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Old 04-25-2017, 03:46 PM   #15
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Originally Posted by ggwilde View Post
Thanks for all the information everyone. Will be looking at all of this. I actually looked at a regular trickle charger today at Harbor Freight but read an online review where it would not charge if a battery was completely dead. So I didn't get it. I need a good regular trickle charger so any suggestions appreciated. I had not seen or heard of the Trick-L-Start. Well definitely be installing one of these.
The Trick-L-Start only puts out an amp or two. Get the Amp-L-Start as it will transfer 5 amps from the house batteries while they are being charged, but will not drain them when they are not being charged. No need for a trickle charger. If you have power available, plug the MH in and let the inverter/charger keep all batteries charged.
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Old 04-25-2017, 05:02 PM   #16
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Had a brief moment and went by the storage unit. Chassis battery dead completely again. I was able to start using the Aux switch from house batteries. Will do some checking with a multimeter tomorrow night hopefully.

Will look at the Amp-L-Start.
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Old 04-25-2017, 06:06 PM   #17
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Sounds like the dead battery has been discharged many times. That alone would kill a battery in a short time. Being a somewhat new battery doesn't mean the battery was good from the start. Had a pair of brand new batteries and one had a bad cell.
I would pull the battery and have it charged with a smart charger. Check the voltage and then load test it.
At this point a new battery might be in order. Install a disconnect so any draw on the battery is eliminated while in storage.
Bad diodes in an alternator can drain a battery also.
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Old 04-25-2017, 06:36 PM   #18
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Made a mistake. when I referenced inverter I should have said converter.

That said ...when I troubleshot my charging problem this is what I found out.

My charging system normally works as follows:

Driving on the road...generator off.... house and chassis bats charge off Alternator.

Driving on the road. generator on......house and chassis bats charge off Converter.

Parked on Shore Power......house and chassis bats charge off Converter

(The Converter provides not only charging current it also allows for surge current to operate devices while charging. I have a "BIRD" system that that switches charging methods...Bidirectional relay.
---------------------------

My Converter failed...ie no DC output.
SO EVERYTHING CHANGES

Driving on the road...generator off.... house and chassis bats charge off Alternator.

Driving on the road. generator on......HOUSE BATS DO NOT CHARGE..CHASSIS BATS CHARGE OFF ALTERNATOR

Parked on Shore Power......house and chassis bats DO NOT CHARGE

----------------------
Not all systems are the same.

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Old 04-25-2017, 07:33 PM   #19
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Had a brief moment and went by the storage unit. Chassis battery dead completely again. I was able to start using the Aux switch from house batteries. Will do some checking with a multimeter tomorrow night hopefully.

Will look at the Amp-L-Start.
AMP L START
Charge up those batteries overnight with a slow charge and check them with a multi meter before you do anything drastic.

I had issues with the house batteries discharging, so I purchased an Amp L Start. Never had any trouble since.
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Old 04-25-2017, 07:54 PM   #20
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Originally Posted by draboo View Post
AMP L START
Charge up those batteries overnight with a slow charge and check them with a multi meter before you do anything drastic.

I had issues with the house batteries discharging, so I purchased an Amp L Start. Never had any trouble since.
Definitely do that. Thanks.
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Old 04-26-2017, 12:54 PM   #21
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Had same issue. See my post. It was the in-line fuze to Echo charger!
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Old 04-27-2017, 08:58 AM   #22
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Your inverter is working fine and the charge is getting through to your house batteries. Many motorhomes in your era have a BIRD relay that allows charge from shore power to charge your chassis batteries. It appears that either your chassis batteries are shot and/or the charge to them is not getting through. Run the engine and see what the voltage is at the chassis batteries, should be up around 14.0 v. See if you have some sort of relay that is capable of charging the chassis batteries when on shore power. If you have it check the voltage at the chassis batteries when plugged into shore power. Once the house batteries are up to a certain level it should allow the chassis batteries to charge. May be a problem with your BIRD relay.
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Old 04-27-2017, 05:03 PM   #23
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Finally able to get to storage unit tonight with multimeter etc. Cranked engine off house batteries since chassis battery would not charge on trickle charger. Drove 30 miles. Alternator was charging at 14 volts. All fuses I could find tested good with multimeter.
Was only able to get about a 75% charge to battery before I had to leave. I want to get a 100% charge to battery to test as I am thinking it may be bad. At 75% per trickle charger I got a 12.6 multimeter reading. Thanks for all the comments, ideas and suggestions.
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Old 04-27-2017, 05:08 PM   #24
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I have so much to look forward to, good luck.
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Old 04-27-2017, 05:30 PM   #25
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Your inverter is working fine and the charge is getting through to your house batteries. Many motorhomes in your era have a BIRD relay that allows charge from shore power to charge your chassis batteries. It appears that either your chassis batteries are shot and/or the charge to them is not getting through. Run the engine and see what the voltage is at the chassis batteries, should be up around 14.0 v. See if you have some sort of relay that is capable of charging the chassis batteries when on shore power. If you have it check the voltage at the chassis batteries when plugged into shore power. Once the house batteries are up to a certain level it should allow the chassis batteries to charge. May be a problem with your BIRD relay.
Have to do some reading on this. I still haven't figured out if the wide green plug in the pictures should be plugged in or not. I'm letting a little thing like work get in my way. Lol
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Old 04-28-2017, 09:37 AM   #26
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Hello: You are trying to diagnose a problem without getting the needed info. Your trusty VOM (even the $5 [or free] one) from Harbor Freight is all you need. Measure the battery voltage on both battery banks after fully charging, under load and with the coach plugged in. You said that the chassis batteries are discharging. This may mean that they are simply bad. This is especially likely since you said they were completely discharged while in storage. This will usually kill batteries, so don't be surprised if they are bad.

If you want to know about parasitic loads just turn everything off, unplug the coach, and put the VOM set to 10 amps in series with either the positive or negative battery cable. I like the negative since shorting it to ground won't result in an arc welder. Then you know what the parasitic load current is. Even if this is zero bad batteries can (will) discharge themselves with nothing connected. The easiest test for batteries is to first fully charge them. This may take days, not minutes. Then test voltage under load. If you are not comfortable doing these tests, stop by a parts store and let them do it for you.

My guess is that you have bad batteries, but you need to verify that.
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Old 04-28-2017, 04:50 PM   #27
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All Winnebagos have the slides, levelers and steps connected to the chassis batteries and do not draw power from either the house AC device or the house batteries. For that reason, the engine MUST be running when the slides or levelers are operated. The chassis batteries are not charged by your house charger unless you have a Tril-L-Start installed - it is installed on post 2007 Diesels but not gas.
You will need to charge your chassis batteries and once charged, always run the engine when using the levelers and slides. Good luck,
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Old 04-28-2017, 04:57 PM   #28
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Quote:
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Hello: You are trying to diagnose a problem without getting the needed info. Your trusty VOM (even the $5 [or free] one) from Harbor Freight is all you need. Measure the battery voltage on both battery banks after fully charging, under load and with the coach plugged in. You said that the chassis batteries are discharging. This may mean that they are simply bad. This is especially likely since you said they were completely discharged while in storage. This will usually kill batteries, so don't be surprised if they are bad.

If you want to know about parasitic loads just turn everything off, unplug the coach, and put the VOM set to 10 amps in series with either the positive or negative battery cable. I like the negative since shorting it to ground won't result in an arc welder. Then you know what the parasitic load current is. Even if this is zero bad batteries can (will) discharge themselves with nothing connected. The easiest test for batteries is to first fully charge them. This may take days, not minutes. Then test voltage under load. If you are not comfortable doing these tests, stop by a parts store and let them do it for you.

My guess is that you have bad batteries, but you need to verify that.
Thanks for the info. I have a trickle charger charging the chassis battery. Did not want to leave it unattended so taking some time to get a full charge. Once it has a full charge I plan on checking it with volt meter as you stated.
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