12 volt power

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
D

DDzhere

Member
Joined
May 6, 2016
Posts
7
We are in the middle of a shake down trip to a local campground in our new to us 96 itasca sundancer. Thursday nite went well. However this morning i awoke to very dim 12 volt lights. Level indicator showed coach batteries were at 7 volts. I flipped the battery solenoid switch off. Now it wont stay on. The 2 batteries are fairly old. Im assuming my converter which is receiving 115 volts has ceased to work. But in also wondering if the batteries are no good because even sitting in my yard connected to shore power the coach will drain my chasis battery which i luckily disconnected when we arrived. Should i try new batteries first?
Thanks!
 
Well you could start randomly replacing things and maybe you might luck out and fix it or you could hire a real mechanic to troubleshoot it and replace only what is necessary.
 
DDzhere said:
Should i try new batteries first?
Click to expand...

Hi DDzhere, batteries at 7 volts are probably dead.  However; I would do some tests with them first.  Hopefully you have a voltmeter and know how to use it. Disconnect the batteries, put a known good charger on them till the charge is complete, disconnect for 24 hours and then measure the voltage.  If not somewhere around 12.4-12.6, they are likely shot.  You could also use a hydrometer to test specific gravity of each cell which is much more accurate than voltage.

The charger in a rig that old is probably not a smart/4-stage charger so upgrading is an excellent idea.  However; it may be worth some time to determine if it is bad before spending money.  It is possible that something else is going on and replacing batteries and charger could end up being wasted money.
 
I think you've already hit on your issues.

First, you say the batteries are old so yes they need to be replaced. But even if they were new, a discharge to 7 volts would permanently damage them. However, even with old batteries, if you're plugged in to shore power your converter should supply ample 12v power to run some lights.

You definely do not want to buy batteries first. If your converter is bad you'll just ruin another set of batteries. So I'd say the first step is to find out what's going on with your converter, is it charging (which it seems isn't).

If this isn't the type of troubleshooting you can do then yes you should get it looked at. One think you can check is your breakers, make sure the converter is even getting power.
 
Don't assume anything. Check to see what voltage is going into the converter and the voltage coming out. If you have the  Magnetek  6300 or 7300 series panel you might want to up grade the converter portion of the panel. That converter will boil the batteries dry, if you leave the coach plugged in all the time. Here is what I recommend replacing it with.  http://www.bestconverter.com/4600-series-Upgrade-Kits_c_133.html    it is a direct replacement with very good instructions.
 
There was 115 volts going into the converter. The converter is not working i will be replacing it with a new 4 stage. The batteries were dated 2001 they have been replaced. Even had it not been toast i would still replace the converter do to it being out dated and only 1 stage.
 
I will second Gary's comment "Good plan"?

If the converter is a stand alone device (not part of the power distribution panel) Progressive dynami9cs 9200

If it's part of the power distribution panel 4600
 
DDzhere said:
Level indicator showed coach batteries were at 7 volts. I flipped the battery solenoid switch off. Now it wont stay on.
Click to expand...

I just wanted to mention this is normal behavior.  A solenoid needs much less voltage to stay engaged versus what it takes to re-energize it after it's turned off.  The battery disconnect should operate normally once there's adequate voltage coming from the new battery.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 834 (members: 27, guests: 807)

Forum statistics

Threads
131,966
Posts
1,388,388
Members
137,718
Latest member
urnwholesaler
Back
Top Bottom