Chassis battery won’t charge from converter

Capone wrote:
so the plan is to leave it as is until morning and recheck the voltage.

And that will prove......exactly nothing......without knowing what is supposed to happen in that situation.

Are you plugged into shore power during this "test" ??

11.8V is a severely discharged battery. At 2 hours of charging it should be in the 13V+ range headed towards a bulk charge of 14.8V.

When you resolve the charging load test the batteries.

Ok, so a little closer. As it turns out there are two solenoids in a box under the hood just below the a/c coil and I was able to determine that only one small wire connected to the coil of one of the solenoids has voltage on it with the use/store switch set to use, but if the switch is set to store there is voltage on just about every wire in the box. After leaving the switch in store for about 2 hours my voltage went from 11.82 to 11.83 so the plan is to leave it as is until morning and recheck the voltage.

Thanks guys, at this point I have checked for blown fuses, and with the help of a friend to push the button I believe I have determined the solenoid location to be under the dash in the area of the ac cool. As I said I know the converter is supposed to charge all of the batteries as it had no trouble doing so prior to late last season, so the coach sat unused from Nov. - Mar but still started on our first trip of last year without having to use the emerg. start switch. Now that I know what general area the solenoid is in I will do a little further diagnoses. Just so you are aware I am very well versed with the use of tools such as multi-meters as I am a master HVAC Tech. and an Extra class Amature radio operator. Thanks again for the ideas they are very good solutions if I can’t beat the gremlins.
Enjoy the journey. Tony/ KU4VA

Capone wrote:
I have a 2000 Coachman Catalina 330 mbs and the Chasis battery is not being charged by the converter all of a sudden. I have had this coach for3 years and it has always kept all of the batteries charged when plugged in to shore power, but toward the end of last season I noticed that the chasis battery was not being maintained. The battery will charge from the altinator but will slowly drain down during periods of more than 3 weeks or so without running the coach, and the coach batteries are still being maintained by the converter. Owners manual says that use/store switch must be in use for chasis battery to charge from converter and when I press the switch to use I hear what sounds like a solenoid click but when I release the switch it click again which seems unusual to me. Any ideas are greatly appreciated and thanks in advance for your input.

Capone, (nice user name)
This is why when I have friends that acquire a new coach, I try and get them to really learn how things work on them. The charging system(s) on RVs, varies greatly. Gas coaches do it a few different ways and diesels, the same. You may have something as simple as a fuse that's blown. The smartest item that many of us have purchased and learned to use with even modest knowledge, is a VOLT OHM METER. They can be a big help in checking many systems on these rolling Kleenex boxes on wheels.

To use them in battery checking is invaluable. They can tell you right off the bat, just about anything voltage related in batteries. Now, they can often tell you what's broke. Albeit certain other checks need to be made in order for that to take place. For instance, you pushed on a switch, made a potential "solenoid" click but, when you let off, it clicked again which, may or may not be your issue. Again, this is where it pays to learn about certain things on all of our coaches.

Sometimes looking things up in manuals is not the most entertaining way to spend an afternoon but, it sure can come in handy if and when a malfunction occurs. What I'm getting at is, if you have any manuals, on any of your electrical components, i.e. converter, converter/charger etc., they might lead you to test an item or two which, in most cases, takes only a minute or two. Then, if you're lucky, and you find a bad "solenoid" etc., a local trip to an RV supply or even an Auto parts store might be in order.
Scott

10forty2 wrote:
As said above, I suspect that yours, like mine and many others does not charge the chassis battery(s) when plugged into shore power.

He said that his did before. So does mine.....now.....after replacing the "battery solenoid" which I assume is a common problem 'cause I've had bad ones on my last two units.

If that solenoid is bad (usually burnt contacts), other things won't work either......like the emergency start which cranks the engine from the house batteries and house battery charging from the chassis when going down the road.

I think parts and labor was around $100 in both cases.

As said above, I suspect that yours, like mine and many others does not charge the chassis battery(s) when plugged into shore power. You probably never noticed it because the battery had enough capacity to hold its own until you cranked the engine and moved on to the next destination. As its aged, it loses a charge easier and therefore starts to die while camping.

I installed a Batter Tender that is connected to the battery and plugs in to a 120VAC outlet in the coach. The outlet I used is the one for the old TV set that was in the dash. It has an interlock system built in so it is not powered when the engine is running. That works out great so that the alternator and the Battery Tender is not competing against each other when I am underway with the generator running. But, with the engine shut off, and either on shore power or gen power, I am now charging the chassis battery.

X2 what Jim said

As a work around while you're figuring out what's wrong:

Had the same problem with my '94 Bounder, which had that big BCC (Battery control Center) I priced out and found it was very expensive. Plus I didn't know if that was the problem.

What I did, to hurry things along so I could enjoy the RV rather than immediately start fixing or replacing major components, was to install a Schumacher Float Charger. Back in '04 they were only $20, and the Bounder's battery compartment had a nearby electrical outlet in a basement compartment I used to power it. It was a set and forget kind of deal because it was permanently attached to the battery and once I arrived at a campground, plugging into shore power would keep the chassis battery charged.

As a result, I didn't get around to trying to figure out what was wrong in the BCC until years later. Having too much fun traveling so never got 'round2it'. Turned out my Bounders BCC wasn't involved with charging the chassis battery except for controlling the puny solar charger on the roof and passing the charging current on to the chassis batts. Which is typical for millions of RVs.

When I bought this '02 Journey, I soon checked the voltage on the chassis batts when plugged into shore, and sure enough, voltage there indicated there was NO trickle charging going on. In this case, there wasn't a handy 120V outlet nearby, so I installed the Trik-L-Start. This device just borrows some power from the House batts to keep the chassis batts charged up.

What I'm saying is that it's often easier to just install a Trik-L-Start or some other inexpensive charger for the chassis batts than to track down and fix a non-functioning charger. And often much less expensive.