JohnC3

Thanks Tom, 

So with depleted 12V House Batteries (or a broken inverter control board) You would be unable to charge 12V Batteries, So with a bad inverter, No power to the 2 circuits on the inverter and in time no power to the 12V house power system. But if you were on Shore power, would this lack of 12V House power prevent the EMS from functioning? (My instincts think it could, as the EMS relay control board has 12V input to it.)

Useful info, I should have thought of the 12 and 120 volt system control being intermingled in the EMD control board. 

Thanks, Its always useful to learn a little more about our snowflakes!

I may be mistaken as I don't know your rigs electrical setup, but my old Magnum 2012 ran off a breaker in the circuit box. If you have NO power, the Magnum should only impact a few receptacles and the microwave. 

Even if the Magnum was somehow impacting the system, I would THINK you could isolate it by turning the inverter breaker off and that should allow you to have shore or generator power to everything except the microwave and a few outlets.

Tom's the expert, and I may have missed it, but at a quick glance, it's possible your control board isn't bad. The EMS will act dead if not all your ema enabled breakers arnt supplying power. That AC breaker could be causing the symptoms.

Just a thought.

John

Check that you have both legs coming in. Similar happened to me and it was my its. One relay (leg) was melted, so the ems thought it was 30a.

Could be pedestal, power cord( usually a connector), power cord reel or ITS. Could also be loose connections in main panel.

Hope it helps.

InAmazon sells the larger RV type blades

I just replaced the florescent bulbs with LED 12v replacements. It meant I needed to take each fixture down and rewire it so it didn't use a ballast. It was pretty simple and has been working well for 2 years now. To replace all my interior lights (fluorescent and incandescent) was about 200. I have only had 1 led bulb go bad in 2 years.

I found the LED replacements were often available in warm white, instead of the cold white of the fluorescents.  I like the warmer light better.

You did a nice replacement job, your fixtures look very professional.

John

I've got the Victron 3000 2x120 Powershare inverter and rewired the inverter between the automatic transfer switch and the 120 breaker panel. This required the 2 circuits on the inverter to be moved to the breaker panel. I added a junction box about where the old inverter was and joined the 10Awg with one and ran a new 12Awg from the junction to the main panel for the other. I replaced the inverter breaker in the panel with a dual 20A breaker for these 2 circuits.

I have had the setup for several months and can run 2 ACs on 30A Shore power, but it takes 150A plus out of the batteries, so you need a big LiFeO4 battery bank (I have 1120AH). I also have soft starts in both ACs. 

One issue I solved was that the EMS will 'manage' your power and shut down  when you are on 30A shore power. To resolve this I used a 12v feed to trick the EMS to thinking I am on generator (the 12v is switched and goes into a 2 to 1 diode (from a trailer brakes  install kit) to prevent back feeding the generator (on advice of an Intellitec engineer. So if the generator is on the EMS gets 12v to pin2 on the 12v control plug, or, if I switch my switch, the EMS switches to generator mode and allow 

me to have upto 65A instead of 30A.

One note about wiring the Victron in this position... The Victron 3000/12 2x120 will shut off input from L2 when L1 and L2 are in phase. This comes into play when you engage the generator. The impact is you get all the power from one generator winding and nothing from the 2nd winding (L2). This has to do with the way the Victron works on single phase power input. I have seen a YouTube video where they resolved this by making L1 and L2 input from the generator both go to L1.  THIS IS NOT ADVICE TO DO THAT, JUST RECOGNITION OF THE POSSIBILITY. CONSULT A ELECTRICIAN! I am NOT an electrician and have not made this change.  I have run the generator with the Victron and it does seem to get all its power from L1, but I haven't used over 58A (33A from L1 on generator + 25A power share).

I am not sure if you will have issues without soft starts. I just didn't want to risk the inverter, my ACs, etc. 

I have run 2 ACs on 30A shore power. What happens is the Inverter still needs to power share (only about 45A DC) to cover the normal 120v load of the coach (about 4A 120v). I can run both ACs and the Microwave/convection over (but the Victron pulls about 180A out of the batteries). When one of the ACs cycles off, the inverter will start charging the batteries with as much power as is available. (Note you have to set your max shore power input to enable power share I have mine set to 30). It does not seem to impact the system when you are on 50A shore power, only when you are on 30A or less shore power. I guess the system recognizes the split phase input.

Hope this is helpful.

John

We have a 2008 Monaco Camelot and replaced the hose with one that was actually longer than the original. The previous owner had gotten it and I believe it was the correct size. it was the same size hose and on my coach had to be accessed though a maintenance hatch (think 12x20) in the wall bordering the water bay halfway between the water bay on the propane bottle. The hardest part was the small size of the opening. My coach is 36' so my wife had to do most of the removal. The process was about what you would expect (unreal the hose, take off a panel on the reel to access the water hose connection, Loosen the hose clamp holding the hose onto a barb fitting, cut the hose off,  push the new hose on (easier if you heat the end with a hair dryer or heat gun to make the cut end more flexible, tighten the hose clamp, put the panel back on and wind up the hose. Our full length hose sometimes drags in the last 2 feet, but it is 40' now and works great (I think the old hose was cut down because over the years it got bulges in the hose from constant exposure to heat/sunlight that needed to be gotten rid of).

Some (Maybe many) rigs, especially larger ones, will have easier access to the reel. But in our case access logistics (and mt 250lb girth) were the "Biggest Obstacles".

Took us about an hour to complete the replacement. Good Luck.

One other thought, ony rig I need 65 psi to work the brakes (make them release) as I recall. If you can maintain pressure above the amount needed to use your brakes and the compressor will pump air into the system, then you should probably be ok to proceed, but I would get it looked at asap. If your pressure drops too low, your brakes will engage (and without the air pressure to release them)and you will need to be towed.

Just a couple of thoughts.

Compressor usually has a cut in pressure. 111 may be too high for the compressor to engage. Try hitting your brakes ancouple of times. Mine cuts in around 75-80 and cuts out around 115. At what pressure do you normally hear the air dryer chuff? Mine will get to about 120 rear and 115 front then chuff and drop to 115/110 as the air dryer is regenerating. Other than not hearing the chuff, your account could be normal operation. There is no air control board, it is all controlled by air pressure, springs and diaphragms (on my rig at least). I would pump the brakes to lower the air pressure to see if it will charge up above 111.

If you should be at higher pressure, my money is on the compressor governor (sets the purge/chuff pressure)or the air dryer preforms the purge.

I have the same type of AC as shown in the video. I assume you do also. 

1) Do you get high flow when you open the bypass vent?

If so I would suspect you either have:

    a) A leak on the other side of your cover (the supply side). The video show a person repairing the suction side of the AC, If the supply side is leaking into the roof, then that could cause problems.

   b) Clogged, disconnected or collapsed or obstructed  racetrack.  There are 2 openings in the walls of the supply side. These should be attached to the racetrack that leads to all your vents. If you don't get air out the vents, take the beige cover completely off and look at the supply side. Are there any areas that air might leak out of besides the 2 intentional openings in the sidewall (on on each side). can you see a type of tubing system attached to the openings (you would have to get to look in the openings with a flashlight.). of you have something like a borescope,  that might make it easier. Also, you can remove the vents and check to see if you can see any place the air might leak out of the racetrack (Air system ducting). Its too long and large to be one piece so I am thinking at a joint. It might also have collapsed.

Whatever you find that might impede airflow or allow air to escape the raceway in this inspection, You need to figure out a way to fix it.

BTW, You can use Duct tape, but HVAC (Shiny metallic tape with a paper backing) tape lasts longer and is designed for this job.

Hope this helps.

I use brake line. It's rigid enough, can be cut to length and when you flatten an end you can drill a nice hole to secure it.

John

Given that the original owner essentially added the 3rd AC as an independent circuit, wouldn't the block heater outlet be disconnected? You would only need to upgrade the GFCI to 20A if he wired the AC to the outlet at the outlet. He didn't do that as It would not have required a change in the main panel (and it would have been a bear to route the 120 line to the AC. I would check the panel for a disconnected 14 awg line. I suspect it is for the block heater and the line attached to the 15A breaker marked 3AC is going to be 12Awg. As it would have been removed from the "switch in the kitchen". But all of this can be verified.

1 does the block heater outlet have power.

2 what size wire is going from the breaker to ac3.

Not sure, but you may be old enough that you can't use the wire jacket color to tell the gauge.

Hope this helps

Just a suggested diagnostic. While on batteries, turn off the inverter and see if the furnace will run normally. Since this is easy and free, you can verify the issue is voltage related if it runs w/o inverter pulling on the batteries. You should be able to turn off your inverter either at the inverter or the main fuse box (or sub panel if you have it).

Poor connections (i.e. dirty spade connectors) can cause voltage drop that seems reasonable. 

My suspicions are (in no order)

1) Inverter is drawing battery voltage down to a level where your flame sensor (or your control board) are not working well.

2) Dirty contacts on flame sensor circuit as mentions a few posts above. Could also be the blower that moves the heat, if the fan is not running normally, it might cause a flame detect failure.  Wondering if this fan has a start capacitor like AC fans... just a thought.

3) Batteries are getting too weak. (check that they are charging well and are fully charged (don't want to replace batteries if its the chargers fault)

FYI, I am not a pro, just skilled at going from symptoms to possible causes.

Good luck,

John 

I haven't found any emblems, we used silver sharpie paint pens to bring ours back to looking good.

vito.a, jacwjames, 

I looked at the Blue Sea product and it looks like a good replacement for the system. I didn't see anything that said it was setup to work with Flooded lead acid chassis and LiFePO4 house batteries. I think this is a replacement/upgrade if you are staying with Lead Acid/AGM on both house and chassis battery banks.

It does look like an upgrade though!

Thanks for the info.

I am in the process of upgrading my ME2012 Magnum inverter with a Victron 3000 watt Powershare inverter (the 12v 3000w 2x120 version).

One of the issues I have is how the BIRD relay will join the house and Chassis batteries when I replace the House batteries with LifePO4 batteries because of the higher resting voltage of these batteries.

I have the LI-BIM225 from battleborn, but want to make sure I modify the system correctly. 

1) I want to keep the ability to get a Boost from the House Batteries (Via the Switch on the dash)

2) I want the functionality for the alternator to charge both the house and chassis batteries.

3) I want to be able to charge the Chassis Batteries from the Inverter as needed.

Basically I want the new setup to work as if it is  just composed with old Flooded Lead acid batteries,  but with LiFeO4 house batteries.

I have a 2008 Camelot 36PDQ.

I know I need to pull the Big Boy Relay the Li BIM225 will take its place.

I am unsure of what to do with with the several Relays connected to the BIRD Module. (My understanding is that the LI BIM225 has the functionality of the BIRD Module (and the relays???) but I am not fully clear on this.

and am not sure about the role the disconnect relay plays in the system  (from reading the manual, I assume this stays, I believe it is linked to the House or Chassis cutoff switch in the Main Distribution box... am I correct?)

Any enlightenment you can provide on the proper replacement method would be appreciated.

John Crowder

On Our Rig, I have made Window Insulators out of 48" Reflectix from Lowes. I put it on the from window and drivers windows and lower all the Opaque window shades. That seems to help a good bit. I just don't stay where it is too cold for too long (<20). Other things we have done are: Get an electric blanket for the master bed. We can sleep with the air cooler and be comfy. Below 44 we run the Auqahot on Diesel but it seems to worry that I am paying for my heat when I am at a campground, so if I it is cold enough to run the Diesel boiler, then I also have a couple of 1500W heaters. I put one between the 2 captains chairs on low and (if its really cold) one in the bedroom. Both running on low will heat the space up pretty good and I find I can run them on the same circuit if I keep them both on low (750W).

My suspicion is that the algae is digesting the breaking down gel coat of your white top.

You can use the Dicor stuff, but that may not last as long as you like.

From anecdotal evidence, I believe that painting the white portion of the roof with Rustolium (sp?) Marine top coat will help for 5-7 years. It will also prevent the streaks down the sides of your rig (what I did it to prevent).  It takes 2 coats at about a quart a coat. Look it up over in IRV2 forums. They have looked into a number of products.

The paint costs about 18/qt and can be applied with a roller and brush. It takes about 3 days as it needs to dry well between coats.

Hope this helps.

Not to Hijack the topic, but just for Information. E-Bikes are not covered under (Most if not all) RV policies like normal bikes. I needed to get a motorcycle policy to cover them for liability only (in case I  knocked someone down and they died, etc.) Cost was about $99/yr for both e-bikes.

We replaced all the bags on our 2008  Camelot, a few were leaking. We found the original continital bags and found a cross reference with 5 manufactures on it. 4 we're out of stock. We went with automan from Stengel brothers in pa. We took them to 75 service in FL and they installed them for 100/ea in a few hours. We are full time and lack the tools to lift a 36k motorhome. We have been using then for a year and are happy with the purchase.

We did replace our headlight bulbs and fog light bulbs with led.

Monaco uses car headlights and fog lights. Find the headlight they used on your rig (it will be a stock number on the housing). Then Google it to find the year range and model.

The best replacements are dot approved. That means they shouldn't blind oncoming traffic.

You can find replacements on Amazon or eBay.

Good luck and hope this helps.

We found our LEDs to be 2x as bright as the good halogens.

John

The Air Dryers are Easy to replace. You can get one from either a place like anythingtruck.com (a wabco OEM replacement for about 350) or go on amazon and get a chinese clone for about 120 (The clone performed as well as the OEM replacement, but I believe I was getting teflon in the diaphragm. I have been having an ongoing issue with different parts leaking on the air dryer and have tried 2 of both (One original and one replacement under warranty).

Takes about 1 hr to pull and replace and you need to drain your air before you start. For me, it was only the hoses and 3 bolts. Longest time was cleaning up the threads. On my last replacement a shop tech suggested I don't use teflon tape, but a liquid thread sealant (Formula 32??? kind of like red thread lock, but specific for this type of seal.) for hydraulic and pneumatic connections. 

Had a cummings tech look it over in Coburg and he told us that if you have oil splatter under your purge valve, its a sign of compressor blowby (ie new compressor or rebuild) ours didn't need that. Sorry to overload you, but your replacement regen valve kit is around 130 and looks like you might have a structural issue. I am not an expert but would suggest replace the complete unit. Don't over tighten (especially if you use Teflon tape it can stress your casting.

Hope this helps,

John

We haven't used them, but did get a quote around January of this year.. They preferred to do full paint. That and their being further west were the reason we didn't use them. We only needed clear coat repair around the top radius and touchups for a total of $2500. 

I believe if memory holds that at the time they quoted us 12-15K for full pain all inclusive. They come highly recommended.

John

On 10/31/2021 at 4:42 PM, waterskier_1 said:

I just realized that I didn't fully answer your question.  IF you were to rewire one AC to the inverter it MIGHT be able to handle it and the microwave at the same time - the AC is over 15 amps, that's why it's on a 20 amp breaker, but lets go with your figures.  15 Amps(1800 Watts) for the AC and 12 Amps (1440 Watts) for the microwave and you are already way over the capacity of the inverter which is 2400 Watts.  If you want to run 2 AC 3600 Watts), the microwave (1800 Watts), a TV (360 Watts), the dryer (~ 1800 Watts), and a base load of 600 Watts (I think that is low for water pump, lights, safety equipment, but I'll use your figures).  This is 8160 Watts!  Or 68 Amps!  Note that the 50 Amp Shore Power is really 220 VAC @ 50 so you have two 50 Amp 120 Legs.  The inverter does not.  That would require at least three of the inverters you have.  I'm not even discussing the batteries, because I think you will realize that this is not really as easy at you might have thought.  If you were going to do this, then you should run everything through inverter(s), would require 12.K Watt inverter.  The largest MultiPlus 2 Inverter is 10K VA or 8K Watts.  If you are even considering this, you will need to go to at least 24 Volt and more realistic 48 Volt system for the battery storage.  You'd be looking at over 700 Amps draw @ 12 Volts, and the losses at that current would be tremendous.  

Rick,

Thank you for your clear and knowledgeable responses. I would like to clarify my current and proposed setup.

Partial present power flow:

Shore/Genset->Auto Switch->Main Panel

     Main Panel 30A Inverter Breaker-> Magnum ME2012 Inverter.

Inverter has (2) 20A popup breakers that feed 1) Microwave, 2) Inverter supported outlets.

Proposed Changes for Multiplus II 2x120 Inverter:

1)      6/3 line from Auto Switch to Main panel will be now go from (AC out) of Multiplus II to feed Main Panel.

2)      New 6/3 line will be run from Auto Switch to (AC in) of Multiplus II

3)      Two loads that were on ME2012 inverter (microwave and outlets) will have new breakers in the main panel. These breakers will take the place of the 30A inverter breaker (using ½ size 20A dual breaker). There will be a junction box in the inverter bay and two new 12/2 lines run to the main panel to connect to the two loads.

4)      Since the inverter will be increasing in size from 2000VA to 3000VA, a 2^nd 4/0 12V cable will be run from the batteries to the inverter. This is to meet the Victron recommendations that two 4/0 12v power cables be used if the batteries are > 15ft from the inverter.

New Power Flow

               Shore/Genset-> Auto Switch->Multiplex II

                              Multiplex II -> Main Panel feeding all 120v loads.

Hoped for results:

Since all power will be running through the Victron Multiplus II 2x120 inverter. The following power assist should be possible:

30A Shore + 25A Load Assist = 55A total possible supported load with a battery draw of about 288A

20A Shore + 25A Load Assist = 45A total possible supported load with a battery draw of about 288A

50A Shore or Genset would require no load assist. It would work in pass-through mode with the inverter.

What would I expect to run:

With 30A Shore, I should be able to run Base load (5A), two Air Conditioners (30A), Microwave or Washer/Dryer (13A) but not both for a total of 48As. I would need to pay attention to the loads and only run what would fit in my power profile.

Issue I was Concerned about:

Since all power runs through the inverter, when the inverter gets shore power < 50A, both Legs are the same phase. My understanding is the Intelletic 750 uses this (L1 and L2 in phase and no 12v signal from the Genset) to determine the need for Load monitoring and maybe sheading. So in this situation, I would have (with a 30A shore connection) the load assist inverter able to provide up to 55A total 120 power, but the Intellitec will begin disabling loads when the power exceeds 30A.

My solution to this was to make the Intellitec think it was running on Genset; then the Intellitec would not shed below 66A 120V. I would do this by providing power to pin 2 on the Intellitec control panel. I am still working out the fine details, but want to have a switch to force the Genset mode, when the inverter is on. I would turn this on when I was on 30A or 20A Shore power.

Possible issues: I will be relying on the Multiplus II’s ability to limit output. So if I draw too much power, the inverter might shut down, with the possibility of voltage spikes, etc. (Not sure how well the Multiplus II handles an overload situation).

I would welcome comment on this proposed setup.

Thanks for your time.

John Crowder