House batteries are charged but wont work.

[indianbones]

I have a complicated issue. When I try to run my house batteries the only way I've managed to get them work is if I hold down on my house battery switch. I have tried clamping down the switch in order to keep the lights on but the solenoid stopped working. We were hoping it was just a bad solenoid so we replaced it and we are back to the same issue when I hold down the house battery switch in the on or off position that is the only time i can get power from the house batteries. I have tried following the lines from the battery and solenoid but it just branches out into a whole bunch of things I don'd understand. Has anyone heard of an issue like this before? Please help.

Thanks!


Batteries have a good charge and the converter is putting out the appropriate amount.

[Harvey51]

The “house battery switch” must have failed or a momentary contact switch was installed by mistake.

[kerrlakeRoo]

On some units there is a "salesman" switch. it shuts off everything and is usually near the door. Check for that.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Missing equipment OR experience can befuddle diagnosis.

[da_bees]

We definatly need more info to track it down. Doing what shastagary said will tell us a lot.

[shastagary]

when I hold down the house battery switch in the on or off position that is the only time i can get power from the house batteries.

sounds to me that the house battery switch itself is bad and will not stay in the on position. if it is a simple on off switch you should be able to touch the 2 wires together on the back of it and get it to stay on as a test.

[MDKMDK]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:


"And Another Thing....."

Until stated no one has a clue as to your abilities to troubleshoot and the amount or not of test gear you have....such as a meter or test light.

If the OP had the said skills and equipment, there would be no thread/topic.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

"And Another Thing....."

Until stated no one has a clue as to your abilities to troubleshoot and the amount or not of test gear you have....such as a meter or test light.

[fischer]

Indiana Bones look at everybodys Signature they add there rig so we dont have to ask you if you forget to add it in your post. A lot forget that info so you are not alone.

[Artum_Snowbird]

Your house batteries are directly connected to the 12 volt fuse panel. It not complicated, but you have to determine what is going on.

With your voltmeter on the positive and negative terminals at the fuse panel, do a check. Do the same on your battery terminals. They should read exactly the same.

Now do the same voltage check when charging through the converter, again they should read the same.

Once you have done that, connect up with your jumper cable to your negative battery post, and the negative terminal on your fuse panel. If that makes it work, look for a bad negative connection. In my case, the main negative lead on the converter wiring terminal strip was totally loose.

If that doesn't help, take off the negative battery to negative terminal strip and do the positive to positive.

If that makes things work, look at the positive connections.

[MrWizard]

make model and year of RV

how long have you had it, NEW problem ?
sound like you are pushing the Emg Boost/jump start rocker switch !

check near the RV entry door for a battery disconnect switch, or over the drivers head,
maybe by kitchen monitor panel