I have recently gotten a 2003 Cascade, and love her already. I have a lot of reference material but have some basics I cant find info on.
I have a problem with the three lights/switches in the overhead console, Turbo Start, Charging In Use , and Generator.
Turbo and Generator no biggie. The Charging and In Use are giving me fits.
I understand the basics of the switch, but it seems to light at the wrong times. Seem to be in Use, when it shouldn't be, I put it in "storage", but still seems to light unusually. I also have trouble understanding my solar panel monitor. I think mine may be malfunctioning. I thought that the solar panel would keep my deep cycle batteries in charge when I was was not connected to land line electric. I found tech stuff online but not how the panel should "normaly read" I know I have a lot of questions and appreciate ANY help !
I assume the Cascade has the same solar charger as the Concourse. Otherwise, forget everything I said.
For the switch, it is confusing in my Concourse. The switch has three positions. Center off, momentary up (ON), and regular (toggle or sticky) down (STORE). The LVD is automatic, so it only cuts off power to the DC panel if the voltage is too low. It will sound the alarm for about a minute if that is the case. If you put it in storage mode (switch down), it will stay there, and cuts off the LVD to the DC panel. To get it out of the storage mode, you need to hit the up (ON) momentary switch once. The green LED should comes on, and you can let it stays on the center-off position to put it on the automatic mode. When you are in STORE mode, and if the charger/converter comes on, the red light will come on, and the buzzer will sound, asking you to connect the LVD so that the charger can push power to the batteries.
The solar panel is only 50W and on a good reasonable day, it is able to trickle charge the batteries and maybe a bit more if you use the lights for a few minutes. It is not powerful enough to keep the batteries in full if you have other DC appliance running (fan, light, etc.) in addition to parasitic drains, it is not expected to keep your battery topped off. I think if I clean the panel and have the sun hitting it directly on a relative cool day in the summer, I maybe able to get almost 2.0 Amp out of the controller (that is about 25 W) if I turn on the fan. For most of the other time, it barely can dump more than half an amp, maybe as little as 0.2 A if it is in STORE mode. It does not generate enough to run the fan at the lowest setting without draining the batteries. Just keep in mind that my rig is more than 20 yrs old, and I assume the solar panel degraded to less than half of its rated capacity over the years. This is why a few people who boondock upgrade their solar by adding new panels to the roof.
2000 Concourse dinette, on 1999 6.8L Ford E350 Triton V-10 Chassis
Excellent info and I believe our panel set up is the same. So just to confirm , if I have the toggle in the Off (Sticky) mode there should be no drain or charge to much of anything correct ?
There *should* be no drain, but Cascade have more toys in there, and I heard from others that some devices were active even when the LVD is off. The only way to confirm is to measure the current draw at the battery terminals. The chassis battery in the front may also have some parasitic draw from the radio, etc., and the battery disconnect between the coach and chassis battery may also engages when the voltage is above certain level and discharges your batteries, for example. It is a pretty complex system, and I am only talking about the Concourse.
At any rate, yes, when in STORE, the LVD should not let any DC appliance on the DC panel use any current.
2000 Concourse dinette, on 1999 6.8L Ford E350 Triton V-10 Chassis
