Battery Charger - Montana Owners Club

CasaDelSol · 04-12-2010, 03:19 PM

When we purchased our 2006 2955RL we were told that there was a battery charger onboard. DH has never found it and he wants to know where it is and what type of maintenance to do on it. Anyone?

hookman · 04-12-2010, 03:45 PM

The battery charger is part of the converter and if it is a DLS model you can buy a plug in smart charger which will change it from a straight charger to make it work like a proper charger.

PapaBeav · 04-12-2010, 03:47 PM

Your Converter is your battery charger. Mine came with the Iota 55 amp converter, but once I got it home I ordered and installed a IQ Smart Charger which is a 3 stage charger.

Art-n-Marge · 04-12-2010, 06:30 PM

Like everyone mentioned, the converter is only operable when connected to a power source because it takes the incoming 110v and converts it to 12V AND recharges your batteries. The smart charger is mentioned because it prevents the converter from overcharging your battery which can damage or shorten the life of the battery.

If you want to locate it, the actual unit will be located near your power distribution panel but behind some wall somewhere to keep it protected. I don't know where it would be on your Monty but mine can be seen if I remove a basement panel behind the stairs. It is screwed into the floor and is plugged into a 110v outlet near it.

When you are not connected to shore power, and you are towing, there should be a 12V wire coming from your TV which trickles charges your battery, just like what the alternator does for your TV's batteries. The connection will be in the trailer cord you plug into your truck.

There is no maintenance of the recharging system needed, however, the batteries must be maintained to make sure the water level is correct.

CasaDelSol · 04-13-2010, 12:49 PM

DH says thanks for the answers. Art-n-Marge thanks for helping him to find where it is located. Great answers. He is the knowledge 1/2 of our marriage. I am (obviously) his secretary because I do all the posting on the MOC. Also, I am the beautiful assistant!!

farmboy · 04-13-2010, 01:20 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by CasaDelSol

DH says thanks for the answers. Art-n-Marge thanks for helping him to find where it is located. Great answers. He is the knowledge 1/2 of our marriage. I am (obviously) his secretary because I do all the posting on the MOC. Also, I am the beautiful assistant!!

I have a 2005 2955 and case you didn't find already , it is under the throne roon accesable from basement behind the right side panel. Hope this helped.

ibede · 04-15-2010, 11:09 AM

Where is it on a 3650?

DONnANNIE · 04-15-2010, 06:00 PM

Quote:

quote:ibede Posted - Apr 15 2010 : 5:09:33 PM
Where is it on a 3650?

If I remember correctly, it is behind the circuit breaker/fuse panels to the right of the front door. I think you can get to it from inside the basement(curbside door)after removing the left wall piece.
I also added the IQ Smart Charger

Lambchop · 04-18-2010, 10:51 AM

ODD...my 08 Montana came with a new battery last Oct. We are living in this trailer for the last 6 months. We move from one RV park to another about 6 times this winter. I've checked my battery water 3 times in that time & No water was ever needed. The 08 Mountaineer That we traded for this unit used water every 3 months & had a DSL55 Converter on it with no Smart charger.
The present Montana now has a DSL75 Converter on it with No Smart Charger. Battery is fully charged & we use it at waysides & to open slides before shore power is turned on.
Maybe just a Good battery??

Roy

farmboy · 04-18-2010, 04:18 PM

ROY, I am like you. My '05 2955 has been pluged in 24/7/365 for 5 years and battery only needed a little water last spring. No other problems with it either.

Art-n-Marge · 04-18-2010, 04:31 PM

My prior trailer had two batteries that I was constantly having to mess with. They gave me fits all the time. With the new Monty, I use a Battery Minder for maintenance maintenance and this seems to have improved things a lot. Others I know have fared better, others have fared worse. This could be affected by the battery brand, type, converter/charger type, age, weather, and the cusp of the moon. For anyone having great luck with batteries, SHHHHHH, don't jinx yourselves. One of my batteries seem to need water more often than the other, and I'll leave it at that...

Starchmill · 04-18-2010, 06:33 PM

I'm having troubles in my mountaineer with the battery only recharging via being plugged into the truck. If it is plugged into shore power, it eventually dies. And even when the battery is charged, the electric jack works fine, but click on a light and everything inside goes dead (on 12v only). We are having a tech come out to the house next week. Any ideas out there??

pbahlin · 04-19-2010, 01:11 PM

This is just a wild guess since I have no idea how these things are wired.....

The converter is basically a DC power supply (about 13 volts). If your landing jacks work while connected to shore power it might be that they are directly connected to the converter. The battery should also be connected to the converter but maybe it's not. Could be you have a blown fuse or bad connection between the converter and battery while the battery still has a good connection to the TV 12 V line and the 12 V loads.

I'd check this guess out with a meter. See if your battery voltage changes while flipping the converter breaker on and off. You should see it changing. It should go up a bit when the converter is on.

Starchmill · 04-20-2010, 10:20 PM

Thanks pbahlin, my RV tech came to the house today and what he found was a loose connection coming off one of the auto-resetting circuit brakers. He secured things down, and now all works fine. Thanks.

pbahlin · 04-22-2010, 03:12 PM

Glad to be of some help. Sometimes a wild guess is all you need to get things moving.

Just out of curiosity, how is that connection made? Is it a wire under a screw head or crimp or ?????

I'd like to know if it's something I should put on a periodic check list.

Rip apart trailer. Check!
Tighten all screws. Check!
Put trailer back together. Check!
Open a cold one. Check!
Repeat.

Starchmill · 04-23-2010, 06:57 AM

Yes, it was one of the crimped connectors. The crimp just wasn't making solid contact with the wire. Along with not recharging the battery when on shore power, the other big symptom was that the slides would "stall" as the auto-resetting circuit brakers would trip 4-5 times each time you put the slides in or out. Now the slides function as they should. My local dealer couldn't find the problem, but the mobile tech diagnosed it in about 10 minutes. So relieved that all is working fine now! Thanks again!!

pbahlin · 04-23-2010, 02:28 PM

You know, my slides stall too. Usually they only do it when on the way in. Maybe I'll check all my crimps. Did the tech restrip and put on new terminals or just crimp more on the existing connections?

pbahlin · 04-23-2010, 02:35 PM

I used to have a sailboat and there was always a debate in that community on the proper way to deal with crimped connections. One camp said it was best to crimp, then solder to eliminate salt intrusion to the joint. The other camp said soldering was bad as it wicked solder up the stranded wire, away from the joint, creating a hard transition to the strands that could promote stress fractures in the wire.

I would guess that debate is still going on. Sometimes those things take on a life of their own, something like truck brand wars.

Starchmill · 04-25-2010, 04:42 PM

He took it down and put on a new connector. He was saying that the slides demand so much power, that it made sense that it would cause the circuit breakers to trip if there was any disruption in the flow of power.

You may also like: