R U an RV Mutant too?

[bokobird]

Originally Posted by CampDaven

We have been holed up since yesterday afternoon, but it should ease this evening. All slides in. Weary from wind! Several RVs have come in from the road already.
I can't clock the speed of the gusts, but I hope 80 mph is not on the menu!
Attachment 155931

Hey, the weather down here is just fine and will be for the next week at least! Gotta love this time of year here, humidity is down temps are great, can't beat it!

[flaggship1]

Originally Posted by bokobird

Hey, the weather down here is just fine and will be for the next week at least! Gotta love this time of year here, humidity is down temps are great, can't beat it!

I'll see your weather and raise ya a Grande... lol. Dave's on a mission. Otherwise he'd still be in the sweet spot for weather. Mind you, a few days there a week or so ago a couple hours a day were a little on the warm side. I was in my fleece this morning for the first cuppa around 8 am.

We took another load to storage this morning. Probably 2 more to go. Oh the humanity!

[daveandcarol]

Have had some discharging problems with house and chassis batteries lately while coach is sitting on shore power, so I got out my voltmeter for a battery check (day or two after charging them back up again so they could rest). Chassis battery read 13.7 volts, apparently getting charge from DC converter. House batteries read 12.7 across both, 6.3 read separately. That's a decent resting voltage, but not a charging one. Manual says DC converter charges all batteries. Any suggestions where to check first? Since the chassis battery shows a charging voltage, I assume the DC converter is not the problem. Time to trace wiring I guess...

[Sky_Boss]

Originally Posted by daveandcarol

Have had some discharging problems with house and chassis batteries lately while coach is sitting on shore power, so I got out my voltmeter for a battery check (day or two after charging them back up again so they could rest). Chassis battery read 13.7 volts, apparently getting charge from DC converter. House batteries read 12.7 across both, 6.3 read separately. That's a decent resting voltage, but not a charging one. Manual says DC converter charges all batteries. Any suggestions where to check first? Since the chassis battery shows a charging voltage, I assume the DC converter is not the problem. Time to trace wiring I guess...

I don't know the specifics about your model but I'll still toss out a few thoughts on this...

1. A lead acid batteries should rest for at 24 hours (not connected to anything) before measuring voltage.

2. I'm betting that your converter only charges house batteries unless you have something like a Trick-L-Start device that diverts some voltage to the chassis battery. That device would be mounted in your battery bay and have connections between the house and starter batteries but is not part of the converter itself.

3. The fact that you are getting charging voltage on the starter battery but not on the house batteries confuses me because that doesn't make sense unless you are measuring that with the engine running. Even if you have a Trick-L-Start you should still show charging voltage at the house batteries.

That is my experience anyway.

[daveandcarol]

I misread the Owner's Manual. Appears the converter only charges house batteries. Since they are the ones reading low, I'll check the converter for output voltage.

Still not sure why the chassis battery went down though. Have left the radio on when we left the pups alone to try to keep them quiet but it seemed to drop voltage in a big chunk instead of gradually. Will keep monitoring the voltage to watch for drops...

[Possum]

Originally Posted by daveandcarol

I misread the Owner's Manual. Appears the converter only charges house batteries. Since they are the ones reading low, I'll check the converter for output voltage.

Still not sure why the chassis battery went down though. Have left the radio on when we left the pups alone to try to keep them quiet but it seemed to drop voltage in a big chunk instead of gradually. Will keep monitoring the voltage to watch for drops...

Last winter we found that the chassis battery was prone to dying from the parasitic draws from a zillion little demands, clock, radio, weather alert system etc. I solved that by adding 2 solar battery chargers to the array on the roof. They are about 2 foot square each and since I've installed them the chassis battery reads 13.6 at all times. Oh another parasitic was the little meter that reads the battery voltage.

[Diwizi]

I can provide blue sterile bowls, after i use them... it can be drop the gauze square into the bowl without touching anything....

Not anything on the inside of the sterile stuff.
oh..i do that already.....

[CampDaven]

Originally Posted by Diwizi

I can provide blue sterile bowls, after i use them... it can be drop the gauze square into the bowl without touching anything....

Not anything on the inside of the sterile stuff.
oh..i do that already.....Attachment 155972

Nurse/teacher/mom/gramma Di, caregiver and loving attendant, all the while Mutating as conditions require. Bravo!
Hugs to you both [emoji173]

[Sky_Boss]

Originally Posted by daveandcarol

I misread the Owner's Manual. Appears the converter only charges house batteries. Since they are the ones reading low, I'll check the converter for output voltage.

Still not sure why the chassis battery went down though. Have left the radio on when we left the pups alone to try to keep them quiet but it seemed to drop voltage in a big chunk instead of gradually. Will keep monitoring the voltage to watch for drops...

OK...that makes sense that your converter charges the house batteries.

Now, that being said I want to clarify things about what is going on. If I am understanding you correctly, you are on shore power and you should be reading 13.4ish volts across the house batteries when they are being charged. You said 13.7 earlier but that seems too high for float charging but I'll address that later. You can verify that info while you are on shore power. You also said that was your starter battery but, again, that makes no sense so I would suggest you check that out again and maybe show a picture for our help.

Now, as far as you starter battery you could very well have some serious parasitic leaking. I'm assuming you are talking about the dash radio was being used to help sooth your pups. Other items that would probably be on your chassis battery and "always on" would be the LP detector, stair motor controller and perhaps a few other items. Anything plugged into 12V outlets (GPS as an example) along with 12V lights would probably be drag on it also.

Now...regarding the converter. I would suspect that you have an older converter with only 1 float setting and they tend to be on the high side. 13.7V is on the high side, especially if battery bay temps get above 80*. This, in turn, can cook batteries causing water to be boiled off faster and if not felt with on a regular basis cause sulfation of your plates. Newer converters will run 3 steps automatically to help avoid boiling water off and also occasionally using a higher voltage to remove sulfation from the lead plates.

The problem with older coaches is that they did not include either a better converter and/or a means to charge the starter batteries while on shore power. I would suggest the following:

1. I would then install a Trick-L-Start or Amp-L-Start to charge your starter batteries while on shore power. You could actually start with this first to immediately solve your starter batter issues provided the batteries aren't damaged.

2. Consider installing a newer converter similar to this. This will help keep your HOUSE batteries in better condition. It might even correct a minor sulfation problem.

Doing both 1 & 2 will mask a bad starter battery because of the constant charging. If you are boondocking with a bad battery you will see a fairly quick discharge. You might want to consider a new starter battery if it fails a resting test.

Hope this makes sense and helps.

[MartinC]

Don, I'm a little confused. I've always thought that both the house and the chassis batteries were on charge from the shore supply. The reason I say this is when our alternator packed up on our journey to the hail of a GC, and the wipers were about to stall, I started the generator and all became good with the dash voltage dial showing 13+v. Surely, the generator is simply an alternative to the shore supply. By the way, lamps on our dash radio are always on.

[Davdeb1]

Howdy all you mutants!! RVM #LUCKY 13 reporting in. We don't seem to be too busy, but Everytime I look at this thread, I've got 20 or 30 pages to read.

We spent 2 weeks in Apache Junction. Got to spend time with cousins, and friends from Ohio out here for spring training. We left Wednesday morning at 10am! Ohhhh the humanity!!! I can't remember the last time we were on the road so early.
Tonight we are in San Antonio, on our way to Florida for 3 weeks.
Glad you'll survived the wind. We were pretty lucky, but still had some tough driving days.

Wow the Hill country is beautiful this year. Wild flowers everywhere!!! Going to have to spend more time in Texas next year!!

[okmunky]

Dave 66, I have a disconnect switch on top of my chassis battery because it will go dead in about 4 days, 3 if Sena plays with the emergency flashers. I bought the battery new about a year ago. My rig just has a large parasitic draw. We were parked for 4 months last summer with the battery disconnected and it started when I reconnected it. Dwayne told me to get a knife switch. It was easy to install and use.

My converter that charges the house batteries when we are plugged into 110 died I bought a better one than the OEM and it works great.

There is one more piece to my electric puzzle that you may have as well -- a battery isolator solenoid. I've replaced that also but some of them have rest buttons from what I've read. When mine quit my house batteries would not charge when I was driving and the emergency start switch that allows me to start the engine using the house batteries quit working. Just 1 warning on this -- when I was searching for a new solenoid the same exact part was priced from $15 to $110! It pays to shop around.

Good luck!

[Sky_Boss]

Originally Posted by MartinC

Don, I'm a little confused. I've always thought that both the house and the chassis batteries were on charge from the shore supply. The reason I say this is when our alternator packed up on our journey to the hail of a GC, and the wipers were about to stall, I started the generator and all became good with the dash voltage dial showing 13+v. Surely, the generator is simply an alternative to the shore supply. By the way, lamps on our dash radio are always on.

On your coach that is true. I don't know a newer DP (past 10-12 years at least) that doesn't have a set up to charge both house and chassis batteries when on shore or generator power. I don't know of all model lines so it is possible that some DPs didn't have the combo inverter/charger but I think that would not be normal.

Many older gassers (including my 2006 Winnebago Adventurer's 600W inverter) have a separate inverter to run a few items like the TV and maybe a microwave and separate converter to convert AC into DC to charge the house batteries. Some of the newer gassers do include either an integrated inverter/charger or something like the Trick-L-Start.

[Possum]

Originally Posted by okmunky

Dave 66, I have a disconnect switch on top of my chassis battery because it will go dead in about 4 days, 3 if Sena plays with the emergency flashers. I bought the battery new about a year ago. My rig just has a large parasitic draw. We were parked for 4 months last summer with the battery disconnected and it started when I reconnected it. Dwayne told me to get a knife switch. It was easy to install and use.

My converter that charges the house batteries when we are plugged into 110 died I bought a better one than the OEM and it works great.

There is one more piece to my electric puzzle that you may have as well -- a battery isolator solenoid. I've replaced that also but some of them have rest buttons from what I've read. When mine quit my house batteries would not charge when I was driving and the emergency start switch that allows me to start the engine using the house batteries quit working.

The great mooning will allow sufficient time to add to your roof a solar battery charger for the start battery, It only took about 2 hours to install on Gracie and most of that was taken up doing the after install celebratory beers. I'll pick up a pair when they go on sale dirt cheap at our local Canadian Tire. Our treat just for paybacks.