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bamaboy473 · 01-13-2016, 04:38 PM

I'll call American tomorrow in order to determine the switch's location, since I don't even know what one looks like.
Are they normally in the SP cable compartment, or the battery compartment, or the genset compartment? The cause has to be something simple because it's a complete, total, collapse of the charging function.

OTOH, what is causing a large battery drain when there's nothing ON in the coach? That's another subject that I'd want answered before buying new batteries.

shiggs68 · 01-13-2016, 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cb1000rider

I'm not sure I'd call converters a "trickle" charger - most are in the 30-60 Amp range.. that's not a trickle. Although you're right, a big bank of batteries in a DP will take a while to charge. Good ones are multi-stage and will float, so you don't boil out batteries.. But not all of them are good ones.

Every RV I've owned gets a disconnect or the power goes dead. Running batteries dead will quickly terminate their useful life.

I said better than a trickle but not a full charger. Most all Converters while 30 to 65 amps only utilize a portion of that for charging.

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shiggs68 · 01-13-2016, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bamaboy473

I'll call American tomorrow in order to determine the switch's location, since I don't even know what one looks like.

Are they normally in the SP cable compartment, or the battery compartment, or the genset compartment? The cause has to be something simple because it's a complete, total, collapse of the charging function.

OTOH, what is causing a large battery drain when there's nothing ON in the coach? That's another subject that I'd want answered before buying new batteries.

You should check the pedestal that your shore cable is plugged into for a ganged pair of 50amp circuit breakers. Always toggle then off and back on to ensure they are reset. Many do not always look tripped.

Also inside your RV there will be a circuit breaker panel similar to your sticks and bricks house with another pair of ganged 50amp main breakers and numerous sub breakers. Usually located close to where your shore cable enters the RV.

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Old Bounder · 01-13-2016, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shiggs68

I said better than a trickle but not a full charger. Most all Converters while 30 to 65 amps only utilize a portion of that for charging.

Most, if not all, converters made in the last 15 years are multi stage chargers, and would be considered a "full charger". All are considerably better than the average 10/12 amp charger. There hasn't been a converter made, that I'm aware of, since the old Magntek 63XX/73XX that had separate converter and charger outputs, or that wouldn't provide it's full rated output if/when the battery charging required it.

Few RVers would have a better charger (i.e. commercial charger) in their garage, than the one installed in the OPs Eagle.

bamaboy473 · 01-14-2016, 04:49 AM

Thanks, shiggs68. The outlet here at the house is a 20A dedicated outlet that's worked well for 3 years. It tests at 124V, so that's good.

Where charge level is displayed is the main panel inside the coach (also tells genset settings and inverter info, plus SP load) ALL of the lights are gone. Total black.

Power at the 50A SP cable reads the same, so cable is good.

I'm going to inspect the bay where the auto-cable winder is and make sure that I haven't missed a set of breakers in there.

The MAIN breakers are in the panel that's part of the bed frame.

Since the mattress is oversized and very tough to move (especially with the slide in), is it possible that a Transfer Switch would be under the bed?

P.S. Now that I think about it, the power cable reel operated just fine, even with almost-dead batteries. Would that operate on the starting batteries?

Quote:

Originally Posted by shiggs68

You should check the pedestal that your shore cable is plugged into for a ganged pair of 50amp circuit breakers. Always toggle then off and back on to ensure they are reset. Many do not always look tripped.

Also inside your RV there will be a circuit breaker panel similar to your sticks and bricks house with another pair of ganged 50amp main breakers and numerous sub breakers. Usually located close to where your shore cable enters the RV.

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bamaboy473 · 01-14-2016, 05:38 AM

a couple of Side-Bar questions about coach batteries (mine has 4 6V GC batteries)

? Can we drive our coaches without having coach batteries? If I have to take it to a mechanic, will it make the trip?

? If I want to use an external battery charger to get the coach batteries up to some level, do I connect the Neg probe to Neg and #1, and the Pos probe to #4?

computerguy · 01-14-2016, 06:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bamaboy473

a couple of Side-Bar questions about coach batteries (mine has 4 6V GC batteries)

? Can we drive our coaches without having coach batteries? If I have to take it to a mechanic, will it make the trip?

? If I want to use an external battery charger to get the coach batteries up to some level, do I connect the Neg probe to Neg and #1, and the Pos probe to #4?

Yes, you should be able to drive the rig without the house batteries working. The house and chassis batteries are isolated. Not sure about 2003 if they had a 'Boost' feature which would allow the chassis batt to connect to the house via a relay but that should not matter. Also, when the engine is running it may try and charge the house batteries too. Did you call American Coach/Fleetwood to discuss the problem? They would have more information on the stock setup. Also, is it still a stock setup?

The house battery bank is 4 batteries. Most likely 2 sets are in parallel and then those 2 sets are in series. Think of it as one big battery. There should be one cable from a negative post that goes to the chassis ground. That would be your negative. There should be one positive coming into the bank from the converter. That would be your positive. Without good picture there is no way for anyone here to know though. If you are not familiar with electrical connections please call someone who is. Batteries are not something to fool around with.

bamaboy473 · 01-14-2016, 06:59 AM

I'll be calling American today, but in the meantime, here are several photos

Control panel is all dark. No lights/LEDs on any of the panels.

ScanGage show 13.7/13/8V while engine is running.

Batteries are now all at .2V, so the drain is continuing.

I need to locate that Transfer switch.

P.S. Neg posts are all lower left on each battery

HD4Mark · 01-14-2016, 07:37 AM

Your shore power cord should go directly into the transfer switch. If your coach has a power reel it will go in and out of that first but at least in our case the cord is not connected to anything in the "tub" that the reel coils the cord into.

You could try jump starting the generator and see if you can read 12V on the house batteries meaning they are charging via the generator. That would indicate to me that the transfer is stuck on generator.

The converter charger should also charge the house batteries while the coach is running so they will read 12V then if it is working.

I have replaced transfer switch on our coach and had the inverter/charger rebuilt by the manufacturer. The switch was about $160, the rebuild $500 so let's hope it is the switch.

navigator336 · 01-14-2016, 11:48 AM

If your main AC circuit breaker panel is located in the bed pedestal, that's most likely where the transfer switch is also. I know you mentioned the mattress is heavy, but you'll have to lift it to get to the access panel. The access panel will probably have four screws holding it down and will likely be directly above the circuit breaker panel. On my rig the panel is a piece of 1/8" thick plywood that matches the bed pedestal. Once you get the panel off you'll be able to see the back of the circuit breaker panel and the transfer switch. The transfer switch will have the shore power cord coming into it as well as the generator power feed. It will have an output cable going directly to the circuit breaker panel. After making sure your shore power is disconnected and your generator is off, take the cover off of the transfer switch, tap on top of the relay solenoid contactors and make sure all wire connections in and out of the transfer switch are as very tight. At this point it might be a good idea to check that all connections coming into your main circuit breaker are also tight. To do this, open up the circuit breaker panel by removing the face plate. You should then have access to the screw connections on the main breakers.

Once you get the shore power working again, you can try to revive the house batteries, but they are likely toast. If they will take a charge I'd suggest putting them through an equalizing cycle after they get fully charged on a normal cycle.

navigator336 · 01-14-2016, 11:57 AM

I forgot to mention, the cause of your house batteries draining down so low is likely an internal short inside of one of the batteries which killed it and then drained the other batteries since they are all connected together.

bamaboy473 · 01-14-2016, 12:58 PM

UPDATE: American Coach is the best. Debbie said that a large box under the mattress is where the (it's not a transfer switch, but does the same things) the unit is located that I need to inspect to re-set breakers.

Danged bed is over-sized and the slide is IN, so ought to be a joyful time getting to the box. Wish my buddy the Hulk was close by.

bamaboy473 · 01-14-2016, 02:58 PM

UPDATE: Removing the %&#@+! mattress revealed two access panels within the bed frame. One was access to the slide, and the larger one covered a monster box, a Hart Interface Source Manager II.

3 old-style fuses 250V, 250mA. One was blown. A 30A push-button fuse that was fine.

Tomorrow I'm going to buy a couple of those fuses and replace the blown one.

I dis-connected the battery cables and tried to charge one of them; no go; the battery is too far discharged (.5V) I'm still curious about what would have caused the voltage drain. Anybody have a guess?

American Coach told me that their charger is good if batteries have more than 11Volts. It auto shuts down if there is less voltage. Odd, but that's what she said.

Time to replace the fuse and 4 batteries and see what happens. I still need to ask her what might have caused the blown fuse.

shiggs68 · 01-14-2016, 03:11 PM

Are you sure the blown fuse was 250v/250ma? That is too small to be in a charging circuit. May be just protecting the display which would explain why it is dark.

As far as a drain, it is not unusual for smoke, CO, and LP detectors to be powered regardless of your disconnect switch. In addition, things with a circuit board (fridge, air conditioner, water heater) all require small amounts of power while turned off. Add all of these up and several amps are being used. Over days, this will deplete the charge if not being maintained. There are many threads here on this subject.

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