What fluids to service in used RV?
After buying a used 2008 gas RV with the Ford E450 v10 with less than 10k miles, we want to do some preventive maintenance. What fluids should we change? Brake Oil and filter Coolant Transmissi...
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With your multimeter set on 20 volts DC, touch the red probe to the positive terminal of the house battery ( positive terminal should have a red cable).Touch black probe to the negative terminal of house battery (has a black cable. If you have two 6-volt batteries in series find positive terminal on left battery and negative terminal on right battery. You should see 12.6 dc volts when rig is not connected to 120volt AC shore power, 13.6 volts dc when rig is connected to shore power, and around 14 volts dc when engine is running or when RV generator is running . Add distilled water to battery cells to just cover the plates using a rubber bulb battery filler from the auto supply store. Loosen and disconnect terminal clamps with a terminal cleaner from the auto supply store to assure good electrical connection and charging. If any of the readings are low, you may have something wrong with the converter charger, battery(s) or corroded connections. The converter charger is a box that gets 110 volt AC power when connected to shore power (or when RV generator is running) and converts it to 12 volt dc power to charge the house battery(s) and operate your interior lights, appliance controls, furnace blower, fresh water pump and alarms.
Fully charged house batteries last from 1-3 nights before becoming discharged. Running furnace blower can run down a marginal house battery in one night's use.
It's good to understand, check and maintain the 12 volt power system so it doesn't fail you when needed. Set your auxiliary battery switch to "off" when rig is parked un-driven for weeks to keep house battery(s) from becoming discharged by "parasitic" loads ( alarms, appliance controls, etc.)
Note, your RV engine's starting battery probably does not get charged when rig is connected to shore power unless it has a special device installed to do so. The starting battery may become discharged and not start the engine after 3 weeks being parked un-driven depending on the age/condition of battery.
Fully charged house batteries last from 1-3 nights before becoming discharged. Running furnace blower can run down a marginal house battery in one night's use.
It's good to understand, check and maintain the 12 volt power system so it doesn't fail you when needed. Set your auxiliary battery switch to "off" when rig is parked un-driven for weeks to keep house battery(s) from becoming discharged by "parasitic" loads ( alarms, appliance controls, etc.)
Note, your RV engine's starting battery probably does not get charged when rig is connected to shore power unless it has a special device installed to do so. The starting battery may become discharged and not start the engine after 3 weeks being parked un-driven depending on the age/condition of battery.
