Forum Discussion

jbobst's avatar
jbobst
Explorer
Mar 02, 2018

Batteries not charging

It's been awhile since I've had an RV, but I am visiting my parents in their Class A this weekend. They have a 2008 Four Winds on a Ford V10 chassis. They are in a park plugged into the 50 amp service. Their fridge won't run and their DC lights aren't working. Mom said the last time the lights were working, they were very dim as in a low battery situation. They have recently changed their 2 12v coach batteries but after they didn't keep a charge.

They have a Chassis Battery Disconnect switch (green light currently) and a Coach Battery Disconnect switch with an amber looking light that is NOT lit.

Being plugged into shore power should be charging their batteries, but since it's not, I assume they have a bad converter? They also have a few of the DC 110v outlets in their motorhome that are not working...but other ones are. I also didn't bring a volt meter and cannot see if the batteries have any power on them.

Any ideas?
  • theoldwizard1's avatar
    theoldwizard1
    Explorer II
    Mar 03, 2018
    First, inspect the connections at the coach battery. Make sure they are clean and tight.

    With the shore power disconnected and the chassis battery disconnected, check the voltage at the coach batteries. Then, plug the coach into shore power. The voltage should be above 13.8V. Check the converter switch, wiring and fuse(s) from the converter/charger to battery. Check the voltage at on of the light sockets.

    You converter could be dead.
  • Lwiddis's avatar
    Lwiddis
    Explorer II
    Mar 03, 2018
    M & D need to be proactive re their RV...this isn’t rocket science.
  • BFL13's avatar
    BFL13
    Explorer II
    Mar 02, 2018
    " They also have a few of the DC 110v outlets in their motorhome that are not working...but other ones are"

    You meant AC outlets. If they were not on the same AC circuit and its breaker the converter is, then they might still not be working. OTOH, sometimes they put the converter in to share a circuit with some outlets.

    But what popped the breaker? It could happen again soon without knowing what did it that time.

    If a sharing situation maybe they ran a hairdryer in one of those outlets at the same time as the converter was running full on? Some reason.
  • jbobst's avatar
    jbobst
    Explorer
    Mar 02, 2018
    Ah, simple fix! I found the AC breakers and the converter breaker was popped. All working now :)
  • tenbear's avatar
    tenbear
    Explorer
    Mar 02, 2018
    Since they just changed their batteries I would check that the new batteries are connected correctly. Without a voltmeter its hard to do much troubleshooting.
    Check that the circuit breakers are on, turn them off and on. They sometimes don't look as if they are off.

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