Low DC Alarm

Rice1951 · 05-26-2018, 08:47 PM

I am on my first outing for the year and also towing for the first time. My coach was plugged into shore power prior to leaving home and my fridge was working fine. After traveling about 90 miles and arriving at our CG the fridge had a low DC alarm on the display. I plugged into shore power at the CG and everything is fine for now. It seems coincidental that this happened while pulling my toad for the first time. The toad has a battery charger from RVi powered by the MH. This keeps the Jeep battery charged while towing with the RVIBrake3 plugged into the 12v receptacle and the EPS on the Jeep engaged. The two 12v coach batteries are original and I bought my 2016 model in 2017 so they didn’t see any use for a year. So is it more likely I have a problem with my batteries, the charging system or my toad setup? Or all of the above? Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Grumpy · 05-26-2018, 08:51 PM

The coach alternator probably can't keep up with the load from all 3.

Chassis, coach & toad.

street rod 37 · 05-26-2018, 09:38 PM

I have 2015 35 Un was plagued with this fault from day one. Finally isolated fridge to its own circuit fault went away. Been 3 weeks hasn’t come back.

txbonds · 05-27-2018, 04:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by street rod 37

I have 2015 35 Un was plagued with this fault from day one. Finally isolated fridge to its own circuit fault went away. Been 3 weeks hasn’t come back.

Can you expand on what you mean? I’m not following but curious to understand in case we have a similar issue when we start towing soon. Thx.

hawkster · 05-27-2018, 06:15 AM

Many of the precepts do that. My towing setup is completely different than yours and I have it too. Some people are running a circuit directly to the battery compartment 12 volts (fused). Others I have heard dealers changed the fridge to a different circuit in the fuse box. For some reason the stock configuration will give that error on battery power. When my engine is running with fridge on propane I don't get the error.

JesseS · 05-28-2018, 06:33 PM

You have too much load on the 12vdc circuit the fridge is on, the control unit in the fridge will show low voltage at 11vdc, and many moderate loads can pull the load down that far due to the low amp wiring used in some coaches, happens to me every time I load up the inverter with the coffeepot or microwave. Move the fridge to another or dedicated circuit.

Rice1951 · 05-28-2018, 08:30 PM

Thanks, JesseS, I will try that.

wondermn1 · 05-30-2018, 07:26 PM

We had same issue with our Precept 31 UL and it took Jayco the full 2 years of warranty to figure it out. They replaced a bunch of parts to no avail until they finally put it on a separate circuit by itself and no more problem. It seems like it is a common problem and the dealerships and warranty department should know the fix right away not in 2 years as in our case.

Rice1951 · 05-31-2018, 07:23 PM

I just dropped my coach at the Jayco repair facility in Middlebury, IN for some warranty work. As I was reviewing my to do list with Mitchell Grooms I mentioned the low DC alarm on the fridge and lo and behold he described the problem and the solution as mentioned in some of the previous posts. Jayco will take care of the fix while my rig is being worked on for my other issues. So thanks to all of you for your help as the timing of your responses could not have worked out any better for me. The JOF comes through again!!!

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