How do batteries charge?

kermitlong · June 19, 2020

May sound like a crazy question. My inverter is not working. Waco said check the volts. I checked my batteries and they seam to be 0.8.

How do they charge - On a 2020 Solitude 373 fb

I am tempted to replace the batteries.

kermitlong · June 19, 2020

My inverter switch was in the on position...so it seems the charge was just passing thru. Set it in off position and seems to be recharging battery. REmote switch would then power unit on when needed. Time will tell.

Kirk W · June 20, 2020

I am pretty surprised that nobody has responded to you for 18 hours, but I will do my best to help.

Your RV has either a converter to change 120V alternating current electricity into 12 direct current electricity for charging the batteries and supplying power to your appliances & lights, or you have an inverter/charger which can supply 120V alternating power to some outlets as needed and it can also take 120V alternating electricity (from shore power) and supply 12V direct current to recharge the batteries and supply the appliances and lights. Generally speaking, The batteries are not vital to this operation when you have 120V alternating current from your shore power cord connected. There are some problems of a battery that could effect the results even then, but not most.

I would ask you some questions first, just to help me understand what is happening. The first question is, do you have your RV plugged into electricity from the RV power cord? How did you measure the voltage at your batteries and was outside power connected at the time? What did you use to measure the .8V and where was it measured? Were your overhead lights working when you took that measurement? Was the refrigerator working when you had that problem?

If you wish more help, share some way for me to get in touch or use the private message and send your phone number and I'll be happy to call or text you for more help.

kermitlong · June 20, 2020

After talking to another Solitude owner in the park here - his also is a 2020. First - he only has one battery - I have two.

So I realized the first battery seems to be for the Slides and Hyd levelers. That Battery is fully charged - like 13.5.

My second battery seems to be for the Residential Fridge. This is the one that is now at 1.12.

Kirk W · June 20, 2020

If your RV batteries are connected in that way, it is the first RV that I have heard of to be that way. I have a good friend who travels with a Solitude and his batteries are connected exactly the same as most that I have seen. There are two common ways to connect a pair of batteries in RVs and which one will depend on what type of batteries you happen to have. If your batteries are each 12V, they should be connected in parallel.

If you have 2 batteries that are each 6V, they should be connected in series.

I highly doubt that yours are connected as you suggest. I would ask you some questions first, just to help me understand what is happening. The first question is, do you have your RV plugged into electricity from the RV power cord? How did you measure the voltage at your batteries and was outside power connected at the time? What did you use to measure the .8V and where was it measured? Were your overhead lights working when you took that measurement? Was the refrigerator working when you had that problem?

mptjelgin · June 20, 2020

It would be very unusual in a fifth wheel to have two different circuits for the two different batteries. Since you have a residential fridge you also very likely have an inverter, which as Kirk described takes the 12 volts DC from the batteries and produces 120 volts AC for your fridge to run when you are not plugged in. With an inverter it is common to have two, or even four batteries as it can pull a lot of power from the batteries under load and a single battery would be overwhelmed.

It is very important to understand if you have two, 12 volt batteries wired in parallel, or two, 6 volt batteries wired in series. The reading that you are referencing (13.5 and 1.12) are difficult to interpret.