Tom Cherry Posted June 19, 2020 Share Posted June 19, 2020 Long story. I have always had a gremlin in my MS2012 Magnum with the RC Controller or remote. Mine was a 2008 Manufacturing date. Never could figure out HOW to turn off the inverter like folks said that they did. I learned all about HOW to set up the Remote and which settings and such. A LOT of info here....and from experts....as well as talking to Magnum Tech Support. I had an AGS failure (the old 4 knob) and extended warranty got me a new one. Everything seemed to work....except from time to time....the inverter would lose power (Had the Search Watts to OFF per Magnum) and not switch on or would lose (momentarily) the coffee maker and microwave clock. I have learned a LOT about how the Inverter works and also how to properly maintain and test and load test and such my batteries and keep the Magnum set for peak performance. I also, ONCE and ONLY ONCE, equalized and learned that you have to do some tweaking of the charge rate so as not to "overheat" the innards.....again...Magnum taught me when I reported a blinking light. We used the MH for almost a 3 month trip in 2018. Not issues related to the inverter or battery. I had (still do....it is dormant) a (HOPEFULLY) high resistance connection in my hydraulic slide circuit. Have trouble shot it and it is intermittent. Never had the rascal fail when I could troubleshoot it. I can "PUSH" in the slides when my wife works the buttons and keep from overheating the Resettable CB. THEN, you drive 100 miles....and the dadgummed thing works great. SO.... I installed a switch to have CHASSIS power for the hydraulic as well as HOUSE. SO, if the rascal has a high resistance load and moves slowly, I can switch power sources and then see if it is upstream electric or downstream hydraulics. BUT....it has not failed.....recently. BUT, I noticed that my Magnum was acting FUNKY more frequently. The AHA moment was when the "knob and setup up screens" froze. I could NOT change the amp hour rating from 1050 (I never SET it there....it just HAPPENED) back down to 450. It also had some other "dysfunctional" traits. Magnum was patient. I finally said.... DO I NEED THE REMOTE? Nope, there are DEFAULTS in the Inverter. SO, I ran the MH for several days and killed or cycled on and off the power. NO REMOTE hooked up. It worked FLAWLESSLY. Then called Magnum. BUY a new remote. The RC-50 is the LATEST and GREATEST....as long as you do not intend to put in a BMK and that the inverters in the early years....SOMETIMES had problems interfacing with the super sophisticated ARC (Bob Nodine.....you UNDERSTAND). Ordered the RC-50. Plugged it in. Set the quick paramaters which were mostly OK'ing the DEFAULT parameters. Got it out of storage today. NO ISSUES. SO, the RC-50 worked. BUT, there were a couple of settings that were "puzzling". OK...Magnum has updated the RC unit (not the ARC) that mine came with. The NEW unit does NOT have a "Amp Hour" setting for the batteries. You set that via the Absorb Charging Rate or control. Default is 1.5 Hours. BUT, if you have a 450 Amp Hour bank (like most of us do)....then you set to to 2.5 Hours. The Default charging rate is 80%. Magnums says it really ought to be 90%, to be safe....they set it lower. SO, if you want to charge a little faster (assuming you are not in Death Valley), then use 90%. Just do NOT equalize @ 90%. Use 70 or 80%. That is ALL I changed (OK, I killed the Search Watss to prevent blips).... Just passing this along. I can NOW turn ON and OFF my inverter. Never could do that before. The NEW RC-50 works. You can google and find out. I CAN put in a BMK....I just do NOT have all the "features and versatility and monitoring" that you would get with the ARC Remote.... Hope this benefits someone... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bklaes Posted June 19, 2020 Share Posted June 19, 2020 Besides my initials, what's a BMK? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K9 Exec Posted June 19, 2020 Share Posted June 19, 2020 Hi Bill, BMK stands for Battery Monitoring Kit. Typically, people like to Install a product from Victron such as the BMV-712 to monitor the SOC (state of charge) and current draw. Bmk’s are a quick way to “at a glance” monitor your battery bank. I haven’t purchased one yet, but it seems to be one of the best bang for the buck on the market. Have a great night, Nic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Cherry Posted June 19, 2020 Author Share Posted June 19, 2020 1 hour ago, bklaes said: Besides my initials, what's a BMK? BMK, as Nic pointed out, is Battery Monitoring Kit. I don't feel the need for one as my dry camping and such is very limited. I also try to check the SOC of my batteries and also to load test them and measure their performance. Therefore, for my use, a BMK is not in my plans. The Magnum BMK is, I thought, specifically manufactured or designed to interface with the Magnum Inverter(s) and the ME- ARC (Advanced Remote Control) upper end Remote. Magnum discussed the pro's and con's and my needs. So, I opted to purchase the RC-50 remote and not the ARC. Installation of a BMK is, supposedly, based on several friends experience, not a novice task....but one that if you read and study and are handy with 4/0 cables and have the hydraulic crimper and do some planning, can be accomplished. I don't think that I, personally, with my RV intentions, would benefit from that. So, I made the call.....get the RC-50, which was about 2/3's the price. However, if one needs the upgrade and also understands how to read the system and utilize the diagnostics as well as the enhanced features....then they have to make the call. Several people, I think, have installed the BMK using older Inverters than mine with no issues. Magnum was hesitant when I talked to them as they said there were some "incompatibility" issues and that if I did not foresee the need for a BMK, the wisest or less prone to issues approach would be the ME-50RC....which WOULD support the BMK, but without all the bells and whistles and such of the ME-ARC. Don't know too much more. Many are well versed and might chime in.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken.knutson100 Posted June 19, 2020 Share Posted June 19, 2020 We have the same Magnum system in our Dynasty. So with the BMK ...how do you load test the batteries? Ours don’t last long on the inverter and I have a feeling that they may be bad. And at $800 a battery I’d like to know first before replacing them. I did see where they were on the wrong setting for the battery type and I’m assuming they were on that setting when the previous owners had it too. The charge rate was wrong so I changed that also. But not sure where to load test them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bklaes Posted June 19, 2020 Share Posted June 19, 2020 Thanks everybody for the clarifications. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Cherry Posted June 19, 2020 Author Share Posted June 19, 2020 4 hours ago, ken.knutson100 said: We have the same Magnum system in our Dynasty. So with the BMK ...how do you load test the batteries? Ours don’t last long on the inverter and I have a feeling that they may be bad. And at $800 a battery I’d like to know first before replacing them. I did see where they were on the wrong setting for the battery type and I’m assuming they were on that setting when the previous owners had it too. The charge rate was wrong so I changed that also. But not sure where to load test them? I assume that you mean $800 for the bank....and NOT each battery. I thought that the Dynasty had a bank of 8 deep cycle RV batteries (6 VDC) when mine has only 4. Look at my posts. I have gone into some detail in the past. assuming that you have FLOODED cell batteries, then you will need a good (not a ball type) Hydrometer. I suggested one that works for me. You will need a Volt Meter. You will need a 3/8" dowel....maybe 6" long to use as a "Dip Stick". You will need a 350 to 500 watt "Load". a Halogen Work light is what I use....a small space heater would work. you do NOT need anything over 500 watts as the drain would not simulate normal usage. The rest is spelled out. You need to test (Hydrometer, Electrolyte and Volts) your batteries probably twice per year. If you do NOT do any dry camping or put a load on them, then plan on doing a Drain Down (Load) test at that time. Most likely 2 - 3 cycles.... IF you do not find the post....I might have time to search....but it is there....at least 3 or so times....I SHOULD make a PDF, but have not. Setting up your Magnum, especially with the BMK is critical. Magnum will go over that over the phone and assist you. If you are purchasing Flooded Cells, then the cheapest would not be my choice. I am a Trojan T-105 person. My Interstates did not last that long. I have written comments as to WHY I lean that way.... Good Luck.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken.knutson100 Posted June 19, 2020 Share Posted June 19, 2020 1 hour ago, Tom Cherry said: I assume that you mean $800 for the bank....and NOT each battery. I thought that the Dynasty had a bank of 8 deep cycle RV batteries (6 VDC) when mine has only 4. Look at my posts. I have gone into some detail in the past. assuming that you have FLOODED cell batteries, then you will need a good (not a ball type) Hydrometer. I suggested one that works for me. You will need a Volt Meter. You will need a 3/8" dowel....maybe 6" long to use as a "Dip Stick". You will need a 350 to 500 watt "Load". a Halogen Work light is what I use....a small space heater would work. you do NOT need anything over 500 watts as the drain would not simulate normal usage. The rest is spelled out. You need to test (Hydrometer, Electrolyte and Volts) your batteries probably twice per year. If you do NOT do any dry camping or put a load on them, then plan on doing a Drain Down (Load) test at that time. Most likely 2 - 3 cycles.... IF you do not find the post....I might have time to search....but it is there....at least 3 or so times....I SHOULD make a PDF, but have not. Setting up your Magnum, especially with the BMK is critical. Magnum will go over that over the phone and assist you. If you are purchasing Flooded Cells, then the cheapest would not be my choice. I am a Trojan T-105 person. My Interstates did not last that long. I have written comments as to WHY I lean that way.... Good Luck.... We have 4 of these batteries Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Cherry Posted June 19, 2020 Author Share Posted June 19, 2020 37 minutes ago, ken.knutson100 said: We have 4 of these batteries Not an AGM expert. Suggest you call Lifeline and discuss with them. They will tell you whether or not they need to be cycled or load drained periodically to keep them healthy. Flooded cells definitely DO.... That is what both Interstate and Trojan and all the "Experts" say. You also need to see HOW your Magnum is set up. The proper set up, based on what I know, would be the AGM for battery type. These are 6 VDC....so you have 800 Amp Hours of capacity... The 400 amp hours when connected in series to give you 12 VDC is STILL 400 Amp Hours. When you have a "Pair" or two sets (in parallel), then you have 400 plus 400 or 800 amp hours. That is what you set the remote for. Since you have the Magnum BMK, you would be well advised to let them go through the "setup" of the entire Remote and such. One comment.....if you wanted 900 Amp Hours of capacity, then you could (maybe....don't know how the Dynasty's OEM Battery box was modified or if the AGM's were factory. The STOCK configuration was TWO (per the brochure....and it sounds WRONG).... TWO 6 VDC batteries. That would be 225 amp HOURS. i REALLY thought that MOST of the STANDARD RUN (added in options....99% had these) were 8 batteries. If not....at least FOUR. If you went with the configuration (assuming your battery box was not modified or is compatible, then you would need 8 GC-1 or Golf cart/Deep Cycle Marine batteries. The Trojan T-105's sell for around $105 - $120. Worst case....$125. That would be $1000 for 900 Amp Hours or 12.5% more for about 25% of the costs. Again....I am NOT an AGM fan. You have a very nice battery charging system. The one thing, that ever the fans or fanatics of AGM will, I think tell you. The AGM's are NOT as robust and that improper charging or improper use or such will definitely shorten the life of them. I would evaluate my needs. Evaluate the options for returning to flooded cells...even consider going to the more conventional AGM - GC1's. The batteries you have are premium.....but left neglected or perhaps, not properly monitored or recharged.....are a costly item....and other systems may be more in line with you needs as well as a better value. That is the extent of my comments.....we have others here that are well versed and can chime in..., Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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