Wrknrvr Posted January 10, 2015 Report Share Posted January 10, 2015 With the charger on and in charging mode follow the 12vdc cable form the battery's to the charger.. Look for a fuse inline it will probably be in a plastic holder. it will be bigger then normal size fuses. Either flat or round, depending what style is used. it could anywhere from 100 amp to 325 amps. Check the voltage on both sides of the fuse, See if they are the same or different. I have seen where the fuse is blown, but solar power will give false or unusual readings. And low output compared to a charger. Next thing might be some pictures of you equipment as installed. Vern Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredM Posted January 10, 2015 Report Share Posted January 10, 2015 Sounds ot me like a classic converter / Inverter-charger failure mode Or could be poor battery connections - Under a heavy load measure the voltage from the battery terminal to cable end on all battery cables This will easily tell you if the connections are bad - any voltage above a few milli volts means bad connection Converters, Inverters and Inverter/chargers are all repairable - MOST times far less expensive to repair rather than replace I'm always looking for defectiove units - PLEASE do nto toss the defective units in the trash Happily pay shipping costs to get them here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRACKUM Posted January 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2015 If the batteries are staying at 12.6 that means they are charged. You shouldn't see a big drop like you are to 11.9 with only a single light, maybe an amp, pulling them down. I'd begin to suspect a bad connection at some spot. Check the batteries on the posts and see if you see that big a drop there. If you don't see it there just start following the wires looking for where the drop appears. I'd start by checking the ground line as it is usually less effort than the hot side. I don't know how to upload a picture to this forum so I have placed a couple of pictures on my website at the following link. One is of my batteries and the other is a device connected to the batteries. I would like to know what the second one is and how it fits into all of this. When I test the voltage at all points along the batteries I get 13 volts, my meter does not show the decimal. With the black test lead on the ground of the battery and the red on the point where the positive cable is connected to the little device I get 13 volts. With the red lead on the point where the line goes from the device to the coach I get 12 volts. Carol & Dennis http://mothercarol.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRACKUM Posted January 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2015 If all that you turned on was one light and your battery fell by 0.8V that seems excessive to me but it depends upon how many amps you were drawing just how far is normal. A furnace requires at least 10.5V for the blower to turn fast enough for the sail switch to close and allow it to supply heat. Most refrigerators will drop out at about the same voltage. If you turn that light off and wait a few minutes, does the voltage return to 12.7V or very nearly so? If so that is a good sign but a larger load is really a better test. If you can leave the battery isolated for 24 hours and check the voltage again, that too will tell us a lot more. You should be able to lift the negative battery lead to isolate it and turn shore power back on to get 12V power from your converter and that will give you the chance to see what the battery does overnight as well as testing the reliability of your converter. I tried to isolate the battery by taking off the ground. There are two grounds to the batteries. when I remove them both there is no power to the coach at all. I have placed a picture of the battery at the following link, which is my website. http://mothercarol.com/pictures001.aspx Can you tell me which one I should remove? Carol & Dennis http://mothercarol.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRACKUM Posted January 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2015 If the batteries are staying at 12.6 that means they are charged. You shouldn't see a big drop like you are to 11.9 with only a single light, maybe an amp, pulling them down. I'd begin to suspect a bad connection at some spot. Check the batteries on the posts and see if you see that big a drop there. If you don't see it there just start following the wires looking for where the drop appears. I'd start by checking the ground line as it is usually less effort than the hot side. Sorry Stanley I forgot to include the link to the pictures http://mothercarol.com/pictures001.aspx Carol & Dennis http://mothercarol.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skp51443 Posted January 11, 2015 Report Share Posted January 11, 2015 Dennis, You can edit old posts to fix things, the edit option is very light gray down along the bottom by the Quote buttons. What that looks like is two circuit breakers tied together as they couldn't find a single one big enough for that load, you'd have to clean them up a bit and see if there are any markings on the side or top of the can to be sure. You really need a decent 10 amp 1/100 volt meter for an RV, any time you are dealing with battery charge levels 1/10 of a volt is not enough to get good answers. This is a good meter for RV use, lots of test functions you'll use over time and a four digit display. http://www.amazon.com/Amprobe-AM-510-Commercial-Residential-Non-Contact/dp/B007FZFTZO/ref=zg_bs_15707471_8 First rule of computer consulting: Sell a customer a Linux computer and you'll eat for a day. Sell a customer a Windows computer and you'll eat for a lifetime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wa_desert_rat Posted January 11, 2015 Report Share Posted January 11, 2015 Take the battery connectors off the batteries and use a battery terminal tool (about $3 at your local auto parts dealer) to clean them up. The tool has wire brushes that you can use to clean the battery terminals and a wire brush that can be used to clean the inside of the connectors. Make sure you remember which one went to which battery terminal. Reconnect them and see what that does for your problem. WDR 1993 Foretravel U225 with Pacbrake and 5.9 Cummins with Banks 1999 Jeep Wrangler, 4" lift and 33" tires Raspberry Pi Coach Computer Ham Radio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRACKUM Posted May 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2015 I want to express my gratitude for the quality of help you all provided to me here. It is so amazing that three different RV repair techs tried to sell me hundreds of dollars worth of parts and labor to solve this problem, none of which would have solved the problem. With your help I found a 20.00 circuit breaker that was connected between the batteries the power coming from the batteries and the power going into the coach that was burned up. I replaced it myself. My wife thinks I'm too COOL. Carol & Dennis http://mothercarol.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oscarvan Posted May 25, 2015 Report Share Posted May 25, 2015 Another satisfied customer And another RV'er one step closer to taking care of problems himself, which is even cooler. Previously a 2017 Forest River, Berkshire 38A, "The Dragonship". https://dragonship.blog/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.