Stuck in Yosemite National Park (electrical issue)

[Hgrace56]

Start the coach.
Does the chair work?

[desertdd]

Could be a bad ground cable. How do I know? It happened to me!

[jimnkee]

You have a dead chassis battery.

[Roy1]

A lot of coaches have a little combiner that keeps the chassis battery charged while on shore power that works off the inverter.this is necessary for coaches that have phantom loads that run the chassis battery down over time. If so it could have gone bad. A temporary fix would be to use a light wire and connect the plus wire of the house battery to the plus of the chassis battery. It will recharge the chassis battery in a couple of days. If you do this don't forget to remove the wire before you leave your campsite.

[mpierce]

Originally Posted by efstewart

Yes, that's what I guessed. So is it the inverter's job to take shore power and charge the coach and house batteries? By the way, all of my batteries were just changed out about two years ago, and were charging fine, until I discovered this problem.

No. A CONVERTOR changes 120 to 12 volt, and charges the batteries.

An INVERTOR changes 12 volt to 120.

There are some that combine the two into one unit, but they are still two distinct functions.

Your CONVERTOR could be bad, or if it is an old style "battery boiler", after being plugged in 5 months, it could have boiled the batteries dry, and ruined them, if you did not add water.

[Rvlegaleagle]

Originally Posted by mpierce

No. A CONVERTOR changes 120 to 12 volt, and charges the batteries.

An INVERTOR changes 12 volt to 120.

There are some that combine the two into one unit, but they are still two distinct functions.

Your CONVERTOR could be bad, or if it is an old style "battery boiler", after being plugged in 5 months, it could have boiled the batteries dry, and ruined them, if you did not add water.

Here we go again with confusing these terms and functions!

Inverter takes 12v changes it into 120v so you can use your ac stuff that is connected to the inverter from your house batteries. (what 120v stuff is hooked up to your inverter depends on what 120 stuff is connected to the inverter. If you have just an inverter you also probably have a converter when hooked up to shore or gen and there is a transfer switch so it (converter) knows when there is shore or gen power.

Converter takes 120v shore or gen power and changes it into 12v for your 12v stuff, including charging your batteries (some converters charge house AND the chassis batteries which are typically 12v batteries).

A properly wired inverter/charger combo (one unit) makes a converter unnecessary! Typically this ONE combo unit has a built in transfer switch that permits the shore power or gen to run all 120v stuff. (no need to change 12v to make 120 stuff work)

The charger part of the inverter/charger will take the 120v from shore power or gen and charge your 12v batteries (again whether it does the house AND chassis batteries depends on wiring). For charging the 12v batteries purposes it replaces the converter.

Although far from an expert, like some of the posters suggested it seems your 12v chassis batteries need to be replaced with what they call a "starting" battery as compared to a "deep cycle" battery which are for the house side of things.

My suggestion is that you just replace the chassis batteries now because if they are, have been, discharged to almost nothing, their remaining life span (cycles to go) will have probably been significantly diminished.

It would also appear that if you unplug from shore (make sure gen isn't running either) and then remove the cables JUST on the chassis batteries (make sure + cable doesn't touch anything) and put a simple volt meter on those batteries, you will have your answer as to whether or not they need to be replaced

You also mentioned that you have a "tiny" solar panel that is supposed to "trickle charge" only your chassis batteries. Two things here, either the solar has been compromised (bad sun days, debri or dirty, connections poor or not working) or is insufficient over a long period of time (without any other source of a charge) to maintain a proper charge. If your continued use of the chassis batteries for whatever they run can also be a factor in draining the chassis batteries down as well.

Hope this helps you identify and fix your issue and please let us know what the ultimate issue and fix was. Good luck out there must be beautiful

[Rkesselus]

Originally Posted by Hgrace56

Start the coach.
Does the chair work?

I would think Yes as it should be on the chassis battery and thus connected to the alternator.

[Hgrace56]

Originally Posted by Rkesselus

I would think Yes as it should be on the chassis battery and thus connected to the alternator.

If the coach starts them it's not the starter battery.
You know my mirrors don't work if the ignition is off.
It's usually the simplest thing

Originally Posted by efstewart

Actually, we are not really struck in Yosemite, because we are seasonal volunteers in Yosemite Valley with full hookups for our 2006 Newmar Dutch Star motor home. It's a tough job😁 but somebody has to do it.

We are due to leave the Park in about 3 weeks!

I do have an electrical issue though! I will start with a few questions in an attempt to keep it brief. When you are hooked up to full power for about 5 months, and then discover that you can't adjust your electrical captain's chair because it moves a little and the runs out of juice, does that mean that maybe your inverter has died? And as a result, the coach batteries won't even light up the dash when you turn the key?

We have been volunteering here for the last 4 years with full power, and this is the first time this has happened. I am not knowledgeable enough about electrical issues to know the answer without my irv2 friends helping me!

[Rkesselus]

Originally Posted by Hgrace56

If the coach starts them it's not the starter battery.
You know my mirrors don't work if the ignition is off.
It's usually the simplest thing

My suggestion is to get under the coach with a good hot battery and try to use that battery to jump start the engine. Connect the negative to the frame and hit the post on the starter with the positive. If you can get it started the alternator will provide power to all the 12 v on the chassis system.

[hohenwald48]

Originally Posted by Rkesselus

My suggestion is to get under the coach with a good hot battery and try to use that battery to jump start the engine. Connect the negative to the frame and hit the post on the starter with the positive. If you can get it started the alternator will provide power to all the 12 v on the chassis system.

Why not just press the BOOST switch? It simply jumps the house batteries to the coach battery. No need to crawl under anything. Take a look at post #26.

[FatChance]

+1 boost

[Scottybdivin]

Originally Posted by efstewart

Ok, So, I learned something new today, and that is that the chassis batteries are only charged by my rooftop solar panel ( dealer installed), and the alternator while driving,and that they are probably dead.

efstewart, that is not likely the case on your 06 Dutch Star unless something has been altered. Newmar has been using a BIRD system since before 06. It is fairly common for the isolation relay to go out. It doesn't even have to go out completely. It may still work with the boost button but not activate from the BIRD. You can read many threads about it on this site. Your RV should charge both sets of batteries either when connected to 110V or from the alternator while driving. Once one set or the other reach 13.2V, the relay closes and connects them all together.

[Rkesselus]

Originally Posted by hohenwald48

Why not just press the BOOST switch? It simply jumps the house batteries to the coach battery. No need to crawl under anything. Take a look at post #26.

I thought in the thread the Boost was not working. Obvisously that would be better than getting under the thing. du!

[Mudfrog]

Originally Posted by efstewart

Thank you all for your input. "Fatchance", your post confirmed what I just read in the manual. I tuned on the key, pressed the battery boost button and got some power to the seats and ignition. I don't need to move yet, but when I do, I should be able to start the engine that way! I will buy some new batteries also. Once again, irv2 to the rescue!
Now it's time to relax and take another look at "Half Dome", from my temporary backyard.

Me, i wouldn't be able to relax until i figured out what was going on here. I would definitely use that boost switch now, get the thing running, and then move the rig far enough to make access to batteries possible. Even with new batteries, you need to figure out what went wrong with the old. I have a feeling this wasn't the battery's fault.