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Old 11-05-2014, 12:17 PM   #1
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12Volt Question

Batteries are all dead and I'm plugged in should my 12volt stuff work like lights and such?
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Old 11-05-2014, 01:31 PM   #2
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Generally Yes, but it is possible that the batteries are so dead that they appear to be shorted, so your 12v charging system shut down to avoid damage. If the battery voltage is below around 8-9 volts that can happen.

You might try disconnecting the wire from charger to battery positive wire (be careful it doesn't touch anything and spark) and see if the converter/charger can run without the batteries in the circuit. Might have to push a reset button, though. What make/model of charging system is it?
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Old 11-05-2014, 01:51 PM   #3
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It's a Freedom 25 w/2500 watt inverter and 130 amp converter/charger
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Old 11-05-2014, 03:03 PM   #4
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CC also put two 300A Class T fuses between the inverter and the house batteries on my Magna. They are indicated on the schematics.

I have the same inverter setup.

One is in the battery compartment and one is in the house electrical bay.

You will get similar symptoms, even if the house batteries have a full charge, if one of the fuses is fried.
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Old 11-05-2014, 03:19 PM   #5
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CC also put two 300A Class T fuses between the inverter and the house batteries on my Magna. They are indicated on the schematics.

I have the same inverter setup.

One is in the battery compartment and one is in the house electrical bay.

You will get similar symptoms, even if the house batteries have a full charge, if one of the fuses is fried.

To check them would you just see if there is power between that fuse
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Old 11-05-2014, 03:42 PM   #6
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Read each side to ground or just read across the fuse. It should be zero or a small fraction of a volt across. The same 12 V or so on each side to ground.
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Old 11-05-2014, 03:54 PM   #7
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If you have a battery cut off switch make sure its on, if coach plugged in, so your batteries can be charge.



Not sure you have a Bird System this link relates to that.
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Old 11-05-2014, 08:30 PM   #8
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Mike you are not having much luck with that coach. When both of my house batteries crapped out I had the same symptoms. If the inverter was powered up or the coach was running the 12v worked fine. I have 2 of the 8D batteries for my house and one for the chassis
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Old 11-06-2014, 04:51 AM   #9
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Mike you are not having much luck with that coach. When both of my house batteries crapped out I had the same symptoms. If the inverter was powered up or the coach was running the 12v worked fine. I have 2 of the 8D batteries for my house and one for the chassis
This is the first real problem I have had. I think it was due to someone overfilling the batteries prior to purchase. I'm just going to replace all four batteries and see what happens. Hopefully the inverter/charger is ok. I have had two other issues that I knew about before purchase. One was the rear view camera was hard to see in monitor. Fixed that with a new $53.00 camera. The other was a hard start problem. When you tried to start it would run for two or three seconds and shut down. Some times it would take four or five tries to start. The dealer supposedly looked at it and found nothing. After driving it home from florida to Ct. it did it a few times. After doing some research figured it was the rubber ball check valve in fuel line allowing fuel to drain back to tank after shut down. That was a $4.00 part and my time repair. One thing I didn't know that dosent work is one of my grover air horns. Seems one is not getting air. I will look into that in the spring. All in all I'm a happy camper.
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Old 11-06-2014, 07:37 AM   #10
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IF the batteries are completly dead than the following may have happened:
1: Cut off switch activated (USE/Store, AUX battery OFF, or DISCONNECT)

2: Converter may have failed Most common failures are cheap, Blown fuse, (12 volt side) tripped breaker (120 volt side) or on my coach some idiot snagged the cord and unplugged the thing again (Yup ME no other).

3: Batteries SHORTED, this can happen if they are old enough, even in some cases when new.

I won't say this list is all inclusive but those are the big ones.. I found a bad wire on my batteries during routine inspection, had I not replaced it it would have caused the kind of problem you have in time.

SOME converters are happy without batteries
Some are not, (yours I do not know)

If none of the low-cost solutions above seem to work (IE: Resetting breaker/switch or replacing small fuse) remove the NEGATIVE lead from the batteries and see if your lights come on.. This would indicate shorted batteries.

If the lights do not come on consider a converter upgrade.

For stand-along converters I like the Progressive Dynamics 9200 line
For integrated power center/converter systems make it a 4600
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