No 12 volt house power

Gmears · 02-06-2009, 02:28 PM

Coach set for 2 weeks with no shore power connected. House batteries are totally dead. In process of charging now. I have connected back to shore power, but still have no interior lights or refrigerator power. I have checked all breakers. This is a 07 Vectra.
Any idea's would be appreciated.

Thanks
Gary

Sammie · 02-06-2009, 02:58 PM

Try turning the house battery dissconnect switch off then on.

BigRedLancer · 02-06-2009, 03:23 PM

You can only hope it's only a disconnect switch issue. If not ...

Do you have a way of testing the actual battery voltage? Don't know if you have 6 or 12 volt batteries. I had some batteries go down to 2 VDC. A battery shop was able to get the charge back to a full 12VDC but the batteries performance dropped dramatically. If you ran the house batteries completely down, they will likely not come back to full charge. Even if you are able to get them to charge, the electrolyte in the cells will sulfate to the point that the batteries are ruined. You can tell if the water has a milky looking substance in the cells.

ChasA · 02-06-2009, 04:19 PM

Gary,
Do you have AC power in you coach? If you do then check your converter. The converter should be providing power for your 12V lights, even with the battery disconnect switch in the off position. Have you measured the voltage at the batteries themselves? If they are truly at 0 volts then you probably will need new batteries. Also what are you using to try to recharge the batteries? Some chargers will not even attempt to charge if the battery voltage is below 10 volts.

Gmears · 02-06-2009, 07:09 PM

The batteries are down to about 1/2 volt. I checked the resent on the converter but will have to get manual out tommorrow the find out how to check it further.

I am hooked to shore power and have check incoming power to coach and it is good.

Even if house batteries are bad shouldn't I have the 12 volts when I am hooked to shore power. Nothing inside to coach that works on house 12 volts works but 110 volts things all work. I am charging batteries with heavey duty 12 volt batery charger.

Thanks for the idea's
Gary

SacsTC · 02-06-2009, 07:36 PM

Gary,
We have a 12 volt cutoff in the battery bay, also there is a 12 volt switch by the passenger seat on the way into the coach. Make sure that has not been turned off accidentally. (easy to do on ours)
Also there is a 12 volt solonoid in the electrical bay below the drivers window.
Scroll down to see pics in the link above.

MrTransistor · 02-06-2009, 11:39 PM

Hi Gary,

OMG, are the house batteries actually reading ½ volt? If they are that low, it’s doubtful if the charger will recover them. The battery boost solenoid gets its plus 12 Volts from the coach battery. If the coach battery is way low, the boost will not work.

You could try disconnecting the house batteries right at the battery terminals to see if the 12 volts returns. If it does then the charger is working and at least one of the house batteries has shorted cells. Always remember when replacing battery banks to use the same brand and model and if at all possible, make sure the date code is the same.

NO1RAINH20 · 02-07-2009, 05:24 AM

are your chassis batteries up if so run a set of jumper cables between hose and chassis batteries and energize battery disconnect solinoid.also your coach will not have 12 v power to it jas because it is plugged into shore power as it is equipped with an inverter charger.

Gmears · 02-07-2009, 12:43 PM

Got the batteries fully charged and everything is working fine at this time. The batteries are 2 years old I am suspecting I have a bad cell in at least one of them. I am having them check Monday. Thanks to everyone for your help.

Gary