Randy
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Total Loss of Battery Power
We have a 2019 Oli Elite solar and Norcold fridge (the one with the touch panel controls) and 2 6V AGMs. A week or so ago while getting ready for the season, the fridge was accidentally turned to DC and drained the batteries I hooked to shore power and charged things back up. Everything worked in both AC and DC modes. While doing a 1 night boondock 2 days ago, I put the fridge on level 2 and we travelled about 2 hours. We arrived to see the Zamp controller flashing and battery status low and the condition low. Nothing in the trailer would work on DC. We drove home, hooked to shore power, and battery indicators showed everything was full. All systems worked while hooked up. This morning I disconnected the shore power and all indicators again said full. I turned on the lights and water pump and they pulsated. Within 30 seconds the lights and water pump shut down and the Zamp controller showed battery status low and battery condition low.
Clearly my batteries are not holding a charge.
Any ideas? I'll contact the service department on Tuesday the 26th but though a little insight may be helpful. We have a big trip planned in 2 weeks and are too far from Hohenwald to drop by.
Thanks!
Randy
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FYI - Our electrical system is back and up and running. I let it sit in the sun for a while so that it could properly go through the charging phases. We did several "Boondock Tests" using different appliances with different high amp draws. We would go from FUL to MED condition of the battery and the solar would get us back to FUL in a few hours. I'm sure that with normal amp draws we would have no drain.
Jason has advised us that 1. Our batteries are not ruined 2. They should function well 3. We may have shortened their life span a bit and will just have to keep an eye on them. I guess is see this experience as tuition.
We have resolved to never use the Norcold on DC power which means not using the Auto feature. I've read that an adequately cooled fridge with cold food in it will only lose 4 degrees over an 8 hour period, so we will be hitting the road with our fridge off from now on. Will rely strictly on propane while boon docking and AC while on shore power.
Thanks to Jason for his patience and to all of you who have provided input.
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Randy -
Thanks for the update and I'm glad that you are back in business without too much difficulty. However, you mention that you will NOT be using the "Auto" feature because of the DC issues. I do not have the Norcold fridge but every RV fridge that I'm aware of that has an "Auto" feature only switches between the fridge using propane and 110 volt ac. They do not automatically switch you to DC power. You might want to check this specifically for your Norcold but in putting the fridge on "Auto" you are sure that when you are attached to ac power (shore power as in a camp ground that has electrical plugins) you have the benefit of using the energy you have paid for via your camping fee.
Bill
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