:29 PM   #42
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See the battery symbol to beside the 13.18? That's what makes me think it isn't fully charged. Normally that rectangle is all filled in. And the yellow light is displayed rather than the green when it's fully charged.

I wasn't clear at all with that picture. That is a 12volt tester that I have plugged in to one of the 12v outlets.
Those testers are usually intended for automotive charging systems; this one looks like the very common Innova 3721, which is very similar to mine. The stacks of bars on one side and the coloured lights are intended to indicate the state of charge, and are simply triggered by the voltage. In a car or truck the charging system would traditionally run up to about 14.2 volts and stay there as long as the engine is running, so that's what it takes to trigger the green "fully charged" indication, but that wouldn't be appropriate for the RV battery so the solar charger doesn't do that.

If the voltage never gets above 13.18V, then the battery isn't getting fully charged, but it may have gone much higher then the charge controller let it drop to a very slow charge (for which about 13.2 volts is suitable) because the battery was fully charged.
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Old 10-10-2020, 10:26 PM   #43
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I went looking for a manual for Innova battery tester, not sure I got a good match to yours. The circular symbol at top left may mean your tester is in 'alternator' mode, and expecting higher voltages for alternator output. Check your tester manual if you have one to see how to test battery charge.

13.18V is fully charged for a battery at rest. In direct sunlight, your solar charger should provide a voltage close to 13.6 or 14.4, assuming a regular flooded battery. At night 12.8V would indicate a full charge.

If you have a solar controller, check the voltage and battery charge on its display.

Edit - just a guess, but thinking that if the tester detects higher voltages, it assumes you have your vehicle running, and goes to alternator mode. If you want to see green, wait till dark, and turn on your Maxxfan for a minute, then test your voltage.
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Old 10-10-2020, 11:01 PM   #44
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I went looking for a manual for Innova battery tester, not sure I got a good match to yours. The circular symbol at top left may mean your tester is in 'alternator' mode, and expecting higher voltages for alternator output. Check your tester manual if you have one to see how to test battery charge.
...
Edit - just a guess, but thinking that if the tester detects higher voltages, it assumes you have your vehicle running, and goes to alternator mode.
Yes, that's generally how they work. The normal user manual for this tester is relatively useless, with little explanation and no voltage specs.

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If you want to see green, wait till dark, and turn on your Maxxfan for a minute, then test your voltage.
I agree that if it's practical to check at night, that's the easiest way to get an "at rest" check. For that check, everything should be off.
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Old 10-11-2020, 01:02 AM   #45
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actually, a lead acid battery at rest at 70F with no external charging at all, fully charged is about 12.6V

13.2V (13.18V is a close approximation) is a good 'trickle' or 'mainteinance' voltage, this will run all the DC systems from the power converter or solar source, without discharging the battery.

if you hook the typical smart charger, including our WFCO power centers, and the typical PWM solar charger, to a discharged battery, it will run up to around 13.8V durin ghte 'bulk' phase, possibly switch over to an 'absorption' phase of about 14.4V for a few hours, then fall back on a 13.2V-ish maintenance stage and stay there indefinitely.
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Old 10-11-2020, 04:40 AM   #46
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I would obtain another type of battery meter.....https://www.amazon.com/12-volt-batte...+battery+gauge
and compare readings.....
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Old 10-11-2020, 11:40 AM   #47
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I like the idea of clear labels, but do "12V power on" and "12V power off" really describe the functionality? With shore power connected and thus the converter powered, "12 volt" DC power is available to everything regardless of the switch position.

What the switch does is connect or disconnect the battery from the most of the trailer (the converter and everything connected to the DC fuse panel). The disconnection is used to prevent unwanted battery discharge while in storage. So the two positions are:
  • switch on = battery connected = normal use
  • switch off = battery disconnected = storage
Commercially available switches for this purpose are routinely labelled "Use" and "Store".


I don't think it's a silly question, and it's a question that has come up many times in this forum.

One reason that the operation of a "simple" two-position switch causes so much confusion is that there are several possible situations to be considered: storage with the trailer plugged in, storage with the trailer not plugged in, trailer with solar, trailer without solar, towing, camping... If you understand what the switch actually does, it's easier to understand which position it should be in.

Another reason for the confusion is that some items in the trailer are not connected where one might reasonably expect, and not all Escape trailers are the same.
  1. The switch does not have enough current capacity to handle the power used by a large inverter, so the optional inverter is connected directly to the battery, not through the switch... this means that the switch makes no difference to the inverter, even though it turns off power to most things (if the trailer isn't plugged into outside power).
  2. The optional solar system charge controller is normally connected directly to the battery, not through the switch, so that the solar panels can keep the battery charged even with the switch in the off/disconnected/storage position.
  3. The breakaway system to power the electric brakes in an emergency should be connected directly to the battery, so the use/store switch shouldn't matter, but in some models and years the breakaway system may go through the switch.
  4. The optional electric tongue jack may be (depending on model) connected directly to the battery, not through the switch, just because of where it is and where connections are conveniently available. If so, the jack will still work regardless of the switch position.
  5. Some older Escapes (perhaps only 17' and 19' models with a single battery outside) didn't even have the switch.
  6. The switch is usually installed so that on=battery connected=use is up... but sometimes that's the down position.
  7. Various labels - including no label at all - have been placed by the switch by Escape.


I suggest not thinking of it as a "bypass" switch, because it doesn't actually bypass anything; it's not like the plumbing bypass around the water heater, or a bypass road around a city... it just disconnects a wire.
Brian, thanks for your post. I just discovered for myself that on my 2020 5.0, the battery disconnect switch only cuts power to the fuse panel. As you pointed out, it does NOT cut off the solar charge controller from the batteries. I've got 200 amp-hours of lithium-iron-phosphate batteries, and I think they'll do best stored at 70-80% of a full charge. I'm thinking I'll just DC one of the "to battery" leads on the GoPower solar controller, and then run a 750 watt ceramic space heater for 40 minutes or so. Can anyone with a better grasp on proper care and handling of lithium iron phosphates tell me if that sounds like a good plan or a bad one?
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Old 10-11-2020, 12:59 PM   #48
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...
a good plan or a bad one?
The jury is still a long way from reaching a verdict on what is best for RV lithium batteries. Your plan might turn out to be the gold standard.
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Old 10-11-2020, 01:02 PM   #49
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I DID email Battle Born requesting info re their "heat wrap""....but haven't gotten a reply yet. Has anyone else aquired an understanding of how well that works/lasts/costs? (If no one posts sooner, I'll gladly share when I get an answer.)
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Old 10-11-2020, 02:35 PM   #50
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I would obtain another type of battery meter.....https://www.amazon.com/12-volt-batte...+battery+gauge
and compare readings.....
Another cheap meter doesn't seem like a useful comparison to me. Just use a normal voltmeter (borrow one if you don't have one) and compare... the plug-in meter is probably more than close enough (but don't take that last digit seriously).
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Old 10-11-2020, 05:22 PM   #51
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Yes, that's generally how they work. The normal user manual for this tester is relatively useless, with little explanation and no voltage specs.


I agree that if it's practical to check at night, that's the easiest way to get an "at rest" check. For that check, everything should be off.
Thank you for the help. I thought that since the light was yellow and the battery indicator showed only partially full, we had a problem. But maybe I'm wrong.
We have a voltmeter and will check the power at the battery directly, and do so at night so the solar panels are out of the equation. Will take us a week or 2 to get back there but I will report back.
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Old 10-11-2020, 05:44 PM   #52
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This is my voltmeter with the trailer plugged in to shore power. The green LED is lit and reading is 13.62.
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Old 10-11-2020, 05:53 PM   #53
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Back of the meter indicates 12.6 is 100% ( reading after taking battery off charge and allowing it to rest for an hour or so ).
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Old 10-12-2020, 09:12 AM   #54
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As Glenn points out, sometimes the answer is right in your hands............
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Old 10-12-2020, 07:26 PM   #55
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This is my voltmeter with the trailer plugged in to shore power. The green LED is lit and reading is 13.62.
So the threshold between yellow and green in charging mode is somewhere between 13.18 and 14.62.

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Back of the meter indicates 12.6 is 100% ( reading after taking battery off charge and allowing it to rest for an hour or so ).
Excellent find on the back of the meter. Those values are for the not-charging mode; it appears that 12.6 V would be assumed by the meter to be not charging and high, and so displayed with a green light, while 13.18 V is high enough to be assumed by the meter to be charging, but not high enough to be done so displayed with a yellow light.

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Originally Posted by cpaharley2008 View Post
As Glenn points out, sometimes the answer is right in your hands............

... or in this case, part of the answer (since the scale on the back only describes the not-charging mode, and doesn't say what indicator colour corresponds to what state or charge or voltage.
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Old 10-12-2020, 07:55 PM   #56
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I found instruction manual for Innova battery tester and downloaded it. Don't bother. Contains no useful information.
Found this manual for another brand that probably is identical. https://img.hsni.com/images/content/..._UserGuide.pdf
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Old 10-13-2020, 07:58 AM   #57
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Originally Posted by Brian B-P View Post
So the threshold between yellow and green in charging mode is somewhere between 13.18 and 14.62.


Excellent find on the back of the meter. Those values are for the not-charging mode; it appears that 12.6 V would be assumed by the meter to be not charging and high, and so displayed with a green light, while 13.18 V is high enough to be assumed by the meter to be charging, but not high enough to be done so displayed with a yellow light.



... or in this case, part of the answer (since the scale on the back only describes the not-charging mode, and doesn't say what indicator colour corresponds to what state or charge or voltage.
I thought my new Victron had a few complicated passages in the manual and then I read this.
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Old 10-13-2020, 12:39 PM   #58
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I thought my new Victron had a few complicated passages in the manual and then I read this.

That's the problem with making one set of lights perform two functions - it's inherently complicated. I would present the behaviour in a nice clear table, but without the voltage levels documented (for the specific tester) it would have a lot of "unknown" entries in it.
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