Batteries

[sgt77]

O Wise Ones, My 02 Winnebago Adventurer which is connected to 30 amp shore when not on the road, has a solar charger on the roof and is down here in Florida has dead batteries. The batteries are a year old, which were purchased at Wally World. Both house batteries and the engine battery are dead. The gauge inside shows the engine battery at 9.7 and the house batteries at 13.7. The genset clicks like the battery is dead. I also had one of the small battery tenders hooked up to the house batteries for the past month.


Any ideas before I run out and buy a new set of batteries.

[HiTech]

Yes I use mostly marine batteries (pretty much by chance of labeling). It is a marketing term more than a technical one. My Deka AGMs private labeled by a local battery shop are "Marine Deep Cycle" and one of my 115 Ah group 27's is a hybrid, labeled as a "marine battery". I think the 85 ah group 24 that came with my TT is also labeled marine.

Jim

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Battery Combiner BI-DIRECTIONAL
All the batteries charge automatically.

[sgt77]

Hi Gang,

Just as a follow up to my battery issue. It was the chassis battery. It had gone bad or was just bad from the day I bought it. Drop in a new one as well as confirming that everything else was working as it should.

I appreciate the ideas and assistance. One question; Are any of you using marine batteries for your house or chassis batteries?

Thanks again.

[HiTech]

If the house batteries are at 13.7 they are being floated (a little aggressively) by a working converter. Should be able to use them to start the genset or the motor (with the jumper switch).

The poor chassis battery has not seen any charging in a long time, it sounds like.

Jim

[time2roll]

Do you actually have a combiner to charge the chassis battery?
Easy fix to install Trik-L-Start combiner.

[Almot]

hmknightnc wrote:

- How big is the solar system? If it is small (<50 watt) with the systems on and the converter not working it likely can't keep up

Anything over 10W is more than enough for "maintenance" of 2 batteries, meaning that it only has to compensate for self-discharge. Not to compensate for all kinds of loads. Unless he/she disconnects the loads when in storage, there are always some loads. People naively assume that there is no drain when they turn the ignition off. He has to physically disconnect the loads from the battery - and then there will still be self-discharge, but this is less than loads would drain.

But, since it's on 30A shore power when in storage - and at least one of the batteries died prematurely - you are right that charging systems are not working. Or water dried out - it's hot there. Or both.

[Beverley_Ken]

If the house batteries are reading 13.7 volts, they are not dead, or that is the power coming from the converter. The generator uses the house batteries for starting power, Check and clean all the connections, especially on the generator.
As for your chassis battery, it is not usually charged by the converter/shore power. With good clean connections, you should be able to use your 'boost switch' to start the MH. It would probably be wise to have the chassis battery load tested, before replacing.

Beverley and Ken

[ksg5000]

Take your batteries down to nearest auto parts/tire store and have them checked out (it's free). Genset not starting maybe a simple as corroded ground wires (check both generator and coach battery grounds).

[hmknightnc]

If your plugged in all the time it sounds like you potential have a couple problems adding up to cause this:
- First check your battery water level and make sure you haven't dried them out
- check your converter output for something like 13.6 volts. Your converter sounds like it has failed and not charging batteries
- I also sounds like your disconnect switch was left one which caused the current to drain the batteries without the converter working
- since your engine battery died too, your system isolator might be stuck closed as well
- How big is the solar system? If it is small (<50 watt) with the systems on and the converter not working it likely can't keep up

Check your water level and converter voltage. Post them here and we can go from there

[Just_Jeff]

9.7 is pretty low. Your chassis battery probably isn't charged by the solar or shore power. Do you have a switch that allows your engine to start with the house battery?

I'd start by making sure the chassis has enough water in it, then just jump it off and let it charge. It's probably damaged if it's reading 9.7 but it may last a while longer.