Statpower conflict.

[hugh fellows]

My Dad who is installing a Statpower 40+ in his Eleganza was told by the
technical staff at Statpower that he could not have a second charging
device such as the engine generator on line at same time with the 40+. I
thought that the 40+ would simply see the alternator voltage as an
overcharged battery and would simply cease to apply any charge of it's
own . Have any of you had any experience with this and what is your
advice ? I guess you could use the voltage on the alternator terminal of
the battery isolator to turn off the 120V to the 40+ via a relay, but is
all this really necessary.

Hugh Fellows
Auburn AL

 

[emerystora]

>My Dad who is installing a Statpower 40+ in his Eleganza was told by the
>technical staff at Statpower that he could not have a second charging
>device such as the engine generator on line at same time with the 40+. I
>thought that the 40+ would simply see the alternator voltage as an
>overcharged battery and would simply cease to apply any charge of it's
>own . Have any of you had any experience with this and what is your
>advice ? I guess you could use the voltage on the alternator terminal of
>the battery isolator to turn off the 120V to the 40+ via a relay, but is
>all this really necessary.
>
>Hugh Fellows
>Auburn AL

The tech staff is correct. If the Statpower senses another voltage
source it will not charge that battery. You should pull some wires
off the Onan to eliminate it as a charging source. The Onan 12 volt
charger doesn't really help much anyway as it puts out such little
charge. I assume that you start the Onan from the house battery so
the Statpower will charge the house battery much more quickly than
the Onan will and if you have the Onan running it will provide the
120 volts to the Statpower so that the battery is charged. Those of
us using the Statpower have all disconected the Onan battery charger.

To disconnect the Onan charger, look on the top near the left side.
There are three wires on spade connectors. Two of them are connected
together. Pull the single wire off and tape the end of the wire.
Then pull the connector with the two wires but leave the two wires
connected together. Tape the connector with the two wires off as
well.

That's all it takes.

I believe this info is on Gene Fisher's site
http://www.california.com/~eagle/ and probably posted in several
other places.

Emery Stora
77 Kingsley
Santa Fe, NM

 

[henry davis]

>My Dad who is installing a Statpower 40+ in his Eleganza was told by the
>technical staff at Statpower that he could not have a second charging
>device such as the engine generator on line at same time with the 40+. I
>thought that the 40+ would simply see the alternator voltage as an
>overcharged battery and would simply cease to apply any charge of it's
>own .

It does exactly that.

> Have any of you had any experience with this and what is your
>advice ?

Run it with the setup as OEM configured for the house electrical to begin
with. You MUST disable the ONan charger if it's still installed. Emery
posted how to do that. Or, you could turn on a few lights to load the
system down enough. It's better to disable the Onan charger though - it's
pretty worthless as a charger.

> I guess you could use the voltage on the alternator terminal of
>the battery isolator to turn off the 120V to the 40+ via a relay, but is
>all this really necessary.

Nope. The TrueCharge will just blink its lights at you if the alternator is
putting out enough voltage.

Henry

>Hugh Fellows
>Auburn AL

 

[henry davis]

>
>I have my Statpower 40 hooked up to charge my engine battery as well as the
>coach batteries. I have disconnected the onan charger. Do I have to turn the
>Statpower off when I'm running the engine?
> Jerry Lader
>
No. It simply will not charge the batteries while the alternator is operating.

Henry

 

[emerystora]

>In a message dated 07/14/2000 11:31:46 AM Pacific Daylight Time,

>
> Date: 07/14/2000 11:31:46 AM Pacific Daylight Time
> From: emerystora (Emery L. Stora)
> Sender: owner-gmcmotorhome
> Reply-to: gmcmotorhome
> To: gmcmotorhome
>
>
>I have my Statpower 40 hooked up to charge my engine battery as well as the
>coach batteries. I have disconnected the onan charger. Do I have to turn the
>Statpower off when I'm running the engine?
> Jerry Lader
>
Jerry - you don't have to turn it off. Even if it senses another
charge source (your engine alternator) it won't put a charge through
to the battery but you don't need it since your alternator is putting
out plenty of charge. It doesn't hurt anything when it senses this
other charge. The only reason that you want to disconnect the Onan
charger is because it puts out such a low charge. The Statpower will
charge up the battery much faster than the Onan charger. The engine
alternator will put out up to 80 amps while the Statpower puts out 40
so it is OK that the Statpower not put out any charge if the
alternator is.

Emery Stora
77 Kingsley
Santa Fe, NM

 

[emerystora]

>
> Correction: Should be running the engine and the onan.
>
Jerry -- it is ok to run both the engine and the Onan. The Onan will
put 120 v. to the Statpower but the Statpower will sense the charge
from the engine alternator (if its working) and not charge the
batteries however don't unplug the Statpower it is Ok to run in this
manner. If your engine alternator should go out you can run the Onan
and keep your headlights and engine powered with 12 volts while you
drive.

Emery Stora
77 Kingsley
Santa Fe, NM