House Batteries

[bmcgc]

My manuals are pretty vague when it comes to how my electrical systems are wired.

I store my 07 Flair about 1 mile from the house. My intent is to bring it over once a month for 3 days for an airing out and to cycle the systems.

I haven't been over for 2 months and when I went last Sunday the house batteries were pretty weak.

I started the engine but the generator would not even turn over.

When I bring the RV to the house and plug my 30 amp power cord into a 110V outlet, are my house batteries being charged?

I have 2 six volt house batteries. I figure that I will need to replace them at some point, I have no idea how old they are.

If they do not charge through the power cord, I will take the battery cover off and put my battery charger on them until they are charged.

[Kjlunda]

Your house batteries should charge when you plug in, provided that you haven't turned them off. Also, they should charge while you're driving/running the engine.

[wolfe10]

Yes, if you have a converter, it should charge the house battery bank.


If a smart charger or smart inverter/charger and voltage is very low, it may not charge them (safety measure).


Check battery water level, then check voltage before plugging in and then after plugging into shore power.


Let us know what you find.

[Winemaker2]

First... uou need to drive it more than the 1 mile home. A 20-30 min tide is better than a 1 mi ride.
Are you disconnecting battys in storage?
If not, you might consider doing so. A fully charged and disconnected batty will last.5-6 most easily but connected parasitic draws can kill it in a week or two.
More.impirtant to run gen than main eng especially if in any high.himidity areas.

[Gary RVRoamer]

In a 2007 I'm pretty sure the generator would start from the chassis (engine) battery. Since your engine started ok, the chassis battery must be good and so you may have a problem with the genset. Maybe corrosion on the genset starter & 12v connection?

[bmcgc]

Yesterday at 5pm I plugged the 30A power cable into my 110V plug in the garage. Water level in the batteries was fine, I can't find my meter so I don't know what volts I am starting at. My SIL may have the meter at his house.

At 11am today I went out and started the engine and hit the start button for the gen.

It fired right up, yesterday it would not even turn over.

I'm letting the gen run 10 minutes and then cycling the ACs and fridge on and letting it run under load for another 10 minutes.

My long term maintenance plan is to take it out of storage once a month drive it home for three days and do cleaning and maintenance. After 3 days, drive it 20 miles while running the gen, stop at a park with everything running and have lunch with the wife, drive it back 20 miles, put $20 in gas in it, then back to storage.

That puts some fresh gas in it every month, gives me 3 days to air it out, clean and check fluids and runs the engine and gen for about 1.5 hours.

My HOA will allow the RV in the driveway for 3 days.

I need to have the passenger windshield replaced, fix the step and figure out how to repair the big slide before next summers trip.