Batteries - Inverter & the like

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insurancelady66

insurancelady66

Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2014
Posts
18
We have a 2005 Itasca Meridian 34H diesel pusher.  I spent nearly a week camping by myself.  During that time, I read almost the entire manual highlighting ALOT and trying to understand.  I think I may have figured out a few issues.  My husband is not mechanically inclined and gets frustrated that he isn't.  So I read alot!!!!  We have been having battery issues since we bought this unit about 3 years ago......THAT in inself has my husband asking to get rid of it and buy a 5th wheel and truck.  Anyway, I THINK I may have discovered that the inverter or converter (whatever it's called) may not be working.  While camping, I ran the engine every evening and every morning  in order to keep the house batteries charged.  I noticed that the fridge showed an error message in the middle of the night....dc low and it appeared that the fridge had turned off but I think it had gone into the back up emergency mode.  By running the engine every night and morning, I was able to keep the fridge from erroring.  By running the motor, I figured out that I was able to charge the house batteries with the alternator.  We have a trik l charger for the chassis batteries.  During the week of camping I was operating on 30 amp service.  I was very careful to NOT operate stuff to keep my amp usage below 30.  The Dimensions panel is not lighting up in the info center.  Also, the light showing that we are receiving solar power is never on.  We are taking the coach to our rv dealer this next week to get the things taken care of before we try to sell it but am wondering if I am on the right track with regard to the inverter.  Today I went out to start the coach so I could level it up and run the slides out but the engine barely croaked.....said 8.9 amps on the house battery and 11.2 on the chassis battery.  I had started the coach on Monday so it's been 6 days since it was last started.  I love the coach and it is paid for so I really would like to keep it but my husband is the one who normally battles the battery issues so I just can't see him continuing to hate the rig because of this problem.  HELP!!!
 
Getting a 5th wheel wouldn't solve the problem, same electrical system, but no engine with alternator. It sounds like the charger portion of your Inverter/Charger isn't working or that your house batteries are bad. Since the chassis battery also ran down even with a Trik-LCharge, it does indeed sound charger section of the Dimensions Inverter/Charger is turned off or not programmed correctly.
 
I'd bet on the house batteries being bad, I recently replaced all three of my house batteries that were too weak to hold a charge and were five years old.  Batteries can be easily tested using a hydrometer or a load tester.

I originally thought my inverter/charger was bad, but it was not the case.

Best Regards.
 
Buying a new RV to solve a battery charging problem seems a bit extreme! And changing over to 5W isn't going to be any less troublesome anyway.

Clearly your house charging system isn't working, so it needs to be fixed. Since the Dimensions panel doesn't even light up, something fundamental is wrong (or maybe its circuit breaker is turned off?). Once the house system is working right, the Trik-L-Start will keep the chassis batteries up while you are parked, so that problem goes away too.
 
insurancelady66 said:
.. The Dimensions panel is not lighting up in the info center.  Also, the light showing that we are receiving solar power is never on. ..
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I think your post is one of the longest paragraphs I've ever read  :D.

I think Gary is on the right track with the idea that something else might be going on especially since your solar charge LED isn't lit.  You didn't say how old your batteries are - unless they are high-end premium batteries like Lifeline, Rolls, Surette, etc., and if they are older than four or five years, they need to be replaced.  If you need to replace them, replace all batteries at the same time with the exact type.
 
insurancelady66 said:
We have a 2005 Itasca Meridian 34H diesel pusher.  I spent nearly a week camping by myself.  During that time, I read almost the entire manual highlighting ALOT and trying to understand.  I think I may have figured out a few issues.  My husband is not mechanically inclined and gets frustrated that he isn't.  So I read alot!!!!  We have been having battery issues since we bought this unit about 3 years ago......THAT in inself has my husband asking to get rid of it and buy a 5th wheel and truck.  Anyway, I THINK I may have discovered that the inverter or converter (whatever it's called) may not be working.  While camping, I ran the engine every evening and every morning  in order to keep the house batteries charged.  I noticed that the fridge showed an error message in the middle of the night....dc low and it appeared that the fridge had turned off but I think it had gone into the back up emergency mode.  By running the engine every night and morning, I was able to keep the fridge from erroring.  By running the motor, I figured out that I was able to charge the house batteries with the alternator.  We have a trik l charger for the chassis batteries.  During the week of camping I was operating on 30 amp service.  I was very careful to NOT operate stuff to keep my amp usage below 30.  The Dimensions panel is not lighting up in the info center.  Also, the light showing that we are receiving solar power is never on.  We are taking the coach to our rv dealer this next week to get the things taken care of before we try to sell it but am wondering if I am on the right track with regard to the inverter.  Today I went out to start the coach so I could level it up and run the slides out but the engine barely croaked.....said 8.9 amps on the house battery and 11.2 on the chassis battery.  I had started the coach on Monday so it's been 6 days since it was last started.  I love the coach and it is paid for so I really would like to keep it but my husband is the one who normally battles the battery issues so I just can't see him continuing to hate the rig because of this problem.  HELP!!!
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How are all the 12V lites doing at nite time? I will assume they are dim/not working very well also?about the time the fridge says low dc error
Sounds like your converter is not charging your batterys at all.If it was just bad batterys you should still receive 12.5 volts or more through the converter when plugged into SP.If the batterys were as bad as some here say simply running your engine alternater for short whiles would never charge up bad house batterys to the point they will last the periods that u indicate they do.There sometimes is a reset breaker on the inverter/charger that when triped will not allow the converter to charge the batterys.One thing I would have done was just run a  battery charger on the house batterys while you were camping last week and you would not have had to run the big diesel engine at all
 
  First, I would recommend checking for date codes on the batteries. They could be a round sticker with a letter and number or two letters.  If they are maroon colored, look at the negative post and they will have the date code (letter and number ) stamped into it.  Are they wet batteries (do the caps come off) or sealed batteries.  Maybe a logo/name/part number would help.  If you feel comfortable with a volt meter, tell me the open circuit voltage on each of the batteries when they are not hooked to the chassis. 

  Further, on your starting battery at 8.9 volts, you have a parasitic draw.  Batteries do not self discharge that low.  Starting batteries that are this low will also cause undo wear n tear on your starter, which is expensive in itself.  Technically, you never want your batteries lower than 12.2 or 50% discharged.  11.6 is 100% discharged and no battery should ever be that low.  Your charger may never come on to charge because it doesn't recognize that it is even hooked up to a battery ( a built in safety feature to keep people from shocking themselves).  It doesn't necessarily mean that it doesn't work. 

  If you find one or two batteries bad, replace the whole bank.  I know it is expensive, but you will benefit in the long run. 
 
"...During the week of camping I was operating on 30 amp service..."  Why was there a battery issue if you were plugged in?  Although I'm sure if the batteries are original equipment they do need replacement, but I'm not sure they were your problem if you were plugged in to 30 amp service.  I use my batteries when I don't have shore power.

How about the shoreline automatic changer over switch that recognizes that you have shore power and don't need the batteries?  Mine makes a pop/switch sound when it gets alternating current (a/c power).  I'm not as knowledgeable as the rest of these guys, but this seems reasonable to me.  Could it be an off breaker or a failed switching device?

Just a thought!
 
Running the engine for 30mins isn't going to get the batteries even close to charge, and every day will get a little worse, has the chassis battery at 9v is definitely an issue.

Start by going home and plugging the coach into shore power and have someone that knows how to use a volt meter go through the system, from terminal voltage and draw on both batteries, to checking the charger and it's performance.

If you have a 2000w Dimensions charger, there is a breaker on it that will shut it down. Hopefully that's one of the sections you highlighted?... :)

How do you know you kept the draw below "30"? Is that a guess or a reading, and from what?

All I'll agree with the rest: swapping the rig for something else of any flavor isn't going to make anything easier. They all have batteries and chargers, and you simply either need to know how to service and diagnose them, or get out your checkbook.
 
Running the engine to charge the batteries?? Shouldn't she be running the generator vs. the engine? 

Here is what I do, many do not agree, but I change out all of my batteries every three years....regardless of whether they need it or not.  The cost is offset by not getting stranded in far west Texas (no cell service area) with dead batteries.  When the new batteries are installed, I charge them 24+ hours to bring them up to full charge. 

While I have a 30A outlet in my barn to plug the m/h in, I only plug it in when I need to do inside chores that require 120v power.  I put the external chargers (house and engine) on the batteries about every 3-4 weeks when not in use.  Works for me. 
 
George Lewis said:
Running the engine to charge the batteries?? Shouldn't she be running the generator vs. the engine? 
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That depends on the output of the alternator vs. the output of the generator powered battery charger.  I prefer to run the generator and let the battery charge be controlled by my three-stage Xantrex RS2000 - it will pump out a constant 100 amps in the bulk charge phase.

I change out all of my batteries every three years....regardless of whether they need it or not.  The cost is offset by not getting stranded in far west Texas (no cell service area) with dead batteries.
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Nothing wrong with your battery replacement scheme for the best in reliability with traditional flooded cell batteries.  I exclusively use Lifeline AGM batteries for the house bank and two summers ago I replaced the house bank just because they were seven years old.  They probably could have easily lasted another three or four years.

While I have a 30A outlet in my barn to plug the m/h in, I only plug it in when I need to do inside chores that require 120v power.  I put the external chargers (house and engine) on the batteries about every 3-4 weeks when not in use.  Works for me.
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Our coach is always plugged in with the RS2000 float charging the house and chassis banks.  No muss, no fuss.
 
George Lewis said:
Running the engine to charge the batteries?? Shouldn't she be running the generator vs. the engine? 

Here is what I do, many do not agree, but I change out all of my batteries every three years....regardless of whether they need it or not.  The cost is offset by not getting stranded in far west Texas (no cell service area) with dead batteries.  When the new batteries are installed, I charge them 24+ hours to bring them up to full charge. 

While I have a 30A outlet in my barn to plug the m/h in, I only plug it in when I need to do inside chores that require 120v power.  I put the external chargers (house and engine) on the batteries about every 3-4 weeks when not in use.  Works for me.
Click to expand...
I for one am not interested in tossing 4 batteries costing $150+ just because. Batteries fail all the time, and it's not age specific, I've had my share of new batteries open up, and internally short.

For the running engine to charge, I'm reading through that as the on board charger doesn't work, so that's the only choice, although a poor one.
 
The coach has been at the shop for the past week.  They called me and said that the house batteries needed to be replaced.  They are a little over 4 years old.  After the batts are replaced, they would see if that takes care of the other electrical type issues.  They still had to do additional investigating for a problem and found a bad 300 fuse to the inverter.  ($100.00)  Replaced that and the batteries and it appears to have taken care of ALL of the electrical type issues I mentioned.  Since we put ALL batteries in new when we purchased and have had electrical issues from day 1, I wonder if the 300 amp or volt fuse was the problem all along!!!!  We are taking the coach out over the weekend to check things out.  We are almost positive it is sold and will be gone in about 2 weeks but we want to be sure the new owner doesn't run into any problems so wanna make sure all is up to snuff.  Thank you so much for all your help. 
 
insurancelady66 said:
..we want to be sure the new owner doesn't run into any problems so wanna make sure all is up to snuff.  ..
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Good for you!  That's great helping the new owner get a good start with the coach.

I have never heard a fuse going partially bad, it's either good or bad however there could have been a problem with the connections on either end of the fuse.
 
It was $30 for the fuse and $70 for knowing enough to look for it.

You could get the fuse for under $10 on Ebay, but that's not really relevant unless you are willing and able to diagnose and repair it yourself.
 
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