Electrical Nightmare - Batteries overcharging

[Greyhawk30Z]

Hello Jayco Owner family,

We have a 2022 Jayco Greyhawk 30Z. It's a beautiful class C, but we've had a lot of issues with electrical thus far.

I will start by providing the details.

One night, the carbon monoxide alarm went off. Long story short, the batteries were putting off a rotten egg smell. We were hooked up to shore power at this time. I looked at the solar panel controller, and noticed that the battery voltage was reading > 15volts. I know that is way high for batteries.

I replaced the batteries thinking it was a bad cell. I replaced them with Duralast gel batteries from AutoZone. That did not solve the issue. I plugged into shore power, and saw the voltage rapidly climb until I cut power to the rig to avoid damaging the new batteries.

I noticed many other issues with the rig. Such as the Onan 4000 MicroQuiet generator wouldn't run longer than 90 seconds. It would produce error code 36 which basically means it turned off due to a system malfunction.

I noticed that the voltage would climb when the generator was on as well.

I brought the rig into an approved Jayco repair facility. They replace the IntelliPower converter thinking that was bad. That seemed to fix the issue. We went camping on shore power for 3 days and everything worked wonderfully and the voltage was within the correct thresholds. I ran the generator multiple times for ~ 2 hours at a time while cleaning, and no issues at all.

I am now on a trip dry camping, and I am experiencing the exact same issue. The RV has not been plugged into shore power, but only the generator has been running. The generator is now shutting off again every 90 seconds, voltage is climbing all the way to 16volts on battery (1) (no voltage climb to battery 2).

I am desperate to get to the bottom of this issue to help provide the dealer with the information they need. It's very frustrating paying over $100K for something to have issues with.

Hopefully this provides enough description for an expert (or someone who experienced this issue) to weigh in. I've looked at electrical diagrams, and I'm thinking that it has to be something related to a short in the generator wiring causing the converter to go faulty which ultimately doesn't regulate the power causing the batteries to overcharge, and causing the generator to shut down to protect the coach. That is just a theory.

Thank you in advance,

Justin

[JimD]

The converter is in control of the battery charging when it is powered by either a shore feed or generator feed. When you are connected to shore power that 120 volts is supplied to the converter which then converts it to a 12 volt range for charging.

When the generator is running it will supply 120 volts to the converter which once again converts it down to the required charge voltage. The generator does not directly charge the battery.

I installed a battery monitor which constantly displays the battery voltage. My converter went bad after a year and was not going into boost mode. It had quit charging at 14.4 volts. Replacing the converter solved the problem.

I would recommend getting a voltmeter (other than the solar display) and measuring both the voltage at the battery plus the 120 volts while the generator is running. Maybe the generator is putting out high voltage causing the converter to self destruct. With the generator running just measure any power outlet in your rig. Measure a shore power connection the same way.

It is hard to believe that 2 converters would fail in the same way so close to each other if indeed that is the source of the problem. There could be something else going on here that doesn't immediately jump to mind.

I attached a charge chart plus troubleshooting guide for my converter. If you have a different converter, go to the manufacturer's web site to download info.

[Greyhawk30Z]

Originally Posted by JimD

The converter is in control of the battery charging when it is powered by either a shore feed or generator feed. When you are connected to shore power that 120 volts is supplied to the converter which then converts it to a 12 volt range for charging.

When the generator is running it will supply 120 volts to the converter which once again converts it down to the required charge voltage. The generator does not directly charge the battery.

I installed a battery monitor which constantly displays the battery voltage. My converter went bad after a year and was not going into boost mode. It had quit charging at 14.4 volts. Replacing the converter solved the problem.

I would recommend getting a voltmeter (other than the solar display) and measuring both the voltage at the battery plus the 120 volts while the generator is running. Maybe the generator is putting out high voltage causing the converter to self destruct. With the generator running just measure any power outlet in your rig. Measure a shore power connection the same way.

It is hard to believe that 2 converters would fail in the same way so close to each other if indeed that is the source of the problem. There could be something else going on here that doesn't immediately jump to mind.

I attached a charge chart plus troubleshooting guide for my converter. If you have a different converter, go to the manufacturer's web site to download info.

Update!

The converter was bad, yet again.. The shop brought in their master electrician and he tore everything apart electrical related.

Turns out, the converter is located DIRECTLY under the bathroom sink… The drain pipe and water lines run directly over the converter. Who designed that??

It turns out, the drain pipe for the sink had a very slow leak and was dripping directly on the converter. Causing it to fry..

I am going to build some sort of raised, ventilated box for the converter to avoid such problems again and install a water leak/moisture detector in that area.

Just thought I’d follow up with the outcome!

Thanks again.

[Marcm157]

Glad you figured it out and thanks for letting us all know. Sometimes you have to wonder if the design engineers all went out for a liquid lunch, came back and said yup this is a fine place to put this here piece of electrical equipment....

[bucko]

Originally Posted by Marcm157

Glad you figured it out and thanks for letting us all know. Sometimes you have to wonder if the design engineers all went out for a liquid lunch, came back and said yup this is a fine place to put this here piece of electrical equipment....

LOL!

It's usually the spaghetti wiring that I see that makes me wonder about how these things are built or designed.