House power mystery

[retiredtraveler]

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

[retiredtraveler]

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

[wny_pat1]

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!!

[Sprig]

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.

[sch911]

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