House battery problem

jim35 · 05-18-2010, 06:52 PM

I am in Destin for two weeks, my house batteries are at 10 volts. I have checked the charger with a volt meter I have 13.5 coming into the batteries, however fridge, and other lights in the coach are getting dim. I am on 50 amp service should everything work even if I have a bad battery. Thanks for any help.

HD4Mark · 05-18-2010, 08:12 PM

Welcome Jim,
Is there some kind of house disconnect that is set to off? Post the make, model and year of your rig and it will help.

jim35 · 05-18-2010, 09:16 PM

2000 Itasca Horizon I have made sure the battery cut off is on so it should charge. I am down to 8 volts on the meter

bigskymt · 05-18-2010, 09:23 PM

Check the output voltage at the converter then follow down the line toward the batteries till it drops. It could be a defective contactor off the converter.
What happens if you run the gen.?

Martind4 · 05-18-2010, 09:37 PM

First, I'd make sure the charger is turned on. The bottom control panel, black, labeled "Heart Interface" has four "buttons": Setup, Charger, Inverter, Power Share. Make sure there is green indicator light showing when the Charger button is pressed, press it again and it turns the charger off. If you can't turn on the charger, check in the power bay under the motorhome (where the power cord and water hose go in) for the charger/inverter reset button. Press the reset button to turn everything back on again. The charger/inverter is a black box located on the shelf towards the back of the compartment. It's quite a stretch to reach the reset button.

Do your batteries have enough water?

skigramp · 05-18-2010, 11:14 PM

Jim ...

I see from your profile that your coach is a 2000 Horizon ...

How old are your batteries?

Is there corrosion on the connections of the cable to the battery posts? Corrosion is a killer to good conductivity ...

The answer to one of your questions is ... all lights run off the battery even when you are plugged into 120V AC (either 30 or 50 amp) on the campground pedestal ... the flourescent overhead lights and all the 12 V bulbs in your coach are powered by the battery

The fastest way to charge your batteries is by running your engine and having the alternator charge the batteries ...

One of the possibilities is that you have one bad battery ... if you can isolate it then you could disconnect it from the bank of three (in parallel) ... and have a bank of 2 (in parallel by totally disconnecting the bad battery) ... that should work as long as you are connected to shore power ...

You will need to maintain a fairly decent charge on your 12V system otherwise the control board for the refrigerator (although it probably only runs on LP or 120V) most likely is powered by the 12V system ... I have been told that is the way my frig works ...

JayLodge · 05-19-2010, 05:21 AM

Add this to "dumb things I've done. . . " but took my house batteries home for winter. When put back in this week, I "missed" the ground cable specific to the charger, (it had fallen off in back of compartment) so my charger seemed "dead", as it won't wake up unless the BATTERY has at least 9 volts left! (in my case, battery was "missing" LOL )

Clay L · 05-19-2010, 09:05 AM

Something doesn't make sense. If you have 13.5 volts from the converter at the battery terminal and the lights are connected to the battery then your lights won't be dim unless there is a high resistance (bad connection) between the battery and the light circuit. Did you measure the 13.5 volts right on the terminal? Was that under load with the lights on?

jim35 · 05-19-2010, 11:10 AM

I thank everyone for your help, this morning I took my batteries to Walmart which the first battery they checked tested bad. They replaced all three, I hooked them up and check the house meter it now shows 13.2, so hopefully I am up and running again. I have one other question do not know if it is related or not. My power management system shows I am plugged in to 50 amp service, however the light that I think is usually lit indicating the load being used is blank with nothing lit, everything appears to be working maybe the light is just burned out.

Martind4 · 05-19-2010, 11:20 AM

The amp indicator on my power management systems is always blank when plugged into 50A service. It only registers with generator running or 30A or less. I don't think you have a problem.

What size batteries did you buy to be able to get 3 batteries in the box? I have group 31's and I could only get two to fit.

jim35 · 05-19-2010, 06:20 PM

Thanks for your help, I have 3 group 27 deep cycle batteries $70.00 a piece at Walmart. Everything appears to be working fine in the late afternoon.