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Old 05-06-2008, 02:11 PM   #11
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You must have a longer tounge than I do. Those terminals are awfully far apart.

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Old 05-06-2008, 04:21 PM   #12
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You don't have to touch both terminals with your tongue. Just the positive side; then just use your finger (any one will do) to the negative and, hey presto you got it. Actually, I find it easier to just jump across between the positive terminal and a ground with my watch. About $650 later at the emergency room and you're pretty sure your battery has enough amps to run your refer.
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Old 05-06-2008, 04:25 PM   #13
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Alternative method: lick finger and thumb of left hand, place on negative terminal. Then touch your tongue to the positive.

Remember, when wanting to get the shit shocked out of you always connect the negative terminal first.
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Old 05-06-2008, 04:41 PM   #14
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Took a 5 sec ride with a Tazer a few years back. Guessing it just might be about as much fun.
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Old 05-06-2008, 11:19 PM   #15
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Thanks for all the response and tips.
I do use the Van about every other week. When it does sit two to three weeks the house battery is drained all the way.
Yes, also have a volt meter, and with a full charge shows now 11Volts, it does not get higher. So I assume that battery has been ruined too at this point.
I will first check the isolator. But have a feeling the battery has been loose in the hanging cage like Scalf mentioned.
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Old 05-07-2008, 09:11 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by deminimis
Mike, is your house batt draining big time at night? As soon as the sun goes low, and my fridge (4CU) is running, my big house batt (4D) seems to really go down (faster than I would think). I would think I'd get a full night's use out of the batt (running the fridge only on 12v and no other large items running), but my solar indicator shows the batt's voltage is very low after only a couple of hours in the dark. Been thinking it was time to replace the house batt, but that's a bitter pill to swallow. I assume the batt is approx 4 years old.
We have two house batteries. When the van was new we could go about 3 days with the large refrig and some lights. As the batteries aged, it was unable to last 2 days.

Overnight, the batteries drop down to 12.4V. The solar brings them back up quickly and we've had no problems, even when partially shaded by a tree or in cloud cover. The solar panel is probably the best feature of our SMB - after the penthouse of course.

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Old 05-07-2008, 09:18 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dutch
Thanks for all the response and tips.
I do use the Van about every other week. When it does sit two to three weeks the house battery is drained all the way.
Yes, also have a volt meter, and with a full charge shows now 11Volts, it does not get higher. So I assume that battery has been ruined too at this point.
I will first check the isolator. But have a feeling the battery has been loose in the hanging cage like Scalf mentioned.
If your battery is showing 11V, it is not fully charged. It may not accept a full charge any more. Probably, you should either drive the vehicle more (1+ hours every week) or put a trickle charger on the batteries when it is parked.

I know SMB (in the manual) suggests pulling fuses for the CO detector when you are parked to prevent pulling down the house battery.

You shouldn't have replace batteries every year. A well maintained AGM battery could last 7-10 years. I had to replace mine because they went flat when I had a 'No Charging' condition - in spite if regular driving. The solar took care of that, and it keeps the starting batteries charged through the battery isolator.

Mike
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Old 05-09-2008, 10:18 PM   #18
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Ok, here an update on the progress.
I got a new Interstate battery (Free because it's only six months old) Installed this and the current showed 11.3Volt As soon as I turned on some lights it dropped to 11.0 and the fridge 10.6Volts.
When I started the engine it showed 12.8Volt.
I checked the Isolator, it was installed flat, and the top is completely rusted. I will show a pic later. When I started the engine, the numbers showed normal readings.
I read about how to check when I uninstalled the isolator:

2. Using a needle movement ohmmeter RX-1 scale or a digital ohmmeter diode scale, hold the Red* probe on the terminal "A" and with
the Black* probe touch terminal #1 and #2, and the "E" terminal for 3A isolators (group 2), and the "R" terminal for (group 3) isolators.
A good isolator will show a current flow from "A" to #1, #2 and "R", and no current flow to "E".
3. Next, hold the Black* probe on the "A" and with the Red* probe touch terminal #1 and #2 (terminal "E" and "R", if used). A good
isolator will allow no current flow from "A" to #1, #2 or "R" and will show current flow from "E" to "A".


And indeed it's doing the opposite[u] so I will buy a new one first.
Hope to resolve this problem soon, and hopefully it's the isolator.
Question I have, now the isolator is disconnected it still shows 11.3 Volt. How come?
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Old 05-09-2008, 10:37 PM   #19
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Depends on where you're measuring. You have a house battery and a starter battery and different parts of the van are connected to each. The isolator is what connects the "house" side to the "starter" side. With the isolater there might be a third section connected to the isolater center post. I'm not sure about that.

For example my starter side includes the front 12v power outlets (cigarette lighters). The rest, such as the side wall 12v outlet and the one behind the drivers seat and under the sink are all on the house side. If there is a "center" setion it woudn't be powered with the isolater out (again total guesswork)

So depending on where I plug in, with the isolator (or separator in my case) disconnected, I'm reading either the house or the starter side. I'd guess a blue sky panel or the like would be installed on the house side only.

So your 11.3v is coming from the battery set it's connected to- possibly through the isolator. If you thought it was part of the center section, therefor not connected to either battery, well then "suprise!".

The isolator and separator muck things up in differnt ways depending on if your starting and especially if they're bad- my separator was bad and the house and starter were always connected causing a bad battery on one side to drag the whole system down.

If your isolator is/was working backwards... well I believe it's supposed to keep the house electronics from draining the starter battery, but allow the starting to rely on the house- so your house would have been sucking power from the starter, and in return when starting get no help from the house. Or something like that. Did I mention this is largely supposition on my part?

I would consider upgrading to a separator- you can add a switch to control the function or run a line that provides 12v when starting for automatic function. If there is a center section you can tie it permanently to the house side (separator has only 2 terminals).
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Old 05-10-2008, 12:26 AM   #20
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House Battery Question

The rust you're seeing is probably the culprit for the disharging of your battery and the low battery voltage and charge rate. I have seen this rust issue on older units where the Isolator is mounted horizontal. Another item to check is the 50 amp auto reset circuit breaker mounted under the hood. Trace the wire coming from terminal #2 on the Isolator, it should be connected to this circuit breaker. Water can also enter this circuit breaker causing internal corrosion, and cause major problems.

As Jage has said, you should definitely consider the installation of a Battery Separator in place of your Isolator. SMB West can email you the simple installation instructions, you can see how easy the Separator is to install prior to ordering it if you'd like. The Separator will replace the Isolator and circuit breaker, plus give you automatic "battery boost" from your house battery should the starting battery voltage be low.

John K.
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