Have a four winds hurricane motorhome. Had to replace my 12V house batteries (two in parallel). I checked the voltage at the cables that attach to the batteries and have 0 volts. I expected about 13 volts DC. This would be coming from the converter to keep the batteries charged. I checked the out put of the converter and have 13.6 volts DC. All the 12 volt lights work and the engine battery is fully charged after sitting all winter hooked to shore power. So my questions:Am I correct in expecting 12 to 13 volts at the cable ends that attach to the house batteries?Is the circuit from the converter to the batteries fused?If fused where would it be located?Thanks for any help you folks are great.Peter

There would be a battery disconnect switch, perhaps at the doorway. It will operate a solenoid switch in the engine compartment that actually is the disconnect switch.In addition there might be a fuse or DC circuit breaker close to the house batteries on the positive wire.

BFL13, There are two disconnect switches at the doorway, one for the house batteries and one for the motor battery. Both have an indicator light to show the batteries are connected. When I disconnect the motor battery the light goes out, when I disconnect the house batteries the light stays on. I will look for the solenoid to see if it has failed "open". There is also a device (black box about 3 inches square) in the positive lead to the house battery. no reset buttons, no way to open it, a current rating of 85 amps. I checked both sides (in lead, out lead) for voltage, both show 0 volts.

BFL13, I can hear both solenoid open and close as the disconnect switches are turned on and off. I have checked all the fuses I can find, all have 12.3 voles on both sides of the fuse.

If you get no voltage either side of the 85amp breaker/fuse seems to me that one side of it is not seeing battery voltage of 12.x and the other side is not seeing converter voltage of 13.x. So no ground anywhere?Maybe jumper the 85a thing and see what happens to the battery post voltageEDIT. you do get 12.3 at the fuses so that must be battery voltage, not converter voltage so it is confusing you get no voltage in places as reported. Are you getting battery voltage at the DC panel? Are the batteries at 12.3 instead of 12.7 as new? If so they should be put on a charger until you can get this converter supply sorted out.Now that you can hear the solenoid clicking, does that light still stay on? That might mean the solenoid is moving but not making contact.Do you get battery charging via the alternator / isolator path with the engine running?Did you put all the wires back on when installing the new batteries? :)No idea what it is exactly, but some threads like this mentioned a BIRD some MHs have. If you have one, is it ok?

To be clear, the new house batteries are NOT attached to the system. I am looking for the charging voltage at the terminals that will attach to the batteries. I have not looked for voltage with the engine running, but I will.Sounds like the voltage I see at the fuses comes from the motor battery not the converter. I will disconnect that battery and see if there is still voltage at the fuses.Not sure how to test the solenoid.

no charging voltage | Good Sam Community

peteandpatty01
Explorer
May 08, 2014
Not sure we are talking the same fuses. I find the 12.3 volts in a fuse box in the engine compartment on the fire wall. Book shows there are 12 fuses there. Book also shows a fuse box by the break peddle, can't find that one but found a fuse box in the side of the bed, not mentioned in the book. This fuse box has 13.6 volts in it. I believe the box by the bed is the box that should be by the break peddle. These fuses distribute DC around the camper...lights, fans, etc, the one on the fire wall seems to be for automotive stuff....turn signals, break lights, etc.
The question; does house battery voltage reach fuse box by bed if all else is disconnected is still valid and will be checked out.
BFL13
Explorer II
May 08, 2014
So the house DC panel does get 13.6 from converter which is good.

But that 12.3 (and 14.4?) from engine battery is unknown whether it can reach the house DC fuse panel if the isolator (the one that lets the house batts start the engine if needed) is set for that.

Which means the house battery disconnect switch did not let that 12.3 through or the isolator didn't.

So we still need to know what is stopping the 13.6 from reaching the house batts and we need to eliminate the 85a thing to see if house batt voltage at least gets past that, if not all the way to the house DC panel. If it gets past that 85a thing, then we are back to that house solenoid that clicks but the light stays on?

What about that post above re a BCC? Is that a BIRD? I have no clue about that side of things, don't have a MH.
peteandpatty01
Explorer
May 08, 2014
Problem solved! to try to find our why everything in the battery compartment was dead I bit the bullet and went under the motorhome to follow wires. Can't believe what I found. The heavy gauge wire that brings the converter voltage to the front of the motorhome was too short, so someone bolted on more wire and taped the joint. The bolt came apart so the wire was open. I will run new wire from the converter to the box in the engine compartment, no splices. Once I rejoined the wires everything works.
Thank you so much for your help. Not a total loss I now have a better understanding how the electrical system works in the motorhome. Learned a lot!

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