Micro Minnie users manual

[DogHair-WO]

Can someone post a link to a detailed Micro Minnie user manual. The manual that came with our trailer is so general its pretty much useless. Ours is a 2021, but I'm sure a few years back would probably work for us since systems probably haven't changed that much.

 

[backtrack2015]

I don’t think there is a better manual. Anything specific that you’re looking for, or just trying to learn as much as possible?

 

[Eagle5]

Hi DogHair,
Yes, I believe Backtrack15 is correct, but just to be sure, you can find Winnebago Manuals here:
https://www.winnebago.com/owners/owner-tools/manuals-and-diagrams
For the 2020 Operator's Manuals:
https://www.winnebago.com/owners/owner-tools/manuals-and-diagrams/operator-manuals/2020
there is a Towables link:
https://www.winnebago.com/Admin/Pub...peratorManuals/Operator2020/20TOWABLES_US.pdf
The Copyright for that is 2014. Is this the same manual you have now?
Eagle5

 

[DogHair-WO]

just knowledge on hand if and when I need it to deal with a problem in the middle of nowhere.

 

[DogHair-WO]

Inside a hatch door located near the battery is a small electronic indicator that shows readings about battery usage. Pressing a button shows the amps, volt, etc. I have no idea what those numbers mean. All I am concerned with is how much life my battery has (two 6 volt batteries in series). Inside entrance is a battery indicator which shows 4 levels of charge indicated by lights, but nothing that tells me how much I've used. Its very general. I assume the electronic indicator inside the hatch would tell me that, but I don't understand what I'm looking at.. I do have a simple battery tester, but I would have to remove the battery covers to use it on the battery posts, which would be a major pain.

 

[Eagle5]

Hi again DogHair,
Those entry-area four lights show the approximate 25% levels, so when you drop-down to the last light, I would run your Generator. You can also check your battery voltage at the cigarette lighter power points inside your trailer. For the typical lead-acid batteries, these resting voltages indicate the approximate capacity remaining:

• 12.700 volts = 100%
• 12.525 volts = 75%
• 12.350 volts = 50%
• 12.175 volts = 25%
• 12.000 volts = 0%

Resting voltage would be measured with all parasitic draws turned-off.
Thanks; Eagle5

 

[DogHair-WO]

Hi again DogHair,
Those entry-area four lights show the approximate 25% levels, so when you drop-down to the last light, I would run your Generator. You can also check your battery voltage at the cigarette lighter power points inside your trailer. For the typical lead-acid batteries, these resting voltages indicate the approximate capacity remaining:

• 12.700 volts = 100%
• 12.525 volts = 75%
• 12.350 volts = 50%
• 12.175 volts = 25%
• 12.000 volts = 0%

Resting voltage would be measured with all parasitic draws turned-off.
Thanks; Eagle5

cigarette lighter power points in the trailer? Where is that located? Do you know about the power readings inside the hatch (if you have a newer Minnie)? Mine is a 2021.

 

[backtrack2015]

I’m going to speculate that the unit inside the front storage compartment is the controller for the solar system. You might be able to get the manual for that online if it is not in the “bag of papers” provided with the trailer. Those controller will often show multiple voltages (battery voltage, panel voltage, and then boost/float voltages) as well as the charging amps and cumulative amp-hours. I can’t blame you for feeling a little unsure about what you’re seeing there.

 

[DogHair-WO]

Any suggestions on how to read the battery other than the 4 lights? My batteries are not uncovered where I can easily use a testor on the positive and negative.

 

[Eagle5]

You can also read the voltage at your fuse panel.

 

[backtrack2015]

Is the unit in the storage compartment a GP-PWM-30-BT? You should be able to get the manual online. This would likely be the easiest place to read the battery voltage once you know what you're looking at on the display.

 

[creativepart]

Any suggestions on how to read the battery other than the 4 lights? My batteries are not uncovered where I can easily use a testor on the positive and negative.

DogHair... the very best way to know the battery's State of Charge (SOC) is with a shunt-based Battery Monitor. You'll see this discussed and sold as a BMK or Battery Monitor Kit.

It's a device that tracks all power going into and out of your battery and it then displays your SOC in percentages. So, when your batteries are charged to 83% you know that exactly.

You can "sort of" tell that info from the voltage of the battery - but here's the thing, for the reading to be accurate the battery has to be totally at rest for an hour or two before you take the reading. At rest means absolutely no charging happening in the past couple of hours and no power going out of the battery near the time of the reading either. Obviously, that's super difficult to manage.

Many of us use the Victron 712 BMK which is great but costs $200. Here's a video about BMKs and some less expensive options if you are so inclined. He talks about 3 options... I wouldn't consider the first two and I'd look harder at option #3. But it gives a good idea of why you need one and how it works.

PS. The whole switch install part of the video only applies to the Option #1 he talks about. If you go with Option #3 you can simply ignore all of that.

 

[creativepart]

One other thing DogHair, as a new RVer you may not be all that battery savvy when using a battery for your RV's House Power.

First, your TT probably came with one battery. It's most likely a Flooded Lead Acid battery meaning you have to add distilled water to it every month or so. It should be a Deep Cycle Battery but the dealer installs your battery and they have been known to scrimp on the battery quality to save themselves money. So, it's probably a Dual Purpose Marine/RV battery. These are decent, but they are really for small boats that need a small battery to start the outboard motor and or power a trolling motor.

They are not true Deep Cycle batteries. A true Deep Cycle battery isn't for starting an engine of any kind. They have thicker plates inside that hold more power and and store and release higher amperages over a longer period of time. A starting battery may provide 440 amps for 1 second while a deep cycle will provide 80 amps for 20 minutes.

The physical size of your battery determines how many amps you have for power storage. A Group 24 battery is smaller and may have only 65 amp hours of storage. A larger Group 27 or even larger Group 31 will have 80 amp hours and 100 amp hours respectively.

Your dealer most likely installed only one battery in your TT. The simplist thing you could do to increase your TT's usability is to add another battery. You would wire them in Parallel - that's wiring a positive terminal on one battery to the positive terminal on the other battery... then do the same with the negative.

When two 12v batteries are wired in Parallel the amp hours are added together. So, If you have a 65 amp hour battery and you add a second you would not have a 130 amp hours of battery storage.

NOTE: There is also an option of using two large 6v batteries and wiring them differently (in Series) to create one 12v battery. Lets not go into that right now.

The final thing a new RV owner needs to know about batteries is that they are rated for X number of discharge/charge cycles. Every time you discharge your battery (or battery bank if you have multiple batteries) more than 50% you will reduce the life of the battery. Let's say your current battery has 65 amp hours and it has 300 cycles at up to 50% discharge - that means you can only use about 32 amp hours out of your battery before you start to shorten it's usable lifespan.

This is why a second battery is such a help. As we know two 65 amp hour batteries in a bank have 130 amp hours of power. So, using only 50% means you will now have 65 amps hours of power available for your use.

Now, you can take your battery(s) down to 20% if you want to. But if you do you must charge them back up right away and not leave them that discharged or the battery will be ruined. And you must be aware that taking them that low will just mean you will drastically shorten their usable life.

I know when I started RVing with a travel trailer I didn't know any of this stuff and if someone had helped me with this info I wouldn't have had to buy a couple new batteries every single year (my Travel Trailer came with two batteries).

This also illustrates why a BMK as described above is so helpful. Because with one you can know for certain how low you are discharging your battery(s).