Problem with battery. Experience guy needed

couple things
check the capacity of your battery and the output of the charger; that will give you an idea of charge times

- the onboard charger maybe puts out maybe 20amps; that'd be pretty generous
- are you sure your rv will charge off your tow vehicle; my last 5er wouldn't but the tow vehicle could be used to run limited 12 volt 'stuff' in the 5er
- charging batteries takes a long time; a couple hours isn't much

example(lets say you have a 50 c/10 battery, so 50hrs at 10amp discharge). If its at 50% and you are putting 10amps into it it'll take 25hrs to recharge it.

We have a couple of these on hand to measure and test:

Clicky

This is a good source of rv electrical system info and dc info:

Clicky

Our current 5th wheel is our first rv with an on board generator, which to my surprise, uses the dead house batteries to start :h, and doesn't have a rope starter...

So I added a dedicated starting battery maintained by one of these:

Clicky

Which I learned about by asking a question here on rv.net.

Lots of variables there.
1. The TV will put out 20 amps at best, by the time it gets to the camper it may be down to 10 amps. You would have to drive for 20 hours to charge up a dead battery.
2. Furnace fans pull a lot. On my TH 15-25 degree camping will pull 2 group 24 DC batteries substantially. (Barley starts the gen in the morning.)
3. Like others posted you need to know what your charger is rated for. It's just some math after that.
4. Get you battery tested. 4-5 years is max for most flooded batteries.

When you store your RV do you turn the battery disconnect off?

I suspect your battery(s) weren't fully charged to begin with. You can't rely on the bar gauge on your panel for an accurate measure. Also, many stock converter/chargers do not charge at the manufacturer recommended level (between 14.2 and 14.6 volts). So running your generator for 2 to 4 hours with these stock chargers (which charge at 13.7 volts) won't come close to fully charging your batteries. If this is the case, there are upgraded converter/chargers that provide multi-stage charging capability. I upgraded mine for around $130.

The decision to invest in solar really depends on how you plan to use your RV (i.e. Stay in campgrounds, boondock, ?). Nevertheless, the rule of thumb for solar I like to follow is to roughly match the solar output (in watts) to the amp hour capacity of your battery bank. So if you have 220 amp hours of battery capacity, then 200-250 watts of solar is a good match. Of course there are several components in a solar charging system that can make or break your efficiency, but that's a good place to start in my opinion. Many folks start out with a 100W portable system that can be hooked in when needed.

How many batteries do you have?
What converter model number?
Have you ever measured actual charging voltage?

Battery should charge from 40% to 90% if the charging system is working as expected.

Probably need 200 to 400 watts of solar if you want to get away from generator charging.
LED lighting would also be a huge help.

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Need more info..

1. How many battery's you have?
2. Whats the make model or amp hours of battery
3. What make model charge controller in the camper?

Start there. we can help..

TV only really maintains battery's..

If you have a good charger the battery's should charge in 4 hours or so...

Need to run gen everyday. 4 hours or so..

A better charger and more battery's will help...