Inverter Questions

simple274 wrote:
just went out and checked with a meter, the batteries are only showing 6.55 volts.

Guess that pretty much tells me what my problem is!!!!!!!

You have to turn off the converter if you are on shore power or generator power. If those are both off, you have fully charged batteries and are robably have a connection problem. Clean and tighten all connections and the grounds at the chassis.

Simple,

It charges on shore power because of the time available. I am guessing, only guessing, you are not running the genset long enough to get a good charge. If you can get the model of your converter and post it here, we can give better advice. Or even just tell us the name on the cover (of the fuse panel).

What we are saying is that your converter takes a pretty long time to put a good charge into the batteries. That's fine on shore power. But if you are going to do it via the genset, you'll probably want to make a couple of improvements to the charging system. But tell us your converter make and if possible, model, and we can give more accurate advice.

simple274 wrote:
What are good batteries for my motorhome?

What kind of batteries are in it now, and how do they check out??? I'd begin by checking the specific gravity in each cell before getting rid of them!!!

You do have a 2006 Kountry Star gas rig don't you?

Seeing you are new, I think a reading of the 12 Volt Side of Life, part 1 and 2 is in order.. It will give you a firm foundation to build from.

Also while you are looking at things what is the model number of your converter/charger unit... Hoping it is going to be a smart mode technology charger...

Roy

Oh ok then you in good standing then... you should measure at the 12VDC terminals where the two 6VDC batteries are wired in series. Consider the two 6VDC batteries wired in series as one big 12VDC battery.Consider this diagram. Your system has to have 12VDC VOLTAGE to operate things...



Roy Ken

just went out and looked,i have to 6 volts

simple274 - Are these 12VDC batteries? consider this VOLTAGE verses CHARGE STATE



The trick is to never allow your deep cycle batteries to get below appr 50% charge state before re-charging.

I just picked a 12.0VDC level to be my re-charge level. i.e. I will have my battery bank large enough to run all the 120VAC items we want to run from an Inverter and all the 12VDC items that need to run from being direct connected to the battery. When the battery bank gets down to 12.0VDC then this is when you need to recharge the batteries. Once the batteries get re-charged back up to their 90% charge state then we can do all of this all over again for the next day/night battery run from the batteries.

To make this work you have to really live with your eyes on the DC VOLTAGE level of the batteries. Your great planning will be to make this 50% charge state occur around 8AM the next morning. Then you can re-charge your batteries during the day for three hours or so using your generator. This usually fits with the camp ground rules of when you can run your generator. This is my homemade BATTERY MONITOR PANEL to keep tabs on my two battery banks showing when they are being slowly discharged when being used. It also shows how many DC amps is being pulled away from the battery banks as well as how many amps are being put back into the battery bank when being re-charged. Observing the actual DC VOLTAGES and AMPS doesn't let you get caught by surprise and let your batteries get outside their 50% -90% charge state.... This is what I do with my 255AH battery bank.


Any of this making any sense haha...

If your 12VDC battery is only reading around 5-6VDC I suspect you may be purchasing new batteries pretty soon...

Roy Ken

Hi simple,

The indicator panel is NOT to be trusted.

I suggest reading the website below a few times in a row:

http://rvroadtrip.us/library/12v_system.php

simple274 wrote:
indicator panel says my batteries are charged. I have been charging them with the generator, is that they correct way?
Do I charge with the inverter on, or does it make no difference?

I am new to all of this.

thank you

Go read your manual, page 14 is for status lights.

just went out and checked with a meter, the batteries are only showing 6.55 volts.

Guess that pretty much tells me what my problem is!!!!!!!