My wife and I purchased a HR Endeavor this spring. On our second trip out we got a beep-beep from the front and a low dc reading on the fridge. This was while on shore power. I started the engine and things came back to normal. I did this 2-3 more times on that trip to keep the house running. I brought it back to the dealer and he replaced some "Magic box"We camped several weeks during summer/fall and everything was normal.The last few weeks the coach has been parked on our neighbor's property. No shore power. This Sunday I wanted to do some work inside that required 110 volt. Cranked up the generator, no problem. Monday was fairly chilly and since it was going to be below freezing at night I decided to run the furnace for a while. We turned on some lights inside and I went to start the generator. Lights dimmed and the beep-beep again. Started the engine and let the furnace run for a while. Tried the generator again, same result.This morning I moved the coach to our driveway and plugged it into shore power thinking maybe the house batteries were low. After 4 hours I unplugged and tried again,, Beep-beep.Thinking the charger was not working I checked the voltage at the batteries while plugged in, 13.9v. I unplugged and checked voltage on the batteries, 12.7v.Any ideas to a newbie from you old timers?Thanks in advanceKeld

If I read your description correctly it sounds like possible bad house batteries.

sch911 wrote:If I read your description correctly it sounds like possible bad house batteries.That was my first thought also.But, if I re-read, I see some inconsistencies. Might be interesting for the OP to start the genset, the way the "beep beep" thing happens while someone monitors the voltage right at the coach battery terminals. With no prior voltage measurement to use as a baseline it is hard to say what is going on.OP, I'd try your start with the genset, the way you did as described in this post. THEN, after the start attempt, check the battery voltage.If the battery voltage is still about 12.7, then you probably have a connection issue.If the battery is lower then about 12.2, then you probably have bad batteries.Hope this helps.

I think you need to find a dealer who is more forthcoming!!! A magic box, come now!!! But your discription sounds like you have a parasite voltage problem drawing down you house batteries when not hooked to shore power. You still have things in your coach that use power, like the smoke detector, LP leak detector, Carbon Monoxide Detector which are all operating. These items draw down your batteries. And "Thinking the charger was not working I checked the voltage at the batteries while plugged in, 13.9v. I unplugged and checked voltage on the batteries, 12.7v." That sure sounds like it is working to me. 12 volt deep cycle lead acid batteries should measure 12.6 to 12.8 volts when fully charged with charger not operating! How long it can hold that 12.7 vdc is the question!!

Thank you for the replies.Tomorrow I'll check the voltage at the batteries while DW tries to crank the generator. Should give a clue if the batteries are dead.Again thanks to all who try to help.Keld

Just check and see how much the batteries have gone down tomorrow before discharging them any more. If they are not holding the charge, then you have problems. Have you checked the electrolyte? What about checking them with a battery hydrometer. That will tell you real fast if they are bad!!! My coach stays plugged in all the time. If it isn't plugged in, there are parasitic devices that draw power all the time. In the cold temperatures (17 last night) they would become discharged very quickly. The coach has a 4 stage microprocessor-controller charger that knows more about keeping the batteries up than I do

House power mystery | Good Sam Community

tinkerer
Explorer
Nov 07, 2013
Being that I own a farm and have a large shop I do my own work on my coach. I have had some problems and I always have the tendency to try to make a big problem out of a minor problem. As I look at the problems I have fixed just about all of them have ended up being minor problem. There are repair people out there who make easy money by putting on an act that that the coach owner has major problems when in fact the problem was minor. But in the end they can sell the customer a lot of unneeded parts and service.;)
retiredtraveler
Explorer
Nov 07, 2013
Mchero,

It was whatever controls the charging. When it was bad the house batteries were not charging from shore power. I had to run the engine to keep them charged. Interestingly enough the 110v system was working ok, just the batteries were not charging. That is when I earned that the beeps from the dashboard means low house batteries.
I hope this makes sense
Keld
mchero
Explorer
Nov 06, 2013
Retiredtravelers2013
I think some of us would like to know what the "Magic Box" was.

Thanks for the post.
retiredtraveler
Explorer
Nov 06, 2013
Sprig,
I feel pretty stupid for overthinking this whole thing.
Maybe this will teach others the lesson: Check the connections.
DW is very happy everything is working and it did not cost us $300 for new batteries.
Again thanks to everyone who tried to help.
Keld
Sprig
Explorer
Nov 06, 2013
wny_pat wrote:
...12 volt deep cycle lead acid batteries should measure 12.6 to 12.8 volts when fully charged with charger not operating! How long it can hold that 12.7 vdc is the question!!

In a nutshell, the above is the simple answer, provided enough time is given to fully charge the batteries (and odd intermittent connection issues don't prevent the batteries from charging fully).

It just doesn't always appear that simple when you end up being the one with the apparently weird symptoms.

Glad the OP got it figured out.
tiffinboy
Explorer
Nov 06, 2013
retiredtravelers2013 wrote:
Mystery solved!
I had DW turn on lights. No difference in battery reading. Then she tried to crank gen set. Still no different reading in voltage, but sparks flying from cable between batteries.
Cable was totally loose at one end. Tightened and gen set started right up.
Thanks to all who helped and note to me: Check connections.
Keld

good to hear.Thats what Tinkerer told u yesterday was most likely the problem so cheap fix
retiredtraveler
Explorer
Nov 06, 2013
Mystery solved!
I had DW turn on lights. No difference in battery reading. Then she tried to crank gen set. Still no different reading in voltage, but sparks flying from cable between batteries.
Cable was totally loose at one end. Tightened and gen set started right up.
Thanks to all who helped and note to me: Check connections.
Keld
tiffinboy
Explorer
Nov 06, 2013
retiredtravelers2013 wrote:
Again thanks to everyone.
This morning I checked the batteries after being unplugged. I got 12.6 volts.
The plan is that when DW comes home in an hour or so to turn on some lights and see if batteries drop. If not then try to start genset. If it drops a lot I guess we have bad batteries. If not it is time to clean all connections.
Does that make sense to anyone?
Keld

yes as if u read my post to u that's exactly what I told u to do?
try starting gen set while unplugged and measure batt volt drop off
retiredtraveler
Explorer
Nov 06, 2013
Again thanks to everyone.
This morning I checked the batteries after being unplugged. I got 12.6 volts.
The plan is that when DW comes home in an hour or so to turn on some lights and see if batteries drop. If not then try to start genset. If it drops a lot I guess we have bad batteries. If not it is time to clean all connections.
Does that make sense to anyone?
Keld
tiffinboy
Explorer
Nov 06, 2013
retiredtravelers2013 wrote:
My wife and I purchased a HR Endeavor this spring. On our second trip out we got a beep-beep from the front and a low dc reading on the fridge. This was while on shore power. I started the engine and things came back to normal. I did this 2-3 more times on that trip to keep the house running. I brought it back to the dealer and he replaced some "Magic box"
We camped several weeks during summer/fall and everything was normal.
The last few weeks the coach has been parked on our neighbor's property. No shore power. This Sunday I wanted to do some work inside that required 110 volt. Cranked up the generator, no problem. Monday was fairly chilly and since it was going to be below freezing at night I decided to run the furnace for a while. We turned on some lights inside and I went to start the generator. Lights dimmed and the beep-beep again. Started the engine and let the furnace run for a while. Tried the generator again, same result.
This morning I moved the coach to our driveway and plugged it into shore power thinking maybe the house batteries were low. After 4 hours I unplugged and tried again,, Beep-beep.
Thinking the charger was not working I checked the voltage at the batteries while plugged in, 13.9v. I unplugged and checked voltage on the batteries, 12.7v.
Any ideas to a newbie from you old timers?
Thanks in advance
Keld

Iam almost 100% certain you need to replace your house batterys.One quick check to do before u replace is try and start the gen set and take a battery reading at the same time while not plugged in.The voltage will really drop off if the batterys are dead

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