Running out of power

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Boy, a name would sure make me feel like I was attempting to help a person...

What do you mean "combined voltage"??  Did you connect the two new batteries in series and measure the voltage or something else?

Could you post a photo of what you have and the connections?
 
v33sonata said:
I can't keep buying stuff. So when I disconnect the positive I get 12v back. However I'm. Showing no amp draw

So when you have the batteries hooked up, and you are measuring voltage of the batteries at the battery posts, you were getting 2 volts, but when you unhook the positive cable from the batteries, and measure at the battery posts, you then get 12 plus volts?
 
Sorry my name is Anthony. I'm not sure how to post pictures from my phone. Coach Neg is hooked up to neg on battery then the positive to the neg On next battery then positive to pos. on coach
 
Nice to meet you Anthony!

It sounds like you have this, which is correct.
Series.jpg


You say you had 12 volts. Is that exactly 12 volts?? Because, that is basically the voltage of a dead (state of charge) battery bank. The voltage should be up around 12.6 volts with these new batteries (id fully charged).  Have you charged them?
 
v33sonata said:
Prior to trying to start the genset everything g was at 12v all wired up

Well, I am stumped.  I cant imagine any circumstances under which these things could happen.  Hopefully, someone more knowledgeable will come along and be able to help you.
 
No I had 12.4 and someone said they were not fully charged so I went to charge them and all hell broke lose
 
v33sonata said:
No I had 12.4 and someone said they were not fully charged so I went to charge them and all hell broke lose
Other than the generator not starting what else happened?
 
You may find this chart handy.

I'd start tracing the wires back to the generator and see if there is a short. I'm surprised your rig isn't on fire though with a voltage drop that large.
 

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Nothing I have no 12v power in the rv from the new battery's. I'm following then wiring but it goes thru the dust box thru a bunch of boxes and silver relay looking things. None of which I get
 
It was the wire between the two battery's. The old one was 2 gauge and really old. I used a much smaller wire and jumped and all it working well even the genset started....... what gauge wire should I be using to jump theses
 
Guys thanks for all your help. I feel I have been especially snippy lately due to a very bad week. Hopefully this issue is behind me. Thanks again!
 
I use the 4 gauge starter cables sold at every auto parts store or hardware store. If you plan on having big loads on the system though, you may want to go bigger.

That bad wire may be why it seemed your old setup was only working on one battery.
 
No worries Anthony, these scenarios stress us all to some point - very glad you got it sorted.

The heaviest load your house batteries are likely to see is your generator starter or engine starter (assuming you have a cross-feed switch, etc.). Since the cable is very short, I'd think a #2 or #4 would be fine - just guessing without any real facts though.
 
Where are you measureing the voltage at.. If you are measuring AT THE BATTERY for all voltage measurements then the dump to 2 volts under load indicates either some serious load or some serious internal resistance (Or a bad jumper wire)

If you are measureing remotely... Then the 2 volts most liklely is indicateive of a connection issue or bad wire.

I had a bad wire once. No load it measured 11.x volts (Batteries were 13.6, floating)...

Just the volt mtere 20,000 ohms per volt, 20 volt range (400,000 ohms) was enough to drop it about 2 volts..  That was a bad wire

Test lamp took it to zip... (more like 2 ohms)  Traced it, found the bad spot. excized it, and 13.6 under load happened just like that (l.oad is 3 amps plus on that 10ga line).
 
I am .measuring at the battery. Also last night I heard the refrigerator kicking on and off last night. As it's using propane what is it doing?
 

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