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pr41cl's avatar
pr41cl
Explorer
Aug 04, 2017

Battery won't charge

Hi I have a Chateau Citation Class C motorhome My house battery will not take a charge?? I had the battery tested and they said it was good. Had the charger on for 24 hours no charging happened. Why is it not charging ? Can something else be the problem. I don't know anything about all this electrical stuff. No man around so need some advice in case I have to bring it into a shop. Would the converter be an issue, It reads lo dc on my fridge but have no lights no electric steps and can't open the slides. Help please!
  • borrow another battery from another car and start there. and try a another charger seems your problem started at the battery.
  • 12 volt distribution panel is commonly located adjacent to the 120 volt circuit breakers behind metal dead-front held in place by a thumb screw.
  • Where would the 12V distribution panel be located ? The connections are clean nothing on them no residue etc. Great power coming into the rig too.
  • Start by cleaning the wire connections on your battery. If you see any powdery residue that location is the likely culprit. Ground connections (the - symbol) are the most frequent culprits.
    Check those and let us know what you found.
  • Yes charger ( external one ) properly connected to the correct terminals, Lights worked at first then went dead. I knew I had no power because my fridge was reading lo dc.I did have the air on and then that stopped and so did everything else so because of lo dc reading I figured battery not charged also my test panel says no battery. Could the air conditioner have blown something that would affect the battery not charging? Very frustrating for me! Yes the switch for the house is in the correct position The lights work when plugged into external outlet did not try using the 12V when all this started
  • Do you have a male neighbor with some electrical savvy? Ask him. Offer him a cup of coffee and a doughnut. Men will do anything for a good doughnut (I will at least, I love doughnuts).....
  • Do you have a volt meter?
    If yes, check the converter for output. If the converter has an output, check to insure the same voltage is getting to the 12 volt DC distribution.
    The converter should provide adequate voltage and amperage to charge the batttery without the sid of an additional charger.
    You could have a bad fuse/circuit breaker adjacent tothe battery, a bad battery disconnect or it is not working, blown battery fuse in 12 volt distribution panel.
  • Another woman here and there is no man in our family and we own 3 campers, a golf cart, and a boat to keep running!

    How do you know "no charging happened"? Did you test it with a tester or by trying to use the lights or something? Could it be that the battery charged but your battery disconnect switch is open?

    It sounds like you are using an external charger and not the one in the charger/converter in the camper. Assuming this is correct...Are you sure you connected the charger properly? Red is + and black is -. To charge, you match red to red and black to black. Assuming this is not the case and you had the camper plugged in to shore power for 24 hours, did the lights work while the camper was plugged in?

    I hope these questions help! I am subscribing to the thread but you can also message me for follow up. I try checking the forum each evening.