Coach Battery/Converter Issue

[volvik]

I've been having some intermittent issues with the coach batteries losing their charge, primarily when I've had the RV sitting for extended periods of time. Most times I think the receptacle that it's been plugged into for shore power had the breaker tripped etc.

I've been troubleshooting the pedestal-converter but before I go deeper I'd like to have something confirmed:

When the coach is plugged into a 30 amp circuit in my house will the fridge still give a Lo Dc fault 'IF" the coach batteries are NOT fully charged?

I'm hoping this is the problem, that the coach batteries (which are reasonably new) just need to be charged fully. I have a multi meter but not a load tester.

Thanks in advance....Ron

[nothermark]

Originally Posted by volvik

I've been having some intermittent issues with the coach batteries losing their charge, primarily when I've had the RV sitting for extended periods of time. Most times I think the receptacle that it's been plugged into for shore power had the breaker tripped etc.

I've been troubleshooting the pedestal-converter but before I go deeper I'd like to have something confirmed:

When the coach is plugged into a 30 amp circuit in my house will the fridge still give a Lo Dc fault 'IF" the coach batteries are NOT fully charged?

I'm hoping this is the problem, that the coach batteries (which are reasonably new) just need to be charged fully. I have a multi meter but not a load tester.

Thanks in advance....Ron

The short answer is maybe. Check the voltage across the battery. There are a couple of things that can happen. Some chargers will follow the battery voltage down some to limit the current to a safe level for the charger. Some will shut off if the battery is too low to prevent drawing too much current. Either way the thing to do is to unplug, check the battery voltage and write it down. Plug back in and check it again. It should be higher by at least a volt or more. If not check the storage relay to make sure it is working. If it is then go for the converter output. If that does not show a problem then come back with some numbers.

[volvik]

...so it turned out that the two GC2 6v coach batteries did need to be replaced however I suspect that the converter is still the suspect in this issue.

We're just away for 3 days and the new batteries were reading about 12.45v after a 3 hour drive and after sitting plugged into 50a shore power the reading is now 12.05v. From what I've read these new batteries should be into the 13.x range.

When I last looked at the converter, behind a panel under the fridge, the OEM WFCO converter is mounted on the floor unfortunately the rear with the connections and fuses is facing the outside of the coach. When we get back I'll disconnect the coach batteries, unscrew the converter mount and turn it around and meter the output terminals. If there's no voltage coming out and the fuses are fine I guess it's new converter time.

After combing through many threads it appears a good replacement is the Progressive Dynamics 9260? Some have replaced with their 45amp version but as the wiring here should support the 60a I guess I should go with it.

[F76Marion]

Volvik,

Most of your problem is probably the WFCO converter. They have only recently started making a product that is not stone-age, and they still aren't a match to a Iota or Progressive Dynamics.

Batteries should never be less than 12.0. Fully charged, but at rest they should be at least 12.6.

Frank

[volvik]

Hi Frank, yes that's what I've come to find out about the WFCO too. Would you recommend the 60amp PD option over the 45amp?

Ron

[volvik]

Okay, I disconnected the coach battery cables and then went to the WFCO 65 amp converter.

I removed the battery cables from the back, plugged into a 15amp shore circuit in the garage and when I metered the converter output I get a reading of 14.76v. Now that's too high isn't it?

The WFCO manual says that it should only output 14.4v in Bulk Mode for fast charging.

So it appears the converter may well be working after all so now it's a head scratcher as to why these brand new batteries aren't reading above 12.5v.

[nothermark]

The question in a way is what the voltage of the battery string is with the WFCO connected and the AC connected and disconnected. If the voltage goes up 1-2 volts when the 120 VAC is applied then I would be charging the battery string for a day or two and see what happened. Write down the voltages each time to see what happens. There are ways for the charger to fail under load as well as the effects of being simply overloaded if the batteries are really low. If it's low batteries they should come up noticeably overnight.

[volvik]

After a short discussion with Randy from BestConverters I ordered/received and installed a new PowerMax converter. Removal and install took about 20 mi nutes and it works like a charm. Batteries are happy!