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VanDiemen23 · 09-11-2018, 07:57 AM

The first thing you need is a schematic. There are many options for wiring a coach to provide power first to the chassis batteries or to the house batteries, and these devices all have their own quirks, so you need to read the manual and develop a theory of operation for the whole shebang if one wasn't provided to you.

In my case I had battery problems for six years. After the alternator died and left me driving at night without headlights I started by drawing things out and figuring out how the batteries were put together with everything else and determined that the design was backwards and totally inadequate - my chassis batteries were never going to reach full charge and I was going to just keep replacing them. I re-designed everything from the alternator through the isolator to the follow-charger to the batteries themselves, and since then it's worked better than when I bought it from the first owners.

If you plan on boon docking, a full understanding of the power systems is essential. This isn't like a passenger car - it's more like a ship.

TLGPE · 09-11-2018, 09:04 AM

MOGULITE,

A good first step would be to check the water level in the bats. Look around on this site; there are countless discussions about batteries. Without knowing what you have now it's impossible to give specific advice about what to do now.

You have been given good advice up to now, and the picture posted by Marjoa is a really good beginning on understanding what's in a typical battery bay. Notice that the pic shows one 12V engine starter battery on the right and two 6V deep cycle (golf cart) batteries in series to get 12VDC. These are your "house" batteries. You may have two, four, six, or rarely, even eight of these. There are some cases of using "sealed" 12V batteries as house batteries, but these are usually marine batteries and there is not much you can do for them.

The 12V starter battery is "sealed", so you probably won't mess with it. The two 6V batteries have a total of 6 filler caps. Those you can unscrew and check the water level. The water should be up to the "split ring". Not over, not under. Call it +1/16", -0".

WRITE THIS DOWN! You must use distilled water. Not spring water, drinking water, filtered, purified, soft water, or any other name. DISTILLED WATER! Never anything else, not even once.

Distilled water is available. Walmart usually has it, most grocery stores, drug stores, auto parts stores, etc have it. Walmart usually has it for about $0.85/gallon.

If your water is low in any of the cells, fill it to the split ring. If the solar panels are working they may help the batteries recover.

From here there is no way to help with the generator problem.

Hope this helps a little,

Tom

lockinload · 09-11-2018, 09:23 AM

OP, one question and another suggestion.
You said your refrigerator wasn't cold. Is it not running on gas?

Check your ground connections on your batteries, if they are loose they just won't take a good charge. Well, all connections for that matter but grounds are more sensitive.

Yellowboat · 09-11-2018, 10:46 AM

You can call a mobile technician to come to your rig and check it out. They can often diagnose and fix a problem. I have CoachNet as my roadside assistance and they will provide me with the names of mobile techs. I hope you resolve your issues. JD

BUB1988 · 09-11-2018, 04:00 PM

Mogulite,
Having to troubleshoot a few of the issues you are having I can add to what others have already mentioned. Hopefully I won't repeat much of what others have said

I would try isolating the issues and try to resolve them individually. In the end they may be related, but you have a lot of different variables.
Have you went to a camp ground and plug into shore power? At least you could see if your electrical system is okay.

Do you know the age of the batteries? They could easily be a lot of the problem as we had a similar issue with voltage. Another possibility is your alternator or regulator isn't working correctly causing a low voltage issue. If your coach starts okay and you can drive down the road at night the alternator is probably okay.

I would also look at the inverter and make sure the circuit breaker isn't tripped causing some of the other issues. Does the 12v lights in the RV work correctly? Does the fridge cool better if you switch to LP?

Does the generator try to start or does it sound like trying to start a car with a low battery?

Crasher · 09-11-2018, 07:17 PM

Is the OP still around? He hasn't posted since 5:08 pm yesterday.

theroc · 09-11-2018, 09:17 PM

If you're still around, Mogulite, to answer your question on who to take to if you can't troubleshoot it yourself, several of our friends in the Reno area swear by Ulimate RV Service in Sparks as they are very good at troubleshooting lots of RV problems and usually can figure things out quickly. We had them do several minor things a few years ago when passing through (we used to be NV residents and went back and forth from WA to NV often) and they are very nice folks and have an excellent reputation in the area. I would use a a good RV repair shop rather than a general electrical service contractor.

They're right off the freeway at the next exit past McCarran (Sparks Blvd?) as you're going east on I-80.

1420 Kleppe Lane
Sparks, NV 89431

(775) 329-2347

Ultimate RV Service

VanDiemen23 · 09-11-2018, 09:56 PM

a reference for what works. YMMV.

Arch Hoagland · 09-11-2018, 10:08 PM

[QUOTE=lockinload;4395577]OP, one question and another suggestion.
You said your refrigerator wasn't cold. Is it not running on gas?

I'm thinking it might be a residential refrigerator as he never mentioned trying to switch to gas.

obtsr · 09-12-2018, 07:39 AM

Most generators won't run if there is less than 1/3 of a tank

lockinload · 09-12-2018, 08:02 AM

His name was Mogulite, never to be heard from again.

cavie · 09-12-2018, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lockinload

His name was Mogulite, never to be heard from again.

I hate it when people do that. Very rude!

Mogulite · 09-12-2018, 02:43 PM

Sorry about that! I didn’t disappear, I actually started another thread, my bad.
Thank you all for your advice.

The batteries were seven years old so I did indeed go to Costco and buy four Interstate golf cart batteries. Took care of my the generator problem. Starts right up.

My only remaining issue is the refrigerator. The freezer portion is accumulating a lot of ice build up. I chipped it all out after installing the new batteries but by the next morning, it had built up again. It seems the freezer is about as cold as the refrigerator should be. Frozen items thawed out. The refrigerator is not cold enough to keep milk etc. cold. I checked the two fuses the manual recommended, both good.

I’m still thinking it has something to do with the Inverter as it was working normally until the generator problem. At one point the the fault light lit up on the Inverter remote and the microwave displayed a message saying something like power outage, refrigerator shut off. Don’t ask me how my microwave got so smart, lol.

The refrigerator is currently operating on propane which has always been great in the past. Never had the frost build up before.

Again, I apologize for the disappearance from this thread. I feel so lucky to have found this resource. I have learned a lot and hope to share what I do know when appropriate.

Arch Hoagland · 09-12-2018, 02:59 PM

What brand/model refrigerator?

I'd check the seals if it is a four door Norcold 1200 series.

Ice buildup in a day indicates moisture getting inside the freezer.