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j-d

Sunny Florida USA

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Posted: 06/20/08 07:28pm

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Some RVs do not switch the 12VDC power to all loads from battery to converter output. They feel the battery power is "cleaner" and want to use it for things with solid state logic boards, like refrigerators. This leaves more load on the house battery than you might expect.
BTW the charge section of our converter boiled batteries then quit charging. I have an automotive battery charger connected in its place.

* This post was edited 06/20/08 07:42pm by j-d *

God Bless, jd

melmar

Burleson, Tx

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Posted: 06/20/08 08:19pm

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semopetvet wrote:

Hope someone is still monitoring this section. I've been offline for a week.
I unhooked the negative cable from the battery, left the rv plugged into shore power and the 12 volt lights still worked - so does this mean the converter is ok? as far as I can tell the fuses are ok.
I checked the battery c a voltmeter and it read somewhere between 11-12 volts both when not hooked up to shore power and when hooked up to shore power. ( the engine battery read 12 volts). I put a trickle battery charger on the house battery and within 1 minute it read fully charged. the fluid level is ok.
I tried to use the house battery to start the generator and it would not (Note: when I do this the LP detector starts beeping until I reset it - don't know what this means). when I push the button to tap into the engine battery, the generator starts easily.
Does this mean that most likely the house battery is bad?? I plan on taking it to Autozone to have it tested tomorrow.
thanks again for the advice. chuck

I think you have found out already if you went to Autozone that you had a bad battery. At no time should you have less than 12.5 volts in a non use state. If charging, you should read at least 13.5 to 14.5 volts on your VOM.

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TreeSeeker

San Diego

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Posted: 06/21/08 07:16pm

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Go here for lots of good information about batteries and charging.

http://www.phrannie.org/battery.html

semopetvet

jackson mo

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Posted: 06/21/08 07:32pm

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Thanks for the "appetizer". I bought the rig used and dont have a manual, tried once and couldnt get one. so think I will let the local rv shop check things out if the battery checks out ok. chuck

RV Kid

California

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Posted: 06/22/08 11:49am

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I had same problem at one point. We replaced the fuses on the converter and that seem to correct the issue.

Louseman

Oakland, MI

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Posted: 06/23/08 07:29am

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Had a situation like this with our new Motorhome. Final result was that
the ground connection from the house batteries to the frame was not
good. Converter could not deliver enough current to charge the
batteries when plugged in.

Disconnected ground from converter and batteries and measured the
resistance of the cables between them. Resistance should be zero or
close to it.

After re-doing the connection from the batteries to the chassis frame
all was good again.

Louseman

Oakland, MI

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Posted: 06/23/08 07:31am

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