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Old 07-13-2014, 02:22 AM   #1
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Batteries won't hold a charge...

I have a generac generator that just got redone with new fuel lines and runs great. When I get the money I will be upgrading to a larger onan generator since mine is only watts, but until then it should be able to charge my 2 coach interior 12v inline batteries for my interior needs. Unfortunately, it is not. The batteries were just bought from Napa last year, have the 13 stickers on them, worked great last year, but we didn't use it much in the off season. While it sat, we kept it plugged in the entire time to an external dedicated breaker. This is our first RV, and am not sure if this is how your suppose to do it, but it seemed to work with the other batteries last time. Although this is a 2000, and we bought it from a dealership, we bought it used with very low miles is 05 and have had it since then with very few hiccups. We've added our own upgrades here and there as we've gone and have had a lot if fun along the way. This one problem though is given us a headache. We did find out that the batteries are not hooked up to the engine in any way, so we will have to pay someone to run some kind of line to the alternator so that when it if the do go dead, they won't kill the engine batteries (which they don't now, since they are not hooked to them), but that way we can use the engine to start up and charge up the batteries enough to start the generator. Until all if this happens though (new line run, new generator), I would really love to know what's going on with my batteries!?! I'm out in kings canyon right now, and we have had the generator, which barely starts each morning, run from 9am to 9pm, with nothing being used all day, and nothing being used all night. It gets it up to the "Good" level, one below "Charged", and then in the morning, were back down to the second from the bottom, "Fair", just enough to start the generator. With out the generator, I would have to manually close the slides when I leave, not fun. I checked all the lights, and anything else that might draw power and ok thing is on. If I press the disconnect button to shut off everything, my gas fridge shits off as well, and there goes my ice cream for the kids and I'm still trying to have a good trip too. Help me out here class A guru's! I really need some help, and I'm stuck up on a mountain 3 hours from the nearest auto place.

Thank you in advance, even if it's keep doing what I'm doing and advice for when I get home! I just found this site after all these years and I'm loving it!!!!
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Old 07-13-2014, 02:55 AM   #2
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What type of batteries do you have? Model #'s, etc. does not sound like you have true deep cycle batteries. The ones usually marketed at Walmart, etc are called "Marine/deep cycle" or "Starting/deep cycle" and are only slightly better at deep cycle RV usage than automotive batteries. A "true deep cycle" has much thicker lead plates, and costs more, but lasts much longer. When you get home you might want to replace those two 12 volt batteries with 4 golf cart batteries (6 volt) if there is room in the battery compartment.

You say you are running the generator 12 hours everyday ? Usually the generator powers a converter/charger or inverter/charger which actually charges the batteries. Could be something wrong with the charger....or perhaps it is set to the wrong setting. Can you take pics of your converter/charger?

Converting your lights to LED will consume much less power from the batteries, making the charge last longer.

Please provide as much specifics as you can about your equipment, pictures help too, and this will aid us in troubleshooting your setup further.
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Old 07-13-2014, 04:52 AM   #3
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Sounds more like a battery issue but you still could have a charging issue as to how efficient they are being charged. From what you are saying, they are being charged to get the monitor lights to go from "fair" to "good" but the batteries may not be able to hold a charge overnight. I would charge them and have them tested at a NAPA dealer and see if one or both are bad and maybe get them to warranty them ; even if it is partially. Once we have this correct then we will check the converter or inverter charger you now have and plan for a charging circuit from the engine alternator.
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Old 07-13-2014, 05:23 AM   #4
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As with all electrical issues you need to determine the charging voltages. You have to start at the beginning. Start by measuring the battery voltage with nothing turned on. A fully charged battery at rest will be 12.6 Volts. Now check with the engine running. Then with engine off and gen running. Then plugged into shore power. You need to determine that before anything else.

If the batteries are low in charge your charging voltages will be somewhere around 13.6 volts in all three cases: engine, gen and shore power. Your unit is new enough that the engine alternator should also be furnishing approximately the same voltage to the coach batteries as well as your engine battery when it is running and not plugged into shore power.

Those charging voltages need to be checked first before anything else is done. Once you know those three charging voltages then you will have a better idea where to start troubleshooting. If you do anything else you are chasing your tail. Even if those NAPA batteries are not exactly what you should have they should still work, still being charged etc, etc. Yes they may not be charging but it may not be your batteries and you won't know that until you check the charging voltages.

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Old 07-13-2014, 05:38 AM   #5
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As with all electrical issues you need to determine the charging voltages. You have to start at the beginning. Start by measuring the battery voltage with nothing turned on. A fully charged battery at rest will be 12.6 Volts. Now check with the engine running. Then with engine off and gen running. Then plugged into shore power. You need to determine that before anything else.

If the batteries are low in charge your charging voltages will be somewhere around 13.6 volts in all three cases: engine, gen and shore power. Your unit is new enough that the engine alternator should also be furnishing approximately the same voltage to the coach batteries as well as your engine battery when it is running and not plugged into shore power.

Those charging voltages need to be checked first before anything else is done. Once you know those three charging voltages then you will have a better idea where to start troubleshooting. If you do anything else you are chasing your tail. Even if those NAPA batteries are not exactly what you should have they should still work, still being charged etc, etc. Yes they may not be charging but it may not be your batteries and you won't know that until you check the charging voltages.

TeJay

TeJays post is exactly right, so when you are "off the mountain"and back home, start on this job. Some body can rig up one of the small battery tenders or minders for you which will solve the problem.

Since you are on the mountain, you can do a temp fix. If you have a set of jumper cables, just hook the positive terminal of one of the house batteries to the positive terminal of one of the chassis batteries. You can also attach the neg cables if you want but they share a ground and it should work with just the pos cable. Do this when you need to start the generator and leave it connected while the generator is running. This will charge the chassis batteries as the house batteries are charging.

If you leave them connected over night you might pull down both sets which is a bad thing.


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Old 07-13-2014, 05:45 AM   #6
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Do not wire the house batteries to the engine batteries or they will all go down.

Are you sure there is no battery isolator in the system that lets the engine charge the house batteries? Is there a button on the dash to let you start the engine from the house batteries? If there is then it probably has an isolator and charging system.

While you are running the generator are you also using a lot of power for things other than charging the batteries? There is only so much power available.
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Old 07-13-2014, 09:01 AM   #7
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Batteries won't hold a charge...

If your coach doesn't already have a way to charge starting batteries from generator, this inexpensive device is what you need.

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Old 07-13-2014, 09:13 AM   #8
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Do not wire the house batteries to the engine batteries or they will all go down.

Are you sure there is no battery isolator in the system that lets the engine charge the house batteries? Is there a button on the dash to let you start the engine from the house batteries? If there is then it probably has an isolator and charging system.

While you are running the generator are you also using a lot of power for things other than charging the batteries? There is only so much power available.
Use the MAIN DISCONNECT "off" and that won't happen
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Old 07-13-2014, 11:30 AM   #9
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leaving unit plugged into power while not in use for long periods of time will boil down the water in those batteries and they will go dowm. Check the water level in the batteries, use a portable trickle charger 2 days before you plan on traveling and the batteries should check normal. The generator should recharge them if you are dry camping and inverter should handle recharge when on shore power. I use a battery disconnect at the main battery that shuts it down completely when on shore power.


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Old 07-13-2014, 03:01 PM   #10
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Sorry, posted middle of the night before I went to bed and we had some early morning activities planned. I haven't been using anything that draws power at night or during the day since the batteries went dead after two days and I had to jump them, and run the generator non stop ever since. Last night I tried flipping the "Disconnect" switch before I went to bed and then turning it back on this morning at 0900 when the generator went back on. This kept the battery level up higher. There must be some type of small draw on it. Now that it has been charging half the day with nothing going, it's flickering on/off the "Charged" for the batteries. Although, I'm sure once I plug in anything it'll drop right down.

Now, I agree I will be doing most of this when I get home, and so a lot of this is a mute point right now. But, since I'm stuck up here. I'll start answering some questions as I go through the responses, and see about posting some pics as well. If it takes me a little while in between, it's because I can't find what has been asked, I can't figure out the darn picture part of the posting on my phone, or my wife and kids have taken me somewhere (which I don't mind).

I do thank you all very much for all of your help with these responses and how thought out they are. Hopefully, I will be able to one day return the favor.
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Old 07-13-2014, 03:03 PM   #11
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Just as a side note, the "Disconnect" switch also shuts off my gas fridge. Basically, everything shuts off!
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Old 07-13-2014, 03:06 PM   #12
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Use the MAIN DISCONNECT "off" and that won't happen
Right. Then the batteries won't run down because he won't have any house 12 V.
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Old 07-13-2014, 03:51 PM   #13
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Right. Then the batteries won't run down because he won't have any house 12 V.
My disconnect only shuts of Vehicle power NOT the house power....
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Old 07-13-2014, 04:51 PM   #14
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How do I post pics? It asks for a URL? I have them saved on my iPad and iPhone, and using my mifi puck for internet while here. Don't know what it means by URL? Can you tell I'm a little computer illiterate. I took a whole bunch of all the areas of the batteries, generator, switches, panels, inside, outside, anything and everything. Just need to upload them and hopefully they will answer a lot of the questions while I'm here away from my tools and testers.
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