DC Electrical Problem. HELP !!

[supercub]

04 Fleetwood Revolution with 4 - 6 volt house batteries. Batteries are Trojans less the a year old.
I'm currently plugged into shore power, 50 amp service.
Yesterday my lights were dim, so investigated, the positive lead from the battery to a fuse link was so hot you I couldn't touch it. One of the terminal ends was loose. Went into Klamath Falls about 25 miles away and was able to get a new cable with new ends made.
Installed the new cable and everything appeared to be ok. Checked the cable again last night and was cool to the touch. When I went to bed last night I noticed the Norcold Frig window going thru various indications, didn't pay much attention to it. Got up this morning and lights were very dim. Looked at Norcold and it's flashing Lo dc. Checked battery cable and it's cool.......batteries are at around 10.5 volts. The cable side from the batteries of the fuse link is 10.5 volts. and the other side is of the fuse is 13.75 volts.
All AC in the couch is working fine.
My Xantrex indicator shows the following.
The 3 little battery indicators shows full
AC in light is on
DC volts is 13.5
Incoming AC Breaker Amps 30 (I'm hooked up to 50 amps)
Should I start the generator and see if the batteries charge up.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Brian

[supercub]

Problem is fixed. It was the fuse. Took it to Hendersons in Grants Pass, they had ordered the fuse for me. I got there a day early, so changed it myself. I'm running the generator (dry camping) and everything appears fine. Have the same voltage (13.7) on both sides of the fuse. Even after I took the fuse out, looking thru the little viewing window, it appeared to be ok. I checked the continuity and it was bad. Took the fuse apart and on one side out of view from the little window, it had gotten hot and melted a soldier joint. I'm going to have them load test the batteries in the morning just to make sure they're ok.
When I was having all this problem, as I mentioned prior, I turned on the generator and it was lugging down. Only ran it that way for a 1/2 minute. Now it's running fine too. Yes, they ordered two fuses so now I have a spare. This one was a 300amp, but I see I also have 100amp and 200amp fusable links. So I'm going to get spares for those too.
Thanks again for all the help.
Brian

[supercub]

I appreciate everyones help. The reason I asked about the generator is someone strongly recommended it. It didn't add up to me either, but thought I'd ask. I have the batteries hooked up to a battery charger. It's trickle charging and the batteries are up to 12.3 volts.....still have a ways to go, but a lot better then they were. I'm taking the motorhome to Henderson's over in Grants Pass tomorrow and they'll have a look at it first thing Thursday Morning. I sent them a picture of the fuse link and they ordered a couple of them. I'm convinced that's the problem. When I do get it all figured out, I will post the fix. Thanks again.
Brian
PS. Yesterday, I moved the motorhome to dump the tanks. When I plugged back into shore power, my Air Conditioners and frig wouldn't work, all other AC equipment had power. After doing some trouble shooting and finding nothing. I finally went and bought a battery charger. As soon as I hooked up the battery charger the Air Conditioners and Frig started to work. I assume there must be a relay or solenoid that is 12 volt activated in line powering the Air Conditioners and Frig. Everything has worked fine since.

[cbr46]

Dale.Traveling wrote:
. . . why the fuse blew and I suspect if you replace it the new fuse will also blow with time. Doesn't need to be a dead short but you're seeing a heat build up that is slowing heating the lead in the fuse until it softens enough to melt ever so slightly as to open the circuit.

The bad cable crimp (and heat it generated) might have caused the fuse to blow before it reached it's rated value.

I'd replace the fuse, maybe even have a spare on hand, and give it some time with the new battery cable (which was IMO the original and only real problem).

Good luck,
- bob

[wildmanbaker]

Brian, hopefully you have gotten you electrical problem corrected. It seemed like you are getting beat-up on this, but people are just trying to help. Please let us know. If nothing else, you could ask other MH owners, at parks you are at, if you could look at their house battery hook ups to try and compare them to yours.

[Canadian_Rainbi]

supercub wrote:
04 Fleetwood Revolution with 4 - 6 volt house batteries. Batteries are Trojans less the a year old.
I'm currently plugged into shore power, 50 amp service.
Yesterday my lights were dim, so investigated, the positive lead from the battery to a fuse link was so hot you I couldn't touch it. One of the terminal ends was loose. Went into Klamath Falls about 25 miles away and was able to get a new cable with new ends made.
Installed the new cable and everything appeared to be ok. Checked the cable again last night and was cool to the touch. When I went to bed last night I noticed the Norcold Frig window going thru various indications, didn't pay much attention to it. Got up this morning and lights were very dim. Looked at Norcold and it's flashing Lo dc. Checked battery cable and it's cool.......batteries are at around 10.5 volts. The cable side from the batteries of the fuse link is 10.5 volts. and the other side is of the fuse is 13.75 volts.

All AC in the couch is working fine.
My Xantrex indicator shows the following.
The 3 little battery indicators shows full
AC in light is on
DC volts is 13.5
Incoming AC Breaker Amps 30 (I'm hooked up to 50 amps)
Should I start the generator and see if the batteries charge up.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Brian

The red part of your text above shows the problem. The fuse is OPEN. I would hazard a guess that your batteries aren't charging.

Those batteries are seriously discharged. Get it fixed before you need to spring for 4 new Trojans.

You might want to see my post Yes It's My Own D**n Fault!

As of today they seem to have recovered.

[Hank_MI]

Ivylog wrote:

Hank wrote:

Your batteries are charged by the converter/charger. It runs off 120vac, works the same on shore power or generator.......try to charge each one individually.

In his first post he has four 6V batteries. As I suggested earlier disconnect one pair and charge one set at a time using your jumper cable around the blown fuse.

I didn't say it, should have, but I meant to use a battery charger to try and charge them not the converter. Most chargers have a meter and you can quickly tell if 1 of the batteries is taking a lot more amps than the others.

[Dale_Traveling]

Supercup, I'm a retire USN Electronics Tech and troubleshot many a power distribution problem. First any resistance readings or continuity tests on an energized circuit are always suspect. The circuit power can cause false or misleading meter readings. To test a fuse in an energized circuit you want to read the voltage on either end of the fuse. Anything more than 0 volts, and that could be as little as .5 volts indicates an open circuit. A fuse is nothing more than a piece of wire and other than long lengths you should not see a difference at any point along the wire.

You second problem is why the fuse blew and I suspect if you replace it the new fuse will also blow with time. Doesn't need to be a dead short but you're seeing a heat build up that is slowing heating the lead in the fuse until it softens enough to melt ever so slightly as to open the circuit. Heat is amps and something is demanding a large level of amps. With out detailed knowledge of your coach and the DC power distribution can't say what could be the problem. Bad solenoid in the battery control center or hydraulic jacks/slides, shorted water pump, macerator? Can't recommend a service center but troubleshooting something like this isn't much different than a car with something grounding and eating the battery. You either start by pulling ALL the fuses and reinstalling one by one and checking power demand or one at a time until you find the offending circuit. Can be time consuming if you are not familiar with the vehicle.

But then again I could be beyond left field and out in the parking lot somewhere.

[Ivylog]

Hank wrote:

Your batteries are charged by the converter/charger. It runs off 120vac, works the same on shore power or generator.......try to charge each one individually.

In his first post he has four 6V batteries. As I suggested earlier disconnect one pair and charge one set at a time using your jumper cable around the blown fuse.

[Hank_MI]

No recommendations on a shop but that's a good idea. The fuse is obviously blown or you would see the same voltage on both sides, or very close to the same voltage. Your temporary jumper allowed the batteries to charge some but you still have problems that need to be addressed.

[supercub]

There's a little window on the fuseable link. It looks fine, I don't see anything burnt, broke etc. I just check the voltage again, and now, I'm getting 11.02 volts on one side of the fuse and 13.6 on the other. The batteries are reading about 11.02 also. I believe they were at 10.5 this morning. Lights are bright......although I haven't had anything 12dc on. Calling an RV shop in Bend Or tomorrow.....any recommendations on shops in that area? Thanks again.
Brian

[Ed_Gee]

supercub wrote:
I can't keep the jumper cables hooked up, because the cables are getting hot. I assume it's because of high resistance due to poor conditions with the clamps. I disconnected them.
My next question is, if I run the generator, do you think that will charge my batteries up?
Thanks everyone for your input, sure did help.
Brian

Yes, with that bad fuse jumpered by your temporary cable, the batteries should charge if the charger has 120VAC to it. I don't understand why you ask if you should start the generator to charge the batteries .... you said in your original post you were plugged into shore power. Your charger should be working fine with that.... which it apparently is since you said you saw 13.75VDC on the side of the bad fuse that connected to the charger. That voltage would not be there if the charger was not functioning. That all said, you are at risk of who knows what by continuing to use your jumper cable. You really ought to obtain the proper fuse and replace it ...and as I said earlier, buy two ... just in case.

[Hank_MI]

supercub wrote:
I can't keep the jumper cables hooked up, because the cables are getting hot. I assume it's because of high resistance due to poor conditions with the clamps. I disconnected them.
My next question is, if I run the generator, do you think that will charge my batteries up?
Thanks everyone for your input, sure did help.
Brian

Your batteries are charged by the converter/charger. It runs off 120vac, works the same on shore power or generator. I suggest removing the batteries and have them tested or at least remove the cables and try to charge each one individually.

[tropical36]

supercub wrote:
I can't keep the jumper cables hooked up, because the cables are getting hot. I assume it's because of high resistance due to poor conditions with the clamps. I disconnected them.
My next question is, if I run the generator, do you think that will charge my batteries up?
Thanks everyone for your input, sure did help.
Brian

Are ya sure all the polarities are correct and if you had a blown fuse, why so?
Is not your inverter or converter/charger working and you should be able to see the voltage difference with shore or gen power vs no charging assistance?

[tropical36]

supercub wrote:
I just used jumper cables and jumped across the fuse.......lights are bright etc etc. Voltage on both terminals is the same now at around 12.8 volts. Like many suggested, must be a blown fuse.......still not sure why I was getting continuity thru it.........maybe burnt away 95 of the fuse and left just enough to get continuity on my little meter.
Now, should I leave the cables hooked to see if I can charge up the batteries?

Probably not getting continuity through the fuse itself unless it was removed and out of the circuit and just reading back through some of the loads, somewhere.