Chassis Battery Voltage Fluxuating while driving

Question

Hi Folks, Just bought a used Newmar Dutch Star DP with Freightliner chassis. No issues with inspection or initial drive but within first 25 miles I started to get Low Battery Voltage! warning light and beep. I see the voltage drop and then pop right back up to 13.1. It’s totally intermittent. Only thing running is air conditioning from chassis and Magnum inverter on to power refrigerator. No loose connections that I could tell.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance for any advice,

Colum

flute_man · Answer

You might have a bad battery, loose connections, or a bad alternator. By the way if the refrigerator has 12 V it will run on propane just fine. The inverter should not be needed to run the refrigerator.

columl · Answer

Thank you. I’ll have battery checked. Figured if it was alternator I’d rundown juice in the batteries completely, but if it’s not the batteries I’ll look there next.

ndrorder · Answer

That is a typical symptom of a voltage regulator overheating and tripping out. Most voltage regulators are built into the alternator. The parts store can test it for free if removed from the engine.

columl · Answer

That makes sense given it was mostly idling while it was inspected and quick test drive. Thank you

grldst · Answer

Sounds like you may have a 160 amp Leece Nevelle alternator.  The 200 is a bit better but I know a lot of RVers that had alternator issues by running the fridge of the inverter.    Run fridge on propane or switch to a better alternator.

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Chassis Battery Voltage Fluxuating while driving

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