Needing help, evacuated, battery dead

[Woodsie8_]

Sorry, longer post;
I am in Oregon with fires. No electricity for 5 days now. Used generator on RV chassis to run freezers in my home for 3 days (about 4 hrs a day) via extension cords. RV house battery went dead and now can’t fire up generator. Water pump, lights, etc, won’t come on.
Now investigating the following option without going overboard.

1) Another free standing generator for home freezers when there is a power outage. Seems over kill if I can plug into RV and use RV generator but obviously that only worked for 3 days, because nothing to keep RV house battery charged.
2) Solar panel on RV, to keep RV battery charged (to fire up generator) but will it be enough charge to run things in RV and start generator, to either boon-dock or plug in home freezer in outage?
3) Some kind of fully charged portable 12V battery charger that I can attach to house deep cell battery to replenish it and then recharge it with cigarette lighter d/c connection (chassis battery) with rig running
4) I am older, not sure if I can pull start a generator and if I get an electric start, I will still need electricity to keep it’s internal battery charged.
5) The only things I need to keep going in the house is the frig and deep freeze. I can go without the water heater. If in the winter, it would be nice to have heat but I could go into RV with propane heater but not sure if it needs battery.


It seems crazy to buy another generator when I have one in the RV, but if I need to use battery for more than 3 days, that did not work.

What would be the wisest choice? I have a 20’ RV, not a lot of room to haul another generator. May take a long time to charge one of those battery chargers with a cigarette lighter d/c connection.

FRUSTRATED BECAUSE I managed to keep food frozen and stay in the RV for 3 days without a problem. Now probably will have to toss food, dumping water in toilet to flush, and using my little solar lights to get around at night with.

Furthermore, let’s say this doesn’t have anything to do with freezers and I want to boon-dock longer than 3 days. Is there a reasonable solution that I can both keep freezers going in a power outage and boon-dock for an extended period Of time?
Thanks for your thoughts!

[jdc1]

I have to ask: How long are you running the genset? To keep tat food cold, you should only have to run it 3-4 times a day, an hour at a time....not continuously. That would also be sufficient to charge your battery. A 100w solar panel would be a great idea too, to keep your RV topped off, smoke or no smoke. Having a spare 12V battery sitting around might be a good idea too, since you don't seem to have a secondary battery in your B.

[opnspaces]

Don't buy another generator. Investigate why your current generator is not charging your house battery like it should.

Number one thing to do is to buy a digital multimeter. You can buy a cheap one from Harbor Freight and it will get you through testing your charging system out. Link

Or buy a battery charger and plug it into an outlet in the RV and hook it to the house battery to charge.

The generator will power the outlets in your RV, both inside and outside. So start the generator and plug in a battery charger and charge the house battery.

Check the circuit breakers to see if any are tripped preventing the charger from charging the house battery.

[time2roll]

Woodsie8* wrote:

time2roll wrote:
The generator should be connected to an on-board charging system to maintain the RV battery. Possibly that system has failed. A portable battery charger would work.
Solar might be of little help if you have smoke in the air.

I am wondering if I was using more juice than generator was making. Would I put the battery charger in the house battery? I don’t have one that does not need plugged in but fir the future.

Yes put the portable charge direct on the house battery and plug the charger into any outlet with power.

[wapiticountry]

Jumper cable from starter battery on the RV to the house battery lugs. That should allow you to start the generator. I assume your house battery supplies the power to start the generator. Many possibilities as to why your house battery failed. Maybe your converter is turned off or it has failed and didn't charge the house battery. It also may be your house battery has died or the cables have a bunch of corrosion. Corrosion can run up inside the cable sheathing, especially on the positive side and eventually the cables stop being conductive. Lots of potential problems. But you should be able to jump from the chassis battery and get the generator running. Be sure to Run the RV and keep the chassis battery charged, you don't want to be totally dead in the middle of fire country.

[Woodsie8_]

Woodsie8* wrote:

ndrorder wrote:
Unless you have an inverter which uses 12v battery to make 120V plug power, the two are separate and having something plugged in will not affect the battery. If you do Have an inverter, the plugs would stay powered when shore power and the generator off. Doesn't sound like that is the case.

If only using lights and water pump, those shouldn't drain a battery that much that 3 to 4 hours of generator can't replenish.

I think I have an inverter.

I usually have the RV plugged into shore power and it charges the house battery. I guess when I get electricity back, I will plug in and see if the house battery charges. I also will see (once charged and unplugged to shore power) if the outside outlets are alive. It lasted for 3 days, so it had juice, assuming from the generator keeping it charged. A deep freeze and house frig probably pulls a lot, and I used A/C a very small bit, with inside lights and water pump for toilet.

[Woodsie8_]

ndrorder wrote:
Unless you have an inverter which uses 12v battery to make 120V plug power, the two are separate and having something plugged in will not affect the battery. If you do Have an inverter, the plugs would stay powered when shore power and the generator off. Doesn't sound like that is the case.

If only using lights and water pump, those shouldn't drain a battery that much that 3 to 4 hours of generator can't replenish.

I think I have an inverter.

[ndrorder]

Unless you have an inverter which uses 12v battery to make 120V plug power, the two are separate and having something plugged in will not affect the battery. If you do Have an inverter, the plugs would stay powered when shore power and the generator off. Doesn't sound like that is the case.

If only using lights and water pump, those shouldn't drain a battery that much that 3 to 4 hours of generator can't replenish.

[Woodsie8_]

RambleOnNW wrote:
Can you start the engine, then start the generator from the 12V supplied by the engine alternator?

Sounds like your house battery is bad or your converter is bad and not charging the house battery.

I have started the rig to charge my phone and let it run, generator still dead.

[Woodsie8_]

Someone told me yesterday that I would have to drive thr RV 12 hours to techarge house battery, enough to start generator. Can that be correct?

[Woodsie8_]

ndrorder wrote:
Double check that the main battery switch is on.

Not sure what was being used when the generator was off that drained the battery, but the rv furnace is a notorious power hog and will drain a battery in short order. Best to run the generator when using the furnace.

Run the rv to charge the house battery. Driving to refuel the rv will speed the charging process.

If the rv has a boost to start switch, disconnect the negative on the house battery (be sure it doesn't touch the positive), start the rv, and have someone push the boost switch while trying to start the generator. Once the generator has started, reconnect the negative to the house battery.

If no boost switch, disconnect negative from house battery (be sure it doesn't touch the positive), start the rv, run jumper cable from rv battery to house battery, start generator, and reconnect negative once generator is running. If the jumper cables are too short, move the rv battery closer to the house battery. Try starting the generator without the rv running.

Once generator is running, measure the voltage at the house battery. If it is more than 13.2V, the converter is working and the battery should be charging. If the battery isn't taking a charge, battery may be bad.

If the voltage is less than 13.2, there are lots of things to check. Quicker option would be to use a portable battery charger to charge the house battery when the generator runs. Be sure to have plenty of fuel as the battery may take several hours to a day to recharge using a portable charger.

Diagnose the charging issue once the generator is running.

Or, buy a new house battery and a portable charger. Swap the new battery for the house battery. Start the generator and diagnose the charging issue. Portable charger can be used to keep at least one of the house batteries topped up while the generator runs.

Keep a voltage meter handy. Once the house battery is down to 12.2V resting voltage (1/2 empty) find a way to recharge it.

Thx!!! I do have a starter boost switch! I am by myself and isolated on a mountain, so better not try this now but this really helps.

[RambleOnNW]

Can you start the engine, then start the generator from the 12V supplied by the engine alternator?

Sounds like your house battery is bad or your converter is bad and not charging the house battery.

[ndrorder]

The 120V that the generator produces is different and separate from the 12V battery system. If too much is plugged in while the generator is running, the circuit breaker on the generator would trip stopping all power to the plugs even though the generator continued to run.

A portable battery charger can be plugged in and used while the generator is running to charge a battery.

[Woodsie8_]

So, the two extension cords, I ran from 2 outlets on the outside of RV to freezers. My inside plugs do not work if I am not plugged into shore power or the generator is not on, so I made an assumption that the two outside outlets did not work when I turned off generator. So I did not unplug the extension cords outside. Could that have drained my battery? I didn’t even think of that, since my interior plugs don’t work without generator or shore power. I have to use d/c outlets only. I thought if I ran the generator 3-4 hrs a day, it would keep freezers froze and trickle charge battery.

[ndrorder]

Double check that the main battery switch is on.

Not sure what was being used when the generator was off that drained the battery, but the rv furnace is a notorious power hog and will drain a battery in short order. Best to run the generator when using the furnace.

Run the rv to charge the house battery. Driving to refuel the rv will speed the charging process.

If the rv has a boost to start switch, disconnect the negative on the house battery (be sure it doesn't touch the positive), start the rv, and have someone push the boost switch while trying to start the generator. Once the generator has started, reconnect the negative to the house battery.

If no boost switch, disconnect negative from house battery (be sure it doesn't touch the positive), start the rv, run jumper cable from rv battery to house battery, start generator, and reconnect negative once generator is running. If the jumper cables are too short, move the rv battery closer to the house battery. Try starting the generator without the rv running.

Once generator is running, measure the voltage at the house battery. If it is more than 13.2V, the converter is working and the battery should be charging. If the battery isn't taking a charge, battery may be bad.

If the voltage is less than 13.2, there are lots of things to check. Quicker option would be to use a portable battery charger to charge the house battery when the generator runs. Be sure to have plenty of fuel as the battery may take several hours to a day to recharge using a portable charger.

Diagnose the charging issue once the generator is running.

Or, buy a new house battery and a portable charger. Swap the new battery for the house battery. Start the generator and diagnose the charging issue. Portable charger can be used to keep at least one of the house batteries topped up while the generator runs.

Keep a voltage meter handy. Once the house battery is down to 12.2V resting voltage (1/2 empty) find a way to recharge it.

[Woodsie8_]

time2roll wrote:
The generator should be connected to an on-board charging system to maintain the RV battery. Possibly that system has failed. A portable battery charger would work.
Solar might be of little help if you have smoke in the air.

I have a “B”., with a Onan generator.