Charging Issue
My 1999 Winnebago Brave is having charging problems. The coach battery is charging off the alternator but the house batteries are not. I put a meter on both and I'm getting 13.9 to the coach batt. And...
Forum Discussion
Hi,
You will be best off by charging the coach batteries at home from shore power. Then you will not be putting a 100+ amp load on the alternator that might damage it.
You might have a separate and unrelated problem with the factory installed battery charger/converter. On my motorhome, I have a meter that measures the amperage going in and out of the batteries. I figured out that my solenoid was bad when I went to a Air Show in San Diego. On my way home at night, the battery should have charged, but was -50 AH all of the trip. It would have charged by solar had it been daylight.
I never did find the factory solenoid, but instead ran some #4 wire from the engine battery to the solenoid that I installed, then to the coach battery. I used the 'radio' power to turn on the solenoid only while the engine was on.
Later I installed a switch, so that I could dis-able the solenoid that I installed, and save some fuel if I was running in the daytime to avoid using the alternator to recharge the battery.
The solenoid that I used was Grainger #6C017 and rated at 125 amps in forklift duty, for 100,000 cycles. It has silver alloy contacts.
If there is a 50 - 60 amp circuit breaker in line, it might be bad, or tripping because the house batteries are at such low voltage. You can buy automatic reset CB from any auto parts store.
Good luck,
Fred.
You will be best off by charging the coach batteries at home from shore power. Then you will not be putting a 100+ amp load on the alternator that might damage it.
You might have a separate and unrelated problem with the factory installed battery charger/converter. On my motorhome, I have a meter that measures the amperage going in and out of the batteries. I figured out that my solenoid was bad when I went to a Air Show in San Diego. On my way home at night, the battery should have charged, but was -50 AH all of the trip. It would have charged by solar had it been daylight.
I never did find the factory solenoid, but instead ran some #4 wire from the engine battery to the solenoid that I installed, then to the coach battery. I used the 'radio' power to turn on the solenoid only while the engine was on.
Later I installed a switch, so that I could dis-able the solenoid that I installed, and save some fuel if I was running in the daytime to avoid using the alternator to recharge the battery.
The solenoid that I used was Grainger #6C017 and rated at 125 amps in forklift duty, for 100,000 cycles. It has silver alloy contacts.
If there is a 50 - 60 amp circuit breaker in line, it might be bad, or tripping because the house batteries are at such low voltage. You can buy automatic reset CB from any auto parts store.
Good luck,
Fred.
