electrical problem

[John Grigsby]

I have a 2007 Coachmen Mirada. The last couple of times I had been out the lights would go dim and it sounded like the power was going down. I just put in 2 new batteries. Even after that the monitoring panel only showed fair to good. This week end I was out and by Saturday night the lights were on but dim. This morning I had to start the generator to get electric and then had to start he engine to get the slide outs in. I am wondering if it is the inverter? I read in Motorhome magazine one person replaced the battery and it was their invertor would anyone have a suggestion. The new batteries are not holding a charge.
Thank you; JOhn Grigsby

[camaraderie]

John, Sounds like your batteries are not getting charged properly but we'll need more info. In the meantime...if you have a VOLTMETER With your genny on...put the voltmeter on the terminals of each battery and take a reading. You should see something ABOVE 14V if your charger is working. If you get something in the 12V range or less...then your charging system is not working. It could be cables OR the charging section of your inverter or converter.
If you ARE seeing over 14V then my guess would be that you are not nearly charging your batteries with enough amps or long enough to fully charge them to 100% which MUST be done.
Suggest you also try this same experiment with the genny off and the engine on to see if you are getting a charge from your alternator.
To be of further help, it would be good to know what make model inverter/charge you have..what make model batteries you just installed as well. I assume both are coacch batteries rather than chassis/start battery.

[deandec]

New house batteries are not always fully charged when purchased.

Your cable connections may be loose or corroded.

Either could result in weak voltage result.

Camaraderie gave you good trouble shooting steps.