Battery charging problems

camper Rick · 04-03-2019, 08:19 AM

On the road and first night out the battery drained. I took it out and had it tested and bought a new one. Second night out battery drained again. Jayco 365bhs. 2016. I haves checked all breakers and fuses in inverted box. Hooked to shore power now. I am having to keep a charger on it just to survive. Anyone have any miracle advice.

oldmanAZ · 04-03-2019, 08:59 AM

What are you running off the battery? If you are running the furnace, the furnace FAN will use LOTS of 12v battery power.

How are you charging the battery?

Do you have access to 'shore' power?

EDIT: Oops! Re-reading I see you are on shore power now.

camper Rick · 04-03-2019, 09:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldmanAZ

What are you running off the battery? If you are running the furnace, the furnace FAN will use LOTS of 12v battery power.

How are you charging the battery?

Do you have access to 'shore' power?

EDIT: Oops! Re-reading I see you are on shore power now.

Never had any problems before. It seems something has failed interrupting the charging system into the battery. I can charge it but it drains to dead within 24 hours.

oldmanAZ · 04-03-2019, 09:18 AM

Do you have a voltmeter?
What is the battery voltage when charging?
How long do you leave it plugged into shore power to charge the battery?

An inexpensive digital voltmeter that plugs into a trailer's 12v port is a good way to keep track of what is going on with your 12v system and the battery state of charge.

RoyBraddy · 04-03-2019, 09:22 AM

I picked up one of these CRAFTSMAN CLAMP ON AC/DC Current meter... This is great for clamping around the DC CABLES one at a time when looking for a current drain problem...

Google image

You obviously have a CURRENT DRAIN situation draining down your battery... This may help you locate which circuit is draining your battery so quickly...

My big drain the first time I started using my OFF-ROAD POPUP was the propane heater fan... The rule of thumb for it is one 12V battery one night running the blower fan haha...

My other learning curve was to never let my battery bank drop before 12.0VDC which relates to me being around the 50% Charge state for the batteries... If I do not get this battery bank back up to its 90% charge state before using them again I would not get the full battery bank performance and the bank would start going down to its 50% rather quickly when in use... If you keep going below the 50% charge state than you will start doing damage to your battery...

My success was to plan out my normal drains for the one day/night run on my batteries and hopefully they would be at the 50% charge state around 8AM each morning. Then I would charge my batterie banks using my 2KW Generator back up to its 90% charge state during breakfast when allowed to run my generator which would take a good three hours of generator run time to do it. This way I would always start off with a 90% charge state battery bank for that day/night run on my batteries.

You also will need multiple batteries in your battery bank if you want to be successful camping off-grid without shore power...

I watch my DC VOLTAGE iike a hawk when camping OFF-GRID...

It is all in the planning haha...

Roy Ken

camper Rick · 04-03-2019, 09:35 AM

Thanks for the info. It is just that I’ve never had this issue before. Hooked to shore power constantly but battery drains anyway.

RoyBraddy · 04-03-2019, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by camper Rick

Thanks for the info. It is just that I’ve never had this issue before. Hooked to shore power constantly but battery drains anyway.

Another thought here make sure you have hooked up your battery terminals correctly. Make sure the NEG TERMINAL identified on the battery case is going straight to FRAME GROUND...

Having a DC VOLTMETER you can place it across the battery terminals and if it is charged good it will read 12.6-7VDC.. Then when you hookup to shore power this voltage should jump up to 13.6VDC or what ever smart mode your converter/charger is in. This tells you have a good connection between your battery terminals and the converter/charger unit... You can pick up a Multimeter from WALMART LOWES or any automotive parts store rather cheap... Great to have around in your tool box...

Roy Ken

**Mustang65** · 04-03-2019, 10:20 AM

Is there a chance that your break-away switch may have been activated? Wait you are traveling.

Pull your main 30 amp fuse by the battery for 24 hours and see what your battery voltage is. If you have a multimeter that can measure Amps, you can pull the inline 30 amp fuse and put a lead in each side of the fuse holder to measure the current being used. You could then pull the individual fuses in the TT and see which circuit has the most drain on it and see what it controls.

Don

My Registry

RVing with SOLAR

camper Rick · 04-03-2019, 10:30 AM

Thanks for your ideas. I think I may have an ac that is bad and maybe drawing done. Will eliminate it tonight and see what happens.

Mopar_Earl · 04-03-2019, 10:37 AM

Breaker to converter on? Converter fuses good? Converter work or is it bad? Sounds like your converter isn't working.

Earl

camper Rick · 04-03-2019, 12:28 PM

Thanks all battery protection fuses were blown.

GHen · 04-03-2019, 11:19 PM

So, next issue, why did they blow?

Do you any electrical protection like a surge protector or better yet a EMS to protect against issues with shore power? If not, you should.

Robbbyr · 04-04-2019, 05:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by camper Rick

Thanks all battery protection fuses were blown.

That can happen if the battery was hooked up backwards, even if the terminals were just momentarily touched that way.

**Mustang65** · 04-04-2019, 07:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robbbyr

That can happen if the battery was hooked up backwards, even if the terminals were just momentarily touched that way.

2x
Don
My Registry

RVing with SOLAR

camper Rick · 04-16-2019, 05:35 PM

Found battery protection fuses blown and I think it created a new monster. Coleman 13500 ac only dead. Ac current hot at control box but nothing is working including thermostat lights meaning no power coming out of control panel. No bad connections, no burned wires a breakers and fuses checked and good. Control panel failure is my only guess at this point. Is it testable?

ALJO · 04-16-2019, 05:59 PM

Camper Rick: Please mention your RV model so forum members can help you better.

camper Rick · 04-16-2019, 06:36 PM

2013 eagle Premier but this problem is really about Colman AC around that year. Thanks

camper Rick · 04-16-2019, 06:39 PM

365BHS sorry.

Mopar_Earl · 04-16-2019, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by camper Rick

Found battery protection fuses blown and I think it created a new monster. Coleman 13500 ac only dead. Ac current hot at control box but nothing is working including thermostat lights meaning no power coming out of control panel. No bad connections, no burned wires a breakers and fuses checked and good. Control panel failure is my only guess at this point. Is it testable?

You reversed polarity on the batteries by the sounds of it. That more than likely fired your AC board IF it uses 12v. A lot do.
Try to find a service manual for the model you have. It should have some testing trees in it.
Do you have 120v to the control? 12v to the control? 12v to the thermostat? Some use the AC board to control the furnace as well.

Earl

camper Rick · 04-16-2019, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mopar_Earl

You reversed polarity on the batteries by the sounds of it. That more than likely fired your AC board IF it uses 12v. A lot do.
Try to find a service manual for the model you have. It should have some testing trees in it.
Do you have 120v to the control? 12v to the control? 12v to the thermostat? Some use the AC board to control the furnace as well.

Earl

Thanks Earl
You may be on to something. I have 120 v but 12 volt is not getting to the thermostat which would lock down the a c. Right? I will trace 12 back to converter tomorrow and post the results.

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