Batteries dead, how do I charge them?

[rookie1255]

2016 Ventana 4369


I got my new to me Ventana home, played around with the lights and buttons for a bit, thought I shut it all down. When I went back out in a few weeks the generator wont start and turning the key in the ignition does nothing.



I'm guessing the battery bank is dead. I'm also assuming all the batteries are connected in parallel. Can I just wheel a battery cart and generator out there, connect it to one battery and run it for a few hours to charge the bank?


Could I hook up a 14V battery minder and do the same? I know the battery minder would be a lot slower but would be less likely to cause damage since the current would be much lower.


Finally, am I supposed to turn the battery or bus disconnect off every time I leave the RV for an extended period to stop this from happening again?

[Elwood58]

I would jump the chassis and after engine runs for a while, start generator or plug into shore power.

Definitely use disconnect switch when storing the RV.

[twinboat]

With your batteries run down so deep, your going to need about 12 hours of charging to get them back to 100%

Your inverter/charger may not kick in until there is some charge in both battery banks.

Jump starting or a seperate charger and running the engine will get the voltage up enough to get the generator running and the inverter/charger to take over.
Then you will need to run it for a long time or plug the shore cord into your portable generator and run that for a day.

A day or two on shore power is the best fix but even then, you need to get some charge in the batteries from an outside charger.

There are 2 seperate banks of batteries, house and chassis. They connect when there is a charging source on one or the other.

You need to switch them all off, if storing without power.

[Jyrocharlie]

This brings up a interesting point, the Digital battery chargers they sell now won't even recognize a battery is connected if the battery is totally dead. The older analogue chargers would put out voltage even if there was no battery connected. I have had to drag out my 20 year old charger to put some juice in a battery that was totally dead to allow a digital charger to recognize a battery was connected. Auto supplies have a lot of batteries as cores that digital chargers wouldn't charge till you put some voltage in them.

[Robert T]

Been there done it. I jump-started the generator ran it for an hour and then started the engine using the battery boost switch. Idled the coach for a half-hour drove the coach for 15 miles. Then
plugged into shore power all was fine. The next morning all batteries charged.