Community Forums

swoop · 03-18-2018, 09:50 AM

Hi all,

I purchased my 2006 Fleetwood Discovery early last year. The batteries were less than a year old when I purchased the coach. Visited the coach last December and discovered all batteries were dead. The two starting batteries were so dead that they were frozen. After thawing, was able to recharge one of the batteries but not the other so I replaced them both. Tried to recharge the four house batteries and discovered the case on one battery had separated and was leaking and two of the other batters would not take a charge. I purchased and installed new house batteries last month. I connected them as the previous batteries were connected. Two weeks ago I had solar panels installed to keep the batteries charged. I went to my coach yesterday to work on a few small projects. My solar controller showed the batteries charged at 100%. I started my generator to exercise it and turned on the heat pump (it was a little chilly in the coach). The Xantrex panel showed the "battery state" in the yellow as if the batteries needed to be charged but the solar charge controller showed the batteries as being 100% charged. That got me to thinking, what is the voltage configuration of my house batteries? Not sure if I have a 6v system or a 12 volt system or what. Based on the connections can anyone tell me what is the voltage configuration of my batteries and how many combined amp hours I have? Will all of my batteries be charged by the solar panels as they are currently connected? The batteries are Trojan T-105. 225 amp hours at 20-hour rate. I'm trying to get as much use out of the batteries as possible.

Here is the configuration (photo attached also):

Batt #1 neg connected to Batt #2 pos
Batt #2 neg connected to Batt #3 neg
Batt #3 pos connected to Batt #4 neg
Batt #4 pos connected to Batt #1 pos

Thanks!

Elwood58 · 03-18-2018, 09:58 AM

Looks like a 12v system with two sets of two 6 volt batteries in Series, and the two sets paralleled together, which is the most common configuration.

OLYLEN · 03-18-2018, 10:02 AM

Looks like everything is connected correctly and you have a 12 volt system. Two batteries in series and each of the two battery sets in parallel. I also see two white wires and a black but have know clue if they are correct.

LEN

Mr_D · 03-18-2018, 10:04 AM

How many cells in each battery? Three = 6 volt, six = 12 volt.
An RV will be a 12 volt system, although some subsystems may use different voltages.

F76Marion · 03-18-2018, 10:22 AM

Swoop,

You have a 12V system with the bank in series/parallel - not uncommon

Let's call #1 the one on the right....
Batt #1 pos connected to Batt# 4 pos And the House panel positive Feed.
Batt #1 neg connected to Batt #2 pos This is one of two series pair
Batt #2 neg connected to Batt #3 neg And the House panel negative Feed.
Batt #3 pos connected to Batt #4 neg
Batt #4 pos connected to Batt #1 pos This is the other series pair.

I cannot see the other end of the cable attached to #3 negative. I suspect it should not be there.

Frank

twinboat · 03-18-2018, 10:23 AM

You have 2 series sets of 6 volt, 225 AH batteries. That gives you a 450 AH battery bank.

Where did they connect the solar ? How much solar did you have installed.

A small solar system connected to the chassis batteries may not be enough to power up the isolation relay. It will show full on the battery bank its connected to but not the other bank.

The isolation relay connects the chassis batteries to the house batteries IF it senses between 13.2 and 13.4 volts. Isolation relays also fail often and that could be your problem.

swoop · 03-18-2018, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OLYLEN

Looks like everything is connected correctly and you have a 12 volt system. Two batteries in series and each of the two battery sets in parallel. I also see two white wires and a black but have know clue if they are correct.

LEN

A black and white wire go to the solar panels. There is another white wire that goes to the inverter.

swoop · 03-18-2018, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twinboat

You have 2 series sets of 6 volt, 225 AH batteries. That gives you a 450 AH battery bank.

Where did they connect the solar ? How much solar did you have installed.

A small solar system connected to the chassis batteries may not be enough to power up the isolation relay. It will show full on the battery bank its connected to but not the other bank.

The isolation relay connects the chassis batteries to the house batteries IF it senses between 13.2 and 13.4 volts. Isolation relays also fail often and that could be your problem.

Glad to know they are in series. Solar is connected to (+) on battery 1 (far right) and (-) on battery 3. Two 100 watt panels. I went to my RV and checked the voltage on each battery. Each one was 7 volts. My controller panel showed batteries at 100% and at 13.6 volts. Coach is facing north in storage. No obstructions. I turned a few lights on and the controller showed the panels generating 8.6 amps

I don’t know anything about the isolation relay. There is a (+) cable connected to battery 1 (far right battery) and a (-) cable connected to the battery to its left that go to some system in the RV (they both have plastic sheathing on them). Not sure yet what system uses those cables. Thanks for the replies! I’m learning more about my coach each day and I love it!

swoop · 03-18-2018, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr_D

How many cells in each battery? Three = 6 volt, six = 12 volt.
An RV will be a 12 volt system, although some subsystems may use different voltages.

Four 6v batteries.

"007" · 03-18-2018, 07:25 PM

You will find battery info in this link and how they are hooked up,

Sue46 · 03-19-2018, 04:36 AM

Since everyone agrees the batteries appear to connected correctly I think the question that needs answering is why aren't they charging from the solar? 200 watts is plenty to charge the batteries. If not able to trouble shoot yourself I woud go back to the installer ASAP.

Jthigh · 03-19-2018, 06:29 AM

As others have mentioned the main cables appear to be correct. The one thing that I noticed was the small Grey/white wire with the red connector on the negative terminal of batt 3. Looks like that could be the temp sensor to monitor battery temp for charging. Mine is mounted between 2 of the 6 volt batteries which would be on the positive of your batt 3. Don’t know if it matters or which one is correct. Maybe someone can provide some input on that.

funjnt · 03-19-2018, 06:30 AM

There are many ways to connect batteries, right and wrong even though the wrong will still work ok. I just went through this and cooked two new batteries, 8d in one year. I switched to the 6 volts and here is how I wired them. There are several battery articles on this site, not sure which section. It is important to keep the positive for the coach and charger on one bank and the negative for coach and charger on other back so both batteries flow equally. Here is a pic of how I wired mine from other diagrams.

wa8yxm · 03-19-2018, 06:37 AM

Your house batteries are 12 volt. Each 12 volt battery (you have only two batteries) is divided into two halves, six volts each, for ease in handling and installing.

But basically you have 12 volts at around 430 amp hours give or take a few (400-450)