converter not fully charging house batteries

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Roaddog

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Jun 1, 2010
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Hi, I'm new here, and to RVs. I recently bought a 1985 (that's right '85!) Itasca sundancer. After a little driving around here I'm really getting hooked, and plan to make a 1,200 mile round trip soon to visit my daughter in SC. I've done a lot of work to it, and everything is now working great except for one thing. When the engine is running, and the switch is on dual, I get about 14v to the batteries, and they charge fine, but when it's plugged into 110v, the batteries are only receiving about 8v. I disconnected the cables and checked them and still only 8v in the cables. I then checked the voltage at the fuse, again only 8v but all the other fuses were at 12v. Is there something I can check in the charging circuit that might be causing this?
Thanks
I probably should have mentioned, it doesn't have a generator, but it seems like it might have at one time.
 
Howdy - welcome to The RV Forum!

So you're saying the converter is only putting out 8V?  If so, sounds like your converter is wonky.  Replace it with a good three-stage charger or charger/inverter.
 
Actually, the converter is putting out 12v to everything except the batteries. I was wondering if there could be something I could check in the charging circuit?
 
The converter should be putting out about 13.5 volts. I don't know what converter Winnebago used back then. If it is a Magnatek 6000 series then the batteries must be connected when the converter is on.
If it is a 7000 series then you may have a battery disconnect switch. If so maybe it is in the disconnect position.
You may also have a bad battery that is pulling the voltage down.
 
If you have a Magnetek that's the 6000 series or lower, the converter has two outputs.  The main output is unfiltered and runs all of the 12 volt loads when you're hooked up to electricity.  The second output goes through a low current regulator to charge the batteries.  If you look at the 12 volt fuse panel you'll see it's divided into two groups of fuses, the majority on the main output and only 1 or 2 on the battery charging output (it's also used to run the 12 volt TV outlet and the house radio if you have one).  If the battery charging output has died, the best solution is to replace the converter with a more modern one that will also do a better job of charging and maintaining your batteries.

My favorite is the Progressive Dynamics with their Charge Wizard.
 
Thanks Lou, you're right, I think that's the problem, the converter side works fine, but the charger side is bad, since I'm getting very little voltage on that side. I did a quick fix, by plugging in a battery charger and attaching it to the lug on that side and it charged the batteries fine. Guess I'll look for a new converter. Thanks everybody.
 
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