Generator is not charging house batteries

[Hotwheelbill]

Hello all and thank you ahead of time.

I have a 1998 Georgie Boy Cruise master Diesel. My generator is not charging the house batteries and has never in the 3 yrs I have owned it.
I did replace the 2 12 volt last year and read that that is a problem in itself as they are HD truck batteries. Picking up 4 6 volt from Sam's tomorrow. Any way. The batteries do charge on shore power and every thing else works when generator is running. Does the shore power have its own charger for the batteries? The inverter/charger is a 50amp.

[Hotwheelbill]

time2roll wrote:
Since it works on utility power I assume it works.

Not getting generator power or is sensitive to the lower quality of the generator power such as frequency, voltage, or wave form.

I assume that the charger is getting power from the Generator because everything inside works without any problems. So I think the problem would be from charger to batteries?

When no shore or generator power, everything that should work then is working, so that would mean that the inverter side is working right??

[MrWizard]

120v from shore or generator to transfer switch
From TS to breaker panel
From panel to converter

There are two possibilities that I can think of
Somebody wired the converter in front of the TS directly on the shore input
Or
Your converter electronics do not like the generator output wave form, and is refusing to turn on
This is the much more likely possibility

[time2roll]

Since it works on utility power I assume it works.

Not getting generator power or is sensitive to the lower quality of the generator power such as frequency, voltage, or wave form.

[Mandalay_Parr]

It all depends how your motorhome is designed and wired. My coach is set up so the generator does indeed charge both sets of batteries as well as on shore power.
Might check if yours can be made to do the same.

[wolfe10]

Yes, your inverter/charger works the same to charge the batteries (normally only house batteries) from EITHER shore power or generator. It doesn't know the difference.

[Hotwheelbill]

Hotwheelbill wrote:

rgatijnet1 wrote:
On most coaches, the generator does not charge anything. It supplies power to your inverter/charger which is supposed to supply the actual charging current to the house batteries.

I get that, kind of what I meant. So, would the shore power use the same charger? So, if the inverter were bad, nothing would work inside?

I am guessing that I need to find some kind of relay or fuse from inverter/charger to batteries?

[Hotwheelbill]

rgatijnet1 wrote:
On most coaches, the generator does not charge anything. It supplies power to your inverter/charger which is supposed to supply the actual charging current to the house batteries.

I get that, kind of what I meant. So, would the shore power use the same charger? So, if the inverter were bad, nothing would work inside?

[time2roll]

I suspect the inverter/charger is not getting power from the generator. Post the inverter/charger model number for best answers. Also was this OEM or installed after? Need a voltmeter to start verifying where the power goes and where it stops.

Need to fix that or install a separate converter for charging from generator.

[rgatijnet1]

On most coaches, the generator does not charge anything. It supplies power to your inverter/charger which is supposed to supply the actual charging current to the house batteries.