House battery being overcharged????

How long has it been hooked to shore power?
After the converter feels the battery is sufficiently charged, the voltage will drop to something like 13.6VDC if the converter and battery are in good shape.

Scott

Been hooked to shore power for days and the battery new within the last two years. But they have been known to fail. I have a load tester, will try that. Voltage been 14.0 when I checked yesterday and still 14.0 this afternoon. Did they have smart chargers back in 1994??

Is that the voltage reading while on shore power? What is the voltage on the battery a few hours after not on shore power?

What is the make and model of your converter? If it is a Magnetek or Parallax it is not a smart charger and the voltage should be 3.8v at the converter, probably lower at the battery.

fighterpilota wrote:
After being hooked to shore power the volt reading at the battery terminals is 14.2 volts which seems like too much. ????

No.

The only way you can truly tell if a battery is fully charged is with a hydrometer.

What does the voltmeter read three hours after the charger has been turned off and there has been no load is on the battery. That's the only valid way to get a reading with a voltmeter on a battery charge.

My 2004 TT has the Parallax 7355 converter, it will definitely cook the battery if left on shore power too long (more than 2 weeks). The older converters don't have the smarts to switch to a maintenance charge once the battery is completely charged.

An easy way to check for overcharging is to remove the caps on the battery and check for lots of bubbles after the voltage across the battery reaches 14 volts.

You might want to invest in a battery disconnect switch if you're connected to shore power for long periods.

I did not read through the other replies, but 14.2 volts seems normal to me. With most on-board RV chargers these days, if you are over-charging, the batteries will boil over. And if they boil over, it may be because one of the two batteries is either dead or dying. Such a battery will never get fully charged which causes the charger to over-charge both batteries.

I haven't been able to find the charger--looked in all the external bays, and the interior bays. Will have to get underneath and trace the wires from the battery. Been thru this with an old boat. After much searching on the web determined a fully charged battery will read about 12.75. With a smart charger, voltage will taper off as full charged reached which is about 13.2 to 13.8. Since the house battery sits at 14.2 I think it is a dumb charger. Also believe the 1994 vintage charger that came with the MH is not "smart" charger in the sense they are today. Therefore sitting at 14.2 prompted my question.

I'll pull a terminal wire to get a check 3 hours later as suggested. I'll also try again to find the charger? Thanks for the information

fighterpilota wrote:
I haven't been able to find the charger--looked in all the external bays, and the interior bays. Will have to get underneath and trace the wires from the battery. Been thru this with an old boat. After much searching on the web determined a fully charged battery will read about 12.75. With a smart charger, voltage will taper off as full charged reached which is about 13.2 to 13.8. Since the house battery sits at 14.2 I think it is a dumb charger. Also believe the 1994 vintage charger that came with the MH is not "smart" charger in the sense they are today. Therefore sitting at 14.2 prompted my question.

I'll pull a terminal wire to get a check 3 hours later as suggested. I'll also try again to find the charger? Thanks for the information

Not sure how your rig is laid out BUT the battery charger typically resides in the electrical distribution box under the circuit breakers and fuses. On my Parallax 7355 I have to remove the front cover to see the 55 amp converter/charger. It also has a fan that will come on if the converter is under a load (lights, furnace, refrigerator, and roof fans running) that might making finding it easier.

Based on the age of your rig my money says it's not a smart charger. Progressive Dynamics makes conversion kits if you want to spend the money.

You converter is behind a fake panel in the outside right rear compartment of m/h. Place the Magnatek in trash and buy a progressive dynamics to replace it. Problem sloved.