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Old 07-08-2009, 07:21 PM   #1
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Newbie Journey Owner Elec Question

Hi all,
Am preparing for my "maiden voyage" tomorrow so thought I would go to my storage place and plug in to shore power so I could turn on my fridge, charge batteries etc. Only regular household power outlet available so I plugged in using the RV power cord (reduced obviously from 50 amp plug down to 110v outlet size) and climbed inside and checked that I had power to the fridge etc. All seemed fine so I checked the polarity at a couple of receptacles to make sure all was well. Everything looked fine, turned on the fridge, it started to work fine, then I noticed the monitoring panel: The battery charge level light, the amps 5,10,15 etc lights and the Amp Service lights were flashing in sequence from left to right!!!. They never settled down. All else seemed ok. Is this normal?, if not, what might cause it?.
As all seemed well except the flashing panel lights, I left it plugged in.
Any help advice would be appreciated.
Thanks
John
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Old 07-08-2009, 08:18 PM   #2
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John, using 110VAC which is probably 15 or 20 amps is OK to charge the refrigerator. If you have a Powere line panel remember to set it the 20 amp maximum.

To understand your question it would be helpful to know your Journey's year. I have a 2004 Journey. When you say "Monitoring panel" I am thinking your are talking about the One Panel? But I do not recognize the information you questioned. Were you reading this from the Powerline panel or the Dimensions panel (assuming you have a Dimensions charger) both mounted on the one panel?
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Old 07-08-2009, 10:23 PM   #3
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Steve,
Thanks for the reply. The Journey is a 2001 DL .The panel I referenced is below the One Panel and is I believe a Heart something and maybe tied in with the Inverter?. I'm sure its extra to stock standard One Panel. It has four sections left to right. On the left is the 3 battery charge stages with symbols of three batteries 1. discharged 2. half charged and 3. fully charged, next are two graduated Amp indicator scales with ascending levels 5, 10, 15 etc and finally a graduated scale showing the Service Amps, again graduated ascending bottom to top. The battery indicator light is a single light and showed a half charged battery when I plugged in then moved to full after a very short time, this light was flashing. The Amp indicator light flashes between about four graduated levels and the Service Amp level light flashes between levels also, all lights were flashing across the panel left to right in sequence.
I did not set the Powerline Panel to max 20Amps, I guess I assumed the previous owner set it as it was plugged in to his home when we bought the coach.
Hope this helps explain better
John
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Old 07-09-2009, 06:40 AM   #4
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John, I am not familiar with your setup. Hopefully someone else will be able to assist you. I am guessing there is no manual? Have you tried searching on the net for your panel, name specific? For instance I found a Xantrex Heart Link 1000 as my first clue. Did some more searching and it appears that Xantrex purchased Heart in 2000 and I am assuming may still have Heart's product name in play. Anyway I went to Xantrex website and found a panel that more or less looks like what you described. http://www.xantrex.com/web/id/88/p/1/pt/7/product.asp

If this is correct then it is a battery status remote control. What I found does not exactly match your description but it should get you close enough to give them a call to see if they still have a manual for your unit. You will probably need to identify your inverter/charger model to assist them.

This is an important tool that can assist you in understanding the status of your batteries. Most of us go through a learning curve regarding the various gizmos. And I discovered that learning how to manage my batteries doesn't take much work once I understood the principals. Best of all it helps me more enjoy my camping experience knowing that my batteries are performing as designed.

Setting the Powerline panel to 20 amps will be necessary each time you plug in (at least that's how it works on mine) to a 20 amp circuit. This helps protect your electrical systems. On mine the 30 amp and 50 amp self identify and no action on my part is required.

Good luck with this and hopefully someone with some direct experience with your panel will be able to assist you.
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Old 07-09-2009, 08:44 AM   #5
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Thanks Steve,
I did search for a manual among the huge amount of documentation that came with the coach but didn't find one. I also searched the internet and came up with the same results you did but none of the panels I found look like mine. My wife seems to recall the seller mentioning a panel that has to be "reset" occasionally, in fact she has a note to that effect, hopefully that's all it is. I will post what I find with better clarity when I sort this thing out. Thanks again for your help.
John
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Old 07-09-2009, 08:50 AM   #6
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Steve,
I just clicked on your link...that IS the panel except mine has the Heart name on it. I will contact them for a manual.
Thank you again.
John






"When all else fails...Read the instructions"...seems apt here!!!
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Old 07-09-2009, 11:08 AM   #7
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The batteries have gone dead at some point,to reset the conrol panel remove the 4 screws holding it to the wall and unplug the ribbon cable from the back of it let it set for 30 to 60 seconds and plug back in the lights should stop flashing the amps will read high,voltage low as it charges batteries back up amps will drop and voltage will rise
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Old 07-09-2009, 01:23 PM   #8
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another hint ...

Golfinscorp ...

Rainwater has it correct ... you need to reset the panel as he suggests ...

You should check the dates on your house batteries ... the year and month should be marked out (perhaps dug out) from a decal on the top of the battery ... I suspect that your batteries may be coming to the end of their life ... One of the characteristics of dieing batteries is they lose their charge in a very short time after being fully charged when under light or moderate loads. Your house batteries are about 50% charged when they read 12 volts. This table was posted by Dave from MN

Voltage State of Charge
12.6+ ==> 100%
12.50 ==> 90%
12.42 ==> 80%
12.32 ==> 70%
12.20 ==> 60%
12.06 ==> 50%
11.90 ==> 40%
11.75 ==> 30%
11.58 ==> 20%
11.31 ==> 10%
10.50 ==> 00%

Hint: Consider carrying a set of jumper cables with you ... you can connect the positive post of the engine battery bank to the postive post of the house battery bank when the meter indicates one of the battery banks is getting low ... this will help you get through difficult situations.

Another hint: the engine alternator charges batteries at a much high rate than your genset.
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Old 07-09-2009, 01:46 PM   #9
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One suggestion I often make which truly applies to this, but this is a "General Statement"

I recommend that for every appliance, (Not just in the RV) you visit the maker's support page and DOWNLOAD the owner's manual to a folder on your hard drive,, Mine is "My Documents/Manuals/RV for the Motor home, (I have a few other sub folders)

For the Heart electronics products, the maker is XANTREX (just add www. and .com) but also do your fridge, air conditioners, water heater, even the jacks and slide outs.. I have the manual for my battery control center, dash radios, televisions, I mean EVERYTHING on hard drive.. While I may or may not be able to find the paper manual.. The hard drive is under my right hand.
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Old 07-10-2009, 05:30 PM   #10
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Thank you all for the info and suggestions. I did remove the four screws and unplugged and replugged the telephone wire from the remote panel and this corrected the flashing light problem.I will definitely research all of the manuals and download them as suggested. I believe that the house batteries need to be replaced soon and I am weighing the pro's and con's of replacing with three 12V or four 6V as its possible we will do some dry camping and would enjoy the benefit of more A/H. All other systems worked great during our shakedown run except for a few minor items like a drawer slider that is stiff, the bedroom ceiling exhaust fan vent switch must be stuck closed as the fan will not run when the vent is opened.
Thank you again, I will continue to read the forums on irv2, a great place for a beginner to seek experienced advice.
John
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Old 07-20-2009, 12:03 AM   #11
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I've had this happen two times on my 03 Journey DL. The first time I was able to reset by disconnecting the panel. The second time I found the cause to be that the "phone" cable was being pulled too tight at the charger. Freed up the cable a little bit so the modular plug makes proper contact.
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Old 07-20-2009, 06:08 AM   #12
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There is an alternative to removing the panel. If it's easier, as it is in my Journey, unplug the ribbon cable at the inverter. I just open the door and unplug for a few moments, the reconnect and close the door.

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