What are the 3 switches for?

[John Neeley]

Hello to all... new member here... got a question and photo to ask about and that is what are the 3 switches, in the same mount, below the fan control for? No one at the dealership knows and am curious before I start throwing switches, etc. Montana fails to mark their switches, as I had to label 2 of them shown in this photo also, namely the ceiling fan and the front cap led lights. So, anyone have an idea? Any info will be appreciated.

[JABURKHOLDER]

Tank heaters ?

[John Neeley]

That could be Jerry...... funny they never label anything, quess we are suppose to guess... thanks will see if anyone else has any idea, but that sounds logical..

[kenneth e holman]

That should be your 3 tank heaters. I have the 2014 model and don't have tank heaters but the heating ducts warm my tanks and water lines. There has been quite a lot of discussion about this on the forum. I doubt you will ever know which switch goes to which tank but if you need one heater then you will probably need them all. I've never really understood why we need the tanks warmed myself. As long as you have room for expansion then you should never have to worry about damage to your tanks. The water lines are different.You can run out of expansion quickly and then they burst. If you notice on peoples water-wells they wrap the water lines buy don't wrap the tank because it is not full to the top so it has room to expand.

[mlh]

I live in the country and don't know anybody that has their water tank where it could freeze.
Lynwood

[John Neeley]

When I picked up my rig from the dealer/repair shop, after initial fixing of small problems, the battery was dead as a doornail. They had to jump the battery just so I could raise it to hook up. When I got home I had noticed that those 3 switches were in the ON position... ah ha.... believe that was the culprit that drained my battery. I am going to add another battery anyway, but still....... time for the label machine on those switches, as will NEVER need them here in this location, even though it was 31 degs this morning... Also, I dont like having the rig plugged into AC power when not in use, as the charger system in the Converter/Charger unit will end up boiling out the battery, so since it did come with a disconnect switch, I can eliminate that and just put my Battery Minder mini-charger onto the battery posts to keep a trickle charge going.

[DQDick]

It's been a lot of years since Montana's had a Converter/charger that you had to worry would boil the batteries. Before we went full time I left ours plugged in all winter and never had to add a drop to the batteries.

[John Neeley]

quote:Originally posted by DQDick

It's been a lot of years since Montana's had a Converter/charger that you had to worry would boil the batteries. Before we went full time I left ours plugged in all winter and never had to add a drop to the batteries.

Thanks for info....check the manual (yeah, right) and see if they have the newer system..

[dieselguy]

As Dick eluded to ... 3 stage chargers have been standard since before 2010.

[Rondo]

John, I leave our Mont plugged in whenever it is not in use. The converter will charge the batteries(our dealer puts in two when selling a unit because the units come without any battery/ies). I check them periodically but have never had to add any distilled water. I store the unit inside a building that has both a 50 and a 30 amp plug and use the 30 amp normally. If your unit came with only one 12 volt battery I can see why it had drained the battery with the tank heaters on because besides the tank heaters you also have other items running off the battery that you don't know about normally. Even with the battery cut-off switch in the off position you still have active circuits running drawing a small amount of power from that battery.

[dhenry3]

They are the tank heater switches.