Generator battery dead?

[ussnewco]

My manual says the house batteries provide power to start the generator. They are registering good on the levels check, but the generator has the classic symptoms of a dead battery. The turn over is really.slow if I can it to turn over at alleast and ends with the classic click,.click, click. I'm wondering if a particular battery powers the generator and if that battery is not good. It looks like I can use my jump box I can see the big red wire, but don't want to fry anything. 99 winnebago chieftain, gas, 34ft. Any.suggestions?

[Hufficon]

Welcome to my world! I am going to work on mine today. You can jump it there. I do mine occasionally. Just hook the negative to the frame and use regular caution with the positive. I put a new battery on mine last week and it is already dead. I'm going to pull all of the house fuses and put them back one at a time using my meter to see which one has a pull. Maybe I'll find it that way. Just been putting it off,so I guess I better get to it.

If yours is like my warrior the house battery is on the drivers side.

[twinboat]

There should be a Boost or Auxiliary switch that connects the start battery to the house battery. That is for the times the house battery is to drained to start the generator.

If this is a chronic problem, you may want to check the ground cable, from the generator to the chassis. Mine was under a loose sheet metal screw.

Feel all of the connections after attempting to start the generator. A warm one is blocking some of your power.

[John Hilley]

Check your battery connections and the power connections for the generator for loose or corroded connections. As mentioned use the Boost Switch, sometimes starting the engine before Boost helps.

[ussnewco]

Now I'm really confused, I thought(it was explained to me) that the boost was to start the coach from house batteries if the vehicle battery went dead. I won't be surprised if I was told wrong(and I think I read that in a manual?) so does it work both ways? and why would my "check levels" button show the batteries topped off? I do have a solar charger, for the house batteries I think.

[lanerd]

All the boost switch does is connect the two sets of batteries. Nothing more. So go ahead and use it to start the engine or generator.

Ron

[John Hilley]

Yes, the Boost Switch works both ways. The original solar panel does very little, only 15 watts in direct sun light. What voltage do you see on the batteries?

[OLYLEN]

The solar will give a false reading to the panel, it sees high voltage from the solar and reports it. Clean all terminals, check ground to chassis(clean). Remove solar charge wire, now test battery level. With clean terminals the problem could be batteries or wires to Gen or Gens starter, which if it starts with emergency start will point to house battery problem.

LEN

[twinboat]

Assuming your house batteries are good, by reading the check levels lights, really isn't telling you much.

The batteries can be extremely low on capacity and still show 12.6 ( Full ) volts on the lights.

Have the batteries tested with a hydrometer or a load tester, to eliminate them as your problem.

[ussnewco]

Wow! lots of good info, thanks everybody, I've got my work cut out for me before our next trip in two weeks

[ussnewco]

Yeah! the gen started right using the booster switch, that's a load of my mind cause Iv other things to worry about, i'm going check and clean my connections and grounds, just got other things ahead in line. you guys are best

[DAN L]

Ussnewco,
Check:
The 12volt Side of Life (Part 1)