AGS Settings

[staineous]

I have a 2021 Seneca 37TS. I am about to go on my first true dry camping trip next weekend. I am hoping to get some advice on ags settings that work best. What battery voltage do you have the generator start and stop at? Do you have the generator run for a specified minimum time period once it starts?

The weather is going to be pretty cool so I shouldn’t need to run HVAC while I am away from the coach. I do want to be sure the batteries don’t get down.

While we are on the subject, I would also like to hear any feedback on using ags to maintain cooler temps in the coach in warm weather.

Thanks for the help.

[RVermont]

I can not speak to your unit as I think they have changed the AGS. In my unit a magnum system the pod is from 10 -12 and is useless as far as I am concerned. I have not used it as I think 12 volts is pretty low and I am not sure the generator would start. I have used it for the air conditioning but the issue there is that the temperature sensor is located next to the door and just opening the door for a short time in high temperatures can cause the unit to auto start. If I could relocate the temp probe it might come in more handy.

[jacquesmm]

Same here, I would like to know what others do an why. I have an Accolade 37TS 2021 and set my gen to start at 11.8 V, stop at 13.5, minimum 40 minutes run.

[Rustynuts]

Originally Posted by jacquesmm

Same here, I would like to know what others do an why. I have an Accolade 37TS 2021 and set my gen to start at 11.8 V, stop at 13.5, minimum 40 minutes run.

I personally don’t use it, ours had an issue of it randomly starting the generator, even in storage, plugged in when the system was disabled....so I had a hard time trusting it. Magnum did replace it and it seems fine now but still don’t trust it.

Problem is the settings are not accurate with the little knobs so you have to play with it a bit. Depending on what batteries you have, 11.8 is at about 30% range where damage can start occurring and I personally don’t like to see mine below 12.0.....unless you are dealing with Lithium.

[Willc]

If you’re not running the AC while you are away I’d not worry about it. We usually turn off the water heater and put the fridge on gas when we’re off wandering around.

[Willc]

If you aren’t running the AC I wouldn’t worry about running down the batteries. We usually turn off the water heater and put the fridge on gas when we’re out wandering about. The parasitic drains don’t seem to move the charge at all.

[staineous]

Originally Posted by jacquesmm

Same here, I would like to know what others do an why. I have an Accolade 37TS 2021 and set my gen to start at 11.8 V, stop at 13.5, minimum 40 minutes run.

These settings are probably close to optimum. I have the generator set to start when it remains at 12v for 3 min and cut off at 13.5. I can’t remember the min run time. On the last outing we were not running AC but we were running the furnace at night. The generator did fire up one morning at around 5am and it WILL wake you up.😬

If we are dry camping and need to operate the AC I will let the generator run all nigh to avoid the starts and stops interrupting sleep.

I can probably get close to a full day and night running the fridge and a few lights before needing to recharge the batteries. I haven’t really pushed it and I don’t want to damage the batteries.

[jacquesmm]

Talking about the generator: which batteries does it use to start? Chassis or house? It makes sense that it would start with the chassis battery, recharge those ones with an alternator on the gen motor and charge the house through the inverter/converter. It may not have an alternator and charge the chassis bat through the same converter but I wonder about what it uses to start.

[Robbbyr]

Originally Posted by jacquesmm

Talking about the generator: which batteries does it use to start? Chassis or house? It makes sense that it would start with the chassis battery, recharge those ones with an alternator on the gen motor and charge the house through the inverter/converter. It may not have an alternator and charge the chassis bat through the same converter but I wonder about what it uses to start.

The generator starts using the house batteries. It recharges the batteries via its 120-volt output to the converter which recharges the house bank directly and also the chassis batteries via the Battery Isolation Manager (BIM) when the BIM senses charging voltage is available and the chassis batteries need it.

Likewise the BIM allows the chassis alternator to charge both battery banks similarly.

[Robbbyr]

And as far as I can tell my QD8000 has no internal battery charging capabilities. It relies strictly on its AC output to feed a converter.

[jacquesmm]

Well, that's a good reason to set AGS starting higher than what I have. I'll change it to 12V.

I am a yacht designer and most of the time, I design my systems to start the gen from a separate battery or from a second bat bank, with all the correct switches in between. The concept is simple: if you drain your house batteries, it does not make much sense to try to start the gen from those dead batteries. That is why we have separate battery banks.
However, in this case, if I drained the house bats, I could start the Cummins with the chassis bats and charge the house with that big engine alternator.

Thank you for the reply, I'll keep all that in mind.

[Robbbyr]

Originally Posted by jacquesmm

Well, that's a good reason to set AGS starting higher than what I have. I'll change it to 12V.

I am a yacht designer and most of the time, I design my systems to start the gen from a separate battery or from a second bat bank, with all the correct switches in between. The concept is simple: if you drain your house batteries, it does not make much sense to try to start the gen from those dead batteries. That is why we have separate battery banks.
However, in this case, if I drained the house bats, I could start the Cummins with the chassis bats and charge the house with that big engine alternator.

Thank you for the reply, I'll keep all that in mind.

You can also quickly start the generator with the chassis batts without "waiting" if you need to. You hold down the auxiliary start switch under the dash while a second person starts the genny. The BIM is both a battery maintainer AND the device that ties the batteries together when the switch is held down. I have used it in the past just like that!

[hallibt]

We have a new 2021 37K so may be different or I have something set wrong but I don’t believe the AC will run on battery power only? The first week we had it home I left the AGS set to the defaults which I think is to start at 11.7. It worked fine and ran until 13.5 but when it shutoff I had to rearm the AGS I am thinking. My background is aviation with 28 volt DC systems and we can use batteries down to around 22 volts to start the equivalent of the generator so I would think 11.7-11.8 wouldn’t be an issue.

[Robbbyr]

Originally Posted by hallibt

We have a new 2021 37K so may be different or I have something set wrong but I don’t believe the AC will run on battery power only? The first week we had it home I left the AGS set to the defaults which I think is to start at 11.7. It worked fine and ran until 13.5 but when it shutoff I had to rearm the AGS I am thinking. My background is aviation with 28 volt DC systems and we can use batteries down to around 22 volts to start the equivalent of the generator so I would think 11.7-11.8 wouldn’t be an issue.

Most lead/acid battery manufacturers don't recommend batteries be discharged more than 50%. That generally equates to 12.1 - 12.2 volts. Decreases below that hurt battery longevity. I would suggest raising the cut-in voltage.

And you are correct about the air conditioners. Stock from Jayco they do not work from the batteries, only the shoreline or the generator. Some folks will add big battery capacity, solar, and big inverters to run their A/C from the batteries, but they are the exception not the rule. Very expensive!

[hallibt]

Thanks for the response and correcting me on the 11.7-11.8. I’ll make the change to 12 as well. I did find in the manual where it says battery fully discharged at 11.89. And not to go below. So wondering why the defaults on the AGS are 11.8. Going to do some more research on that to try and understand why.

[Drv]

Rob R. advice is very good as usual. I have mine set at 12.2v on my 2020 37TS. You can obviously run them lower but based on most everything I've been able to read from various battery manufactures, to people "in the know" anything much below 12.2v can be detrimental to batteries and shorten life span. The good news is our 6v AGMs tend to tolerate a deeper state of discharge then traditional Lead Acid do, so you might get by with 12-12.1v more readily.
I'm posting a link to a decent summary of battery care. Hopefully that is ok, and helpful!
https://deepcyclebatterystore.com/ho...ain-batteries/

[staineous]

The voltage trigger for my AGS is 12.2 also. I do not want to stress the batteries. So far I have not used the AGS HVAC settings. I am not sure about doing that yet because I would think that will create a bunch of generator starts and stops as the thermostat kicks in the HVAC. Can someone with experience using AGS for HVAC comment on this?

Thanks

[Drv]

Originally Posted by staineous

The voltage trigger for my AGS is 12.2 also. I do not want to stress the batteries. So far I have not used the AGS HVAC settings. I am not sure about doing that yet because I would think that will create a bunch of generator starts and stops as the thermostat kicks in the HVAC. Can someone with experience using AGS for HVAC comment on this?

Thanks

I can only speak to the units with touch screen control. If you set unit AGS to turn on when A/C set temp calls for cooling the generator will fire up and then the A/C unit. Its really dependent obviously on ambient temperature and set point of thermostat as to how often Gen runs. I only use A/C AGS setting when I'm driving down road in summer and I want roof tops to run at certain house temp point or when I'm in wally world shopping and dog is in unit. Even then I usually just leave gen running and let thermostats call for cooling as needed to be safe. I suppose if you had heat pump set to run the gen could also kick on?

[Lfresin1]

On my 2023 Precept 31UL the front AC unit stops running when AGS is enabled. Anyone know why that is? Doesn’t seem right.

[norty1]

OK, post # 20 and am I the only one who wonders what AGS means?

I will add it to the acronym list.

Aha! Automatic Generator Start System