Advice concerning RV house battery replacement

[jvquixRV]

Issue: I bought a 2018 Holiday Rambler 31E in late Feb 2018. First trip out the Slide would not retract -- cause turned out to be Converter was bad and my batteries died.
They replaced the converter. Later my transfer switch had to be replaced. Now my interior light and 12V systems don't work when I'm on Aux battery and disconnected from shore power.
Troubleshot issue with dealer and determined batteries are bad. I measured the two 6 volt batteries and verified one of them measures 2.2 volts, other one is at 6 volts.

Questions:
Could the converter failing be the cause for the battery dying so quickly? I've only had the RV for 11 months.

Could I replace the bad battery with a local one that is rated at 220 AH versus the RV one rated at 225 AH? Cost for me replacing the battery is 1/6 the dealer cost ($100+ vs $600+).

Should I bite the bullet and replace both batteries?

Thanks for any help with this.

[Russ Silber]

Originally Posted by jvquixRV

Issue: I bought a 2018 Holiday Rambler 31E in late Feb 2018. First trip out the Slide would not retract -- cause turned out to be Converter was bad and my batteries died.
They replaced the converter. Later my transfer switch had to be replaced. Now my interior light and 12V systems don't work when I'm on Aux battery and disconnected from shore power.
Troubleshot issue with dealer and determined batteries are bad. I measured the two 6 volt batteries and verified one of them measures 2.2 volts, other one is at 6 volts.

Questions:
Could the converter failing be the cause for the battery dying so quickly? I've only had the RV for 11 months.

Could I replace the bad battery with a local one that is rated at 220 AH versus the RV one rated at 225 AH? Cost for me replacing the battery is 1/6 the dealer cost ($100+ vs $600+).

Should I bite the bullet and replace both batteries?

Thanks for any help with this.

Replace both at same time. If one cell goes bad you no longer have 12 volts to run any 12 volt item.[emoji23]

[MSHappyCampers]

Hi ! Welcome to IRV2! We're sure glad you joined the gang!

I would replace both batteries. Be sure the ones you buy are deep-cycle batteries!

Good luck, happy trails, and God bless!

[Gary RVRoamer]

The mere fact of a converter failure doesn't harm batteries, but we have no idea what abuse the batteries may have received while the converter was out of whack. At the very least, the batteries were probably severely discharged a couple of times and that can have harmful long term effect.


In any case, change both batteries so you have a fresh start with know quality.



BTW, a fully charge 6v battery should read 6.6v, so the other one may be in poor condition as well if it reads just 6.0v.

[jvquixRV]

Problem solved. Took batteries out got with Rev RV tech support. I checked batteries outside of the RV and they appeared good. Reinstalled them, now the entry step was working and the Aux battery lights went from ‘low’ to ‘3/4’. Interior lights still not working. After a couple of hours I located the 50th amp load circuit breaker and reset it. Lights started working. Not sure what caused the problem but I sent RevRV and email expressing my concern about some questionable procedures- like putting foam over a circuit breaker which prevented access to reset button. Also the two terminal lugs on the circuit breaker where so close together that the insulation of one was touching the metal of the other.

I've ordered a power monitoring system and plan to install it as soon as it gets here.

Thanks everyone for your inputs?
Happy RVing