I have what I call a rare class c rv. It's a 2000 Harney Desperado 24 ft. FORD chassis class c. I only say rare because Harney was only in business for 2 years. From my research rare does not mean unique, meaning most everything is standard equipment found on most every class c Ford chassis from 2000. Enough back ground. I recently installed 2 6 volt batteries wired in parallel, not parallel, in series, for 12 volts. A few years ago I replaced the isolator relay between the chassis battery and the house battery because the house battery was not charging while driving. I bought a Stinger brand. I've had no issues with that. Since putting in the 2 6 volt batteries I've noticed they don't fully charge up to 12.7 volts, from my gauge inside the rv or my multimeter. The chassis battery stays at about 12.6 to 12.7. I will include a picture of what I will assume is my issue. My question is, what is the item in the picture and where can I get a replacement? It connects the batteries to the built in house charger. Thank you very much. I hate to think I wasted $800 on 2 batteries if I can't charge them. Also I'm not sure if this is why the alternator is not charging it. I obviously have to replaced the pictured item but should I replace the Stinger also? It is about 4 years old. I'll add a picture of that too. I know the isolator is not hooked up at the moment, I have bypassed the isolator to charge up the batteries then I will hook it back up properly.
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I recently installed 2 6 volt batteries wired in parallel for 12 volts.
Assume you mean you wired the batteries in SERIES for 12 VDC.
And, I would start by checking voltage at the alternator-- should be around 14 VDC. Continue "downstream" until you find where it drops to below 13 VDC. Could be something as simple as a dirty or loose connection.
Yes, in series, I get the terminology mixed up but yes in series to double the voltage. I will check my alternator output, like I said my chassis battery stays at 12.7 with the engine off and 13.7 with the engine on. Thanks and I will check everything you mentioned. Any idea what the item is in my Pic? It is obviously broken off its mount to the rv but the wires to it are tight and in good shape. It's between the batteries and my onboard inverter/converter/charger. I'm looking for a name of the item so I can get a new one and reattached more securely.
The second picture is probably a self resetting 12 volt circuit breaker and they are available in various amperage ratings .
On the left side is an inline fuse holder , worth having a look at to make sure it hasn't been damaged by fumes from the batteries.
Or replaced with a manual reset item of the same rating.
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99DSDP 3884, Freightliner, XC, CAT 3126B, 300 HP /ALLISON 3060
2000 Caravan toad, Remco & Blue Ox.
I have what I call a rare class c rv. It's a 2000 Harney Desperado 24 ft. FORD chassis class c. I only say rare because Harney was only in business for 2 years. From my research rare does not mean unique, meaning most everything is standard equipment found on most every class c Ford chassis from 2000. Enough back ground. I recently installed 2 6 volt batteries wired in parallel, not parallel, in series, for 12 volts. A few years ago I replaced the isolator relay between the chassis battery and the house battery because the house battery was not charging while driving. I bought a Stinger brand. I've had no issues with that. Since putting in the 2 6 volt batteries I've noticed they don't fully charge up to 12.7 volts, from my gauge inside the rv or my multimeter. The chassis battery stays at about 12.6 to 12.7. I will include a picture of what I will assume is my issue. My question is, what is the item in the picture and where can I get a replacement? It connects the batteries to the built in house charger. Thank you very much. I hate to think I wasted $800 on 2 batteries if I can't charge them. Also I'm not sure if this is why the alternator is not charging it. I obviously have to replaced the pictured item but should I replace the Stinger also? It is about 4 years old. I'll add a picture of that too. I know the isolator is not hooked up at the moment, I have bypassed the isolator to charge up the batteries then I will hook it back up properly.
The first thing I would do is to first verify the solenoid is working correctly. With the engine running verify you have normal charging voltage referencing ground on one of the two large terminals on the solenoid. I would expect to see somewhere around 13.1 to a little over 14 volts on one side. This should approximately match the voltage you see across the chassis battery terminals.
Next, verify the voltage on the other large terminal reads about the same voltage as above. If it does not, verify you are seeing at least 12 volts referencing ground on the small solenoid terminal. If 12 volts is present on the small terminal, you should see very low voltage (mabe 0.1 volts) across the 2 large terminals. If you read 0 volts across the two terminals, place the multimeter in resistance mode and verify a very low resistance reading of well under 0.25 ohms. Caution: It is important that before you place your meter in resistance mode, you verify no voltage across the terminals or you will blow the fuse in your meter.
If no voltage is on the small solenoid terminal referencing ground with the engine running, check the voltage to the self resetting circuit breaker shown at the bottom of the picture. You should see approximately 12 volts on each terminal referencing ground. You can also place you voltmeter across the terminals and expect to read zero volts. If you read zero volts, the resistance across the two terminals should read under 0.5 ohms. These breakers are available on Amazon, but you would have to determine what amperage you need. I can't tell from the pictures, but if the cables are at least #10 wire, then you could probably use a 30 amp breaker, but that is just a guess. See https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...e?ie=UTF8&th=1. Maybe if the breaker is bad, you could remove it and see it it has an amp rating stamped on it.
If all the above checks out, the solenoid and the breaker are good.
Another possibility is a that the negative terminal ground on your coach battery has issues. To verify the grounding is OK, first read the voltage between the negative terminals and ground again with the engine running. Expect to see approximately 0 volts. You could also check between the two negative terminals (chassis to coach) and verify approximately zero volts. If you read zero volts, duplicate this reading but check the resistance between the negative terminals. Expect to read a very low resistance of way under 0.25 ohms.
Another issue is that when you parallel two battery banks, it is likely that one of the two paralleled banks will hog all the current and the other battery will not get fully charged.
If you want LOTS of charging while driving upgrade to a dc to DC charger. I have a 20 amp model from Renogy and I could not be happier with it.
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Regards, Don
My ride is a 2005 Kustom Koach Class C 28'5" E-450, 256 watts Unisolar, 556 amp hours in two battery banks 12 volt batteries, Magnum 3000 watt PSW inverter.
Yes, I agree. I have two Victron 30amp DC to DC chargers in my RV. One charges the chassis battery from my 400watt solar panels or the coach charger. The other one charges the coach battery when driving. The chassis battery is a SLA battery and the coach battery is a LiFePO4 battery.
The Victron's are great since they are precisely set to turn on and off at specific voltages and no additional wiring is required. All you need is the input and output sources with the ground connection.
Linear Mode
