Floating volt and amp guage

[tinhammer]

I have a 2003 Dutch star diesel pusher. The info station on the passenger side front where the hwh on/off switch is, there are floating meters measuring house battery volts and amps. The volt meter reads between 13 and 13.5 volts. The amp meter has disappeared showing 0 amps. Occasionally, it will float up just enough to show red but then disappears again. Has done this for a month now. I have pulled all 4 house batteries, cleaned them and cables, added a little water, checked them with hydrometer and they all tested good. Local RV shop can't see me for 2 months. Typical.
Anyone out there have any ideas? Thanks much.

[ChasA]

Hi tinhammer,.
From your description, it sounds like your house batteries are getting a float charge from your converter. The voltage you're seeing is typical float voltage. The amperage you're seeing is also typical. It just says that your batteries are fully charged and are being maintained by the converter.

[Sweetbriar]

When the coach has AC power available the DC volt meter indicates what the convertor/charger is pushing and the amps are 0 or past 0 into negative since the convertor/charger is pushing power to the batteries.

To test your meters unplug shore power and turn on the ceiling lights in the coach. You should see the amp meter pick up and show current flowing and the volts should drop to under 13 quickly once the surface charge is consumed. The water pump is a high current pull if you have LED lights.

[tinhammer]

So it sounds like to me that your saying the gauges are reading normal? I will try what you suggested to see what happens. Thanks much. These gauges were never explained to me when we purchased the coach.
Thom

[Mike and Cha]

Sounds normal to me. That's pretty much the same as what ours does. When the batteries are at the float rate then the converter isn't drawing any power to charge. Ours does vary from time to time so I know it's working and the batteries are always fully charged.

[calhyatt]

Our 2003 Kountry Star has the same setup as yours. It sounds perfectly normal to me. Floating charge as the batteries are up to max charge and system is cut back to floating charge.