Battery shows 3/4 on shore power. Full on charger?

You might also have a convertor that's on it's way out and is only charging the battery intermittently ...keep your eye on it.

It may just be the power path in your RV

For example, in my "House" the batteries are up front under the steps.
The converter as far back as possible and on the other side

The fuse block perhaps 10 feet from the converter and 30-40 (Wire run wise) from the batteries.. The monitor is hooked to the fuse block.

So if I have lights or fans or other 12 volt eaters on there is voltage drop to the fuse block with the batteries alone, dang little with the converter.

Jim thank you for help. I will be hitting the road tomorrow and will try to do the reading you recommended. I will be picking up a voltmeter in the morning and try to get some readings.

It might be a week or two before I get back to you all.

Thanks everyone.

mojoroo wrote:
The fridge is a Norcold N611RT.

Thanks for telling us the mod #. You may not have an issue with anything in your rig and what you are seeing is just normal or your battery is in trouble.... So use this thread as a drill, learning to use that meter in the DC voltage mode!

According to the owners manual your moisture heater/divider heater is on when the fridge is on.

Norcold N6 N8 owners manual

You should make sure the fridge is off to test the resting voltage of your battery. You must wait 15 min or more to get a good resting voltage reading. You should not be hooked to shore power. There are other "loads" on your battery but we will get into that later if needed.

When on gas or 120vac (shore power) it will be using 12vdc power to operate. The shore power is only used for cooling, All the electronics, fan, lamp and this divider heater runs on 12vdc.

Here is a great website for manuals:

http://www.gasrefrigeration.net/norcold_manuals.htm

http://www.gasrefrigeration.net/

Jim

The fridge is a Norcold N611RT.

The "RV panel" will show 100% everytime you plug the trailer into shore power whether your batteries are completely drained or not. DO NOT RELY ON IT! Like was said, it is misleading at best. Get yourself a meter. Your battery is not out of the woods yet.

Load tested at Batteries Plus, it tested fine. Just starting a starting/cranking load I assume.

When I got home I plugged the battery into the RV and it was 100% on the rv panel. So I am wondering if the water was low and the inch of water I added helped.

I will get a voltmeter next time I hit a hardware store.

The auto stores will load check your battery for FREE... Also be sure you have a photo or a drawn out diagram of where all the battery cables go on the terminals. These are so easy to get REVERSED since the size lugs fits both negative and positive. Getting them reversed blows fuses you will have to find and replace.

Cell Phones are great tools for taking pictures of things before you disconnect them so you will know how it all goes back together.

I have all of my POSITIVE cables marked with a dab of RED Fingernail polish.

I am not a fan of the % meter gauges that come with the trailers. The $10-$20 Inexpensive multimteres work great and easy to use.

They are available from LOWES-WALMART-AmAZON- Any number of auto parts stores etc.


A must have item for every RV tool box...

Just my thoughts
Roy Ken

mojoroo wrote:

eric1514 wrote:

mojoroo wrote:
I don't have a voltmeter :-(. I am completely out of my element with electricity.

Get one anyway. They're cheap and you can learn to check battery voltage in no time. Don't believe your monitor panel that says your battery is 1/2 or 3/4 or fully charged. They are unreliable at best. With a $10 voltmeter you will know exactly what the state of charge is on your battery.

Good Luck,
Eric

I will look for one today. Thank you.

A voltage reading will give you a good indication of battery charge but can also be misleading. The true test is a hydrometer to check the Specific Gravity (SG) which on a fully charged battery in good condition will read about 1.265. Here is a useful link

The nice thing about using a hydrometer regularly is that it will show up a weak cell fairly soon, so you may be able to bring it up with an equalizing charge before it is too late.

Be very careful when dealing with battery acid. Your good jeans will soon be only be good for being your tattiest work pants. Go ahead: ask me how I know! :B :S

By the way, wool and polyester are impervious to battery acid. Pick up a classy pair at a use clothing store to use when servicing your batteries. (I'm going to do that one of these days.) Make sure your rinse them off thoroughly afterwards or you can transfer the acid to other surfaces with Oh **** results. :E

You might have something that runs on the battery that is on.

Most of our fridges have a switch that removes door moisture.
It is located around the door frame/door. Check that first. If you can not find it turn the fridge off and see if the monitor recovers. It will not do it right away.. 15 min or so it should. Give us the model number/make of your fridge and we will tell you where it is located.
Most of us never use that option so it remains off.

Is your fridge a 3 way... 120vac/12vdc/propane? Turn the fridge off and see if the voltage recovers after 15 min or so.

You do need a volt meter. Simple to use and you can play with it in DC voltage mode with a any small battery...

Jim