2003 fleetwood pace arrow house battery issues.

[Shootergeek]

New here.....bought a motorhome last year 20k miles works like a dream. I let the batteries drain and had to purchase new ones.

Now that they are installed the house batteries are reading 11v and when I press my main button to check voltage I get nothing.

Also the tail lights not brake lights went out before I winterized her and last year any help?

[Jim_HiTek]

Err, a Fleetwood of that era would charge the house batts when you're either driving (alternator), parked with the generator running, or parked and on shore power.

If you measure the voltage ACROSS the batteries (you should have installed 2x 6 volt deep cycle batteries), ignoring any wall mounted displays, it should read ~13.8 volts with any of those 3 conditions. That's how it is supposed to work with the installed CONVERTER device which is just a 120 Vac to DC battery charger with some intelligence. The alternator takes a different route of course.

So, measure that voltage across the house and across the chassis batts and let us know. Note that many RVs of that era did NOT install a chassis (starting) battery charging system for when the RV is just sitting in your driveway. So they'd die within 3-5 days because of all the phantom loads. A brand new fully charged batt? Probably dead in 10 days. In those cases we would add an aux charging system for them ~2.5 amp float device from a big box store. Small box, plugs into 120 Vac, wired up to the chassis batts, keeps them charged.

Now, finally, if you plan on storing the RV without power or trying to depend on the mini-solar panel on the roof, note that those are just a rip-off marketing scheme and don't do diddly. Needs to be 100 watt or more.

Until you get things sorted, if it'll be sitting, just disconnect the batt ground leads (after they are fully charged), and remove the jumper between the 6 volt house batts, they'll last just fine for months and months. I always keep a wrench and a pair of gloves in the batt compartment just to be able to do that quickly.

[Gary RVRoamer]

It appears you did not wire in the new batteries correctly, but I cannot guess how. Go back and check your work, and look for a dangling wire or two that may have been missed. Also a fair chance you blew some fuses on the converter/charger, the two that protect it from reversed polarity. They are usually located on the converter/charger itself. Have you located that yet? Fleetwood tends to hide them on vintage Paces, e.g. under the washer/dryer or tucked in behind a cabinet.


Where did you measure that 11v? Between the battery plus and minus terminals? 11v is essentially a dead battery. Were they fully charged when installed?

[Shootergeek]

I checked my fuses all good, this model the converter is under the fridge. Took the fuses out both good.
Started it up and she's reading right. Turned her off and she is still reading right. Not sure if I just knocked the dust off the right connection but she seems fine this morning.

Thanks for the help