1988 fleetwood southwind
 

Hi everyone I am new to the RV world. But I just purchased a older RV with 29,000 miles on it the interior is really clean the exterior is a little rough but does not matter to me as I am going to drive it to my property were the family rides atv's. My problem is that I can't get the 12v acc. To work on the inside micro,lights,fridge etc. both front and rear ac units work great. I have it plugged into my house. The generator is not working the previous owner pulled the carb off. I did replace a couple low voltage fuses and a 20amp breaker under the fridge and still no lights. Any suggestions where to look next. Thanks.

Do you have some 12v lights, but not others, or no 12v power at all?

Do you have the house batteries hooked up? Do they have a charge?

It could be that your converter (which changes 120v AC into 12v DC and charges your house batteries) is not working, so even if you've got your main power cord plugged into an AC outlet, you can't convert it to 12 volt power.

I would put a regular auto battery charger on my house batteries until fully charged, and see if you can pull 12 volt power from the batteries (i.e. do the 12 volt lights now come on?). If you can, then the converter or converter circuit is the likely culprit.

The converters in that era Fleetwood were junk, anyway. If left plugged into shore power over time, they will overcharge and boil your batteries.

Well I went out and I do have power to the outside and inside wall outlets. I will check the batteries now. Thanks.

Well so now after toying around with the RV, I now think for sure the 6 volt batteries are dead and may not even be hooked up right.

Thanks so much for the info Senior Chief you hit the nail on the head. Batteries were not only low but upon further investigation I found a wire not hooked up.

Let us know what happens when you get your batteries charged.

Another tip that wasn't mentioned is fuel level. Many RVs have a low fuel shut off so they don't drain the RV gas tank since they share the same fuel. On mine, the generator won't run if there is less than 1/4 tank of gas. Just thought I'd throw this out there.

We just purchased a 1989 Fleetwood/southwind in September and have really enjoyed it so far. I am slowly learning but here are a couple of things that we have run into that you might experience:

1) Carry a bunch of extra plumbing parts or I guess put them with the RV on your property as we had a few leaks on our first couple trips. The T's/90's and valves were just old and when water started flowing through them again with pressure they just gave out so having some extra plumbing parts is crucial.
2) Learn where your breakers are: I have 2 on the gennie and some under the fridge.
3) clean your filters on your A/C units...
4) check behind your fridge to make sure that the place where it vents is clear. Mine wasn't cooling well and once I cleaned that out; it started working great.

You are welcome to ask me questions and maybe we can learn together. this is my first RV so I am still learning about this RV thing too. Good luck with everything.

Dan P.

Thanks so much for the info. The gen. Is not working the guy said he took the carb off to clean it and misplaced some parts. I did replace a couple low voltage fuses under the fridge and the middle 20 amp breaker. The two 6 volt batteries are shot and won't take a charge. Any ideas on what to use to replace the headliner with. I tore out most of the original one due to falling done, but the wood is in great shape.

Hi there, welcome to the RV world, here's a place where you might be able to get the headliner. You will have to call them and give them the specs how long and wide etc.

Here's the link to their site.

Factory RV Surplus

You might also want to check out this one it is an RV salvage place and they should have a carb for your Generator. Again I would call them as they will want to know what size onan you have, 4KW, 5.5 etc

Used RVs and Motorhomes - RV Parts | Colaw RV Parts and Salvage

Hope this helps,

Happy Trails
Jim