Quote:
Originally Posted by lbrachfe
Thanks for all the help guys, although a little confusing on the merge switch location. If you spoke with Tommy, what was the final opinion ?
|
Reference the 'confusion':
Given Newell’s 44 years of continuing improvements, along with the custom building of every coach, there have been a lot of changes over the years. One example of change is that all new production coaches use the Silverleaf Total House system to automatically bridge the start and chassis batteries based on voltage and source.
A number of years ago Newell used a Heart/Xantrex Echo Charger to maintain the start batteries when on shore power, along with an isolator for charging both battery banks from the engine. Although labeled a charger, the Echo charger was actually a controller, as it diverted a maximum of 15 amps from the house battery charger to the start batteries. If you were dry camped and wanted to maximize start-battery charging while the generator was running, we recommended you use the merge switch to override the 15 amp Echo charging limitation.
Newell also discontinued the three-way merge switch in favor of a two position switch, when we determined we could use a relay to overcome the problem of power loss to the merge switch when one battery bank was dead. For those having a three way switch, both the up and the down positions will normally merge the battery banks, but if one bank is dead you will have to 'experiment' with which position will actually activate the merge solenoid.
Use of an isolator was discontinued, when the Silverleaf Total House system took control of all battery bridging functions. Yet some items on your coach remain much the same, like the tried-and-true 'battery merge' switch which is now labeled 'emergency start', but still allows you to override auto-bridging systems, and merge both battery banks with the flip of the switch.
Bottom line- Given product improvements and custom building, every Newell is different, so always keep in mind that one owner’s solution may not be applicable to your coach. This can be true even if your coach is of the same year, or even within one coach number of a coach being discussed on this forum.
John Clark
Experience is something you gain shortly after you really could have used it.