Newell Gurus

We never replaced the inverter/charger as we got it to work just fine for the last year or so.
We bought 6 new AGM 8D batteries (since we don’t boondock much) when the engine work was being done.  
I’m at Tom’s place in Wittman and we noticed the batteries were slowly dying after sitting for a while.  I had the batteries merged while sitting still (like normal).  The ‘charge’ button was pushed on the Heart Freedom 25 Combi inverter panel.  The battery bank went down to about 11volts (I didn’t take pictures of the panel so cannot remember the exact voltage or amps).  
I finally built a mount (sort of) like Tom’s for the inverter and it came out pretty well - now the inverter stays on the wall and doesn’t move around (will test this on I-10 soon!).  
The inverter seems to switch fine and powers the microwave even with low house batteries.
The engine batteries are currently being charged with a very nice (Thanks Tom!) battery charger today and I will switch to the house batteries to charge them later today. 
The PROBLEM is the charger in the inverter does not look like it is working as we have consistently lost volts/amps in both battery banks since the banks were merged.
I was/am getting both an E-10 and E-13 error “I found a loose but on the coach battery side and after tightening it I get an E-13 error which the manual says “battery voltage sense leads open”battery voltage sense leads open and a reference to “violet wire on inverter remote panel”.  I pulled the panel off but was unsure how to test the wire. 
I have done a ‘hard reset’ - disconnected all the batteries, unplugged the shore power, waited 30 minutes and reconnected batteries (first!) then plugged in the shore power and nothing changed.
I’m starting to think the F2 (charger) fuse may be blown inside and found some instructions (just now) on how to check that using the power wires to check continuity.  
I checked all the battery fuses I could find and got continuity across them (once Tom showed me how to use my meter correctly! - I learn then I forget again).  I left the wires attached to the fuses and probably need to do this test again especially with the fuse nearest the inverter (that will be fun). 
I think the nearest Xantrex service center is in CA :-(  They will probably tell me I need a new inverter, which I probably do need...

Adrian,

You don't seem to be asking a question....so you may have it all under control...but I would start by un-merging the batteries. (The merge solenoid is a known source of problems, so it may not be doing what you think it should be doing)

Then I would charge engine batteries enough to crank engine.

Were you plugged into shore power or running generator while you have been sitting? If you can get everything to work running on generator and keep the batteries un-merged, your engine should keep the engine batteries charged.

For what it's worth.

bill

Thanks Bill. I guess I didn’t ever ask a question! I am journaling for posterity here what I am doing more than asking a question. I will have questions once I perform some more tests this morning.
I have been plugged in to shore power (50amp) and the batteries have been/are currently un-merged. My merge solenoid actually works! :-) Tangent: If I could only figure out why it is a three-position switch, I normally leave it in the up position to merge but yesterday I was trying to get the ignition to light up the dash and up would not work but when I pushed it all the way down I was able to get it merged with the house batts... wierd...
I have been watching some good videos about the Heart Freedom 25 and am trying to locate the service manual for it but can only find the Owner’s Manual.
So my first question: anyone have the SERVICE Manual?

To answer your question on the 3 position merge switch, IIRC, center position is off. Newell uses 2 merge solenoids, 1 powered by the chassis batteries and the other powered by the house batteries. That way if 1 set of batteries is dead or too low to power the merge switch you can use the other side of the switch to merge. Pretty neat setup.

Curious, why would you (like normal) have the batteries merged?

We normally merge the batteries when sitting for a while and plugged in to shore power. This charges all the batteries and keeps them at float level.
BTW, I completely charged the engine start batts with Toms really nice charger this morning. Then I attached it to the house batteries and it shows that they are fully charged.
I am going to get amps/volts with a meter for each battery bank.
I plan to check the fuses again but this time instead of only continuity I’ll check 12-volts across the terminals.

So your engine batts were drained but the house batteries were charged....YET YOU WERE MERGED? That does not make sense to me. Ditto on what Forest said. The three positions on the merge are 1)Merge with power to merge from House 2)Off and 3) Merge with power to merge from Engine. You may not really have been merged.

Your coach probably has the same trickle charger that I have. Mine was wired incorrectly from the factory and it never performed it's function. You might look for it and see if it is in fault. (Little blue box with a green light in same bay as merge switch...back of coach on right side next too engine behind door)

bill

My understanding with trickle charger for chassis and inverter charger for house batteries, you should never merge until the chassis batteries are too drained to start the coach. I used to always merge when starting, but I have forgotten to unmerge which boils the water out of chassis batteries. So, recently I don’t even merge for regular starting. I am reserving that for emergencies. Thoughts?

The key here is does Adrian's coach have a working chassis battery charger.  My coach has one and it is located in basement compartment L-5 on the front wall, up high.  But not all Newells have a chassis battery charger---you know "not all Newells are the same".  If Adrian's coach has a working chassis battery charger, then I would have the chassis batteries load tested.  Adrian said he replaced all six batteries, so I am assuming that he replaced the four house batteries with deep cycle batteries and the chassis batteries with start batteries.

If my Newell didn't have a chassis battery charger, you might have to merge the chassis batteries occasionally, but not leave them merged.  I would be looking to add a chassis battery charger--inexpensive & simple to install.

Unless my coach won't start on the chassis batteries, I never merge.  And if it doesn't start without merging, I replace the chassis batteries.  My normal replacement schedule for chassis batteries has been 6 years.

The trouble shooting is somewhat guesswork because some baseline info is needed. The state of batteries before the Tom's charger was applied is forever lost.

However it is not too late to help troubleshoot the situation before tearing into the inverter charger.

Let's start with this info. Unplug the coach. Unmerge the batteries. Measure with a voltmeter the voltage at the chassis and house battery terminals. What are those voltages?

Now, plug the coach in, or start the generator, either method should activate the charger.

What is the voltage now at both the chassis and house batteries? Does the charger panel in the coach say it is charging? If so, how many amps does it show charging.

If the charger is working properly, you should see a higher voltage at the house batteries, than you measured without the charger.

If you have some sort of echo/trickle setup you should see a voltage rise on the chassis batteries.

If I remember correctly, Newell wired the Xantrex controller so that Bank 1 was the house batteries, and Bank 2 was the chassis batteries. That doesn't mean that the Xantrex was wired to charge the chassis batteries. You only have monitoring capability on the chassis batteries from the Xantrex.

Please report on your voltages, so that we can help you.