Expensive lesson in battery maintenance

[thelastplace]

My generator, of late, would start but after a short while would stop. Start again, stop again. I took it in for service and after an hour and a half of labor, at $111.00 per hour, I find out my generator won't run because my house batteries are dead (2v and 2.5v). Can someone explain this relationship to me? By the way, the generator runs just fine now.


But the true travelers are they who leave for leaving’s sake
Saying continuously, without knowing why: ‘Let us go on’.
Paraphrased from Baudelaire’s ‘The Journey’

[Dixieray53]

I read this and I think it explains the relationship...Peace...D

My RV Generator Won't Start | eHow.com

[thelastplace]

Thanks bro, but the generator would start and run sometimes for an hour. Then just die. The error code was a 14 (something to do with frequency). I never had a problem starting it, just keeping it running.


But the true travelers are they who leave for leaving’s sake
Saying continuously, without knowing why: ‘Let us go on’.
Paraphrased from Baudelaire’s ‘The Journey’

[RV Wizard]

With the generator running and if power is getting into the house side, the converter/charger should be charging the batteries. Make sure this component is working properly or you new batteries will soon go dead again.

[Robi.1014]

On my rig, the GenSet starts by juice from the house batteries. So if yours is starting (and it's starting current comes from the house batts), then something is suspect here....'cause (obviously) the GenSet wouldn't start from dead batteries. Really: you are reading 2 volts across a 12v battery?...or is that across a 6v "golf cart" battery. Even for a bad battery, those are pretty-low values.

Like RV Wizard wrote: when the GenSet is running, then the Inverter should be charging the house batts ... and you should be able to measure around 14.2 volts at that time.

So I think your GenSet stopping has little or nothing to do with the battery readings you're seeing/reporting. Any additional feedback to this forum will help. And sometimes, trouble-codes are just not what's really happening. Might the GenSet be overheating?...or starving for gas (or diesel)?...or you're experiencing a low-oil automated cutoff.

[thelastplace]

Here's what I know for sure...Back in July after a trip to FL I discovered the house batteries were LOW on water. So I filled them. I didn't check voltage, thought water was enough. While the coach is home it's on shoreline and all batteries are disconnected (switch). When we went to FL again in December the trip down was OK but coming back the generator wouldn't stay running. When we got home I check the batteries again and they were low again, so I filled them but, again, didn't check voltage. Since the generator was due a 450 hr service I thought that might uncover something. It did not. Returned the coach to service and said 'I have an error code 14 and the generator won't keep running'.
After the hour and a half of checking, Camping World said the only thing they could find was two bad house batteries with possible dead cells and low voltage. The batteries were of low quality (original) and replaced with deep cycle batteries per spec. The generator now runs just fine. You can see why I'm confused. What does one have to do with the other except for starting?


But the true travelers are they who leave for leaving’s sake
Saying continuously, without knowing why: ‘Let us go on’.
Paraphrased from Baudelaire’s ‘The Journey’

[gbstewart]

is your generator fuel injected? what kind is it?, you may also have a igntion system that needs 12 volts to give juice to give spark.
gbstewart

[thelastplace]

Carburator. Onan 5500


But the true travelers are they who leave for leaving’s sake
Saying continuously, without knowing why: ‘Let us go on’.
Paraphrased from Baudelaire’s ‘The Journey’

[gbstewart]

electric fuel pump?

[gbstewart]

also I think that you might have a round external ign coil, and if you dont get full voltage, the motor will stop. if the battery is not holding a charge and the genney is useing more volts then battery can produce then it will stop. maybe when your on shore power the batterys gets a bit of a charge, just enough to start and keep running for a short time. I can see your problem, but its hard for me to explain.
just my 2 cents

gbstewart

[RV Wizard]

First off, the generator needs 12VDC to run. Next if you are wanting to keep you batteries charged when plugged into shore power, you need to have the battery disconnect turned on. When everything is right; the batteries should require little to no added water for a long period of time. The battery cells have to be good, the charging system has to be good and all the inter connecting wiring have to be clean and tight.

[thelastplace]

I appreciate all the info, and thanks to the last two posts I think I understand the connection between the batteries and the generator. Camping World cleaned everything and put in two new batteries. We'll see how it goes from here.


But the true travelers are they who leave for leaving’s sake
Saying continuously, without knowing why: ‘Let us go on’.
Paraphrased from Baudelaire’s ‘The Journey’