odd electrical happenings

[colorado]

I have a 98 winnie adventurer 35wp that we are pulling out of high rockies cold storage. I've replaced all the batteries, and she starts, and most everything works, except when I try to use the aux batteries. Zero lights, and zero bars at the panel. However, when the aux battery is turned off at the dash, the overhead lights work. I pulled a blown fuse out of the dash for the converter, did I do that by putting the batteries in wrong, or is that the culprit?


Hugs and kisses without spreading germs.

[imnprsd]

I don't know your particular model RV, but this may help:

* The engine battery starts the engine

* The house battery powers the inverter/charger, but I'm guessing your have a converter/power center and when you pulled the fuse that disabled the 12V lights in your RV from working.

You can replace the fuse, but if it blows that might signal you have a converter short and I think your fix is to replace it.

Maybe someone else can expand on this?

Did you also replace your house (deep cycle) battery?

[colorado]

I tried a new fuse, 3 blown 25s later i think I have a problem. I did put new deep cycles in, but I fear they are too much power now. As it sits, the chassis battery is starting the motorhome well, and running all the 12 v stuff. I have fully disconnected the two new coach batteries and am waiting to hear more.

[imnprsd]

You can't have too much power as you put it. 12V is 12V.

Check for loose wires. With no power to the coach and with your batteries disconnected. Tighten the screws to your circuit breakers. A loose connection will heat up and burn your fuse.

If your fuse is blowing after 25 seconds that means something is getting hot... i.e. short or very loose wire. ... Inspect your wires for burn marks after you remove the circuit box cover.

If you don't find a loose wire, try disconnecting the converter and see if you have a short. You need a multi meter set to "continuity mode" and see if you get a beep. That signals a short and you can either diagnose your Converter or replace it yourself.

==> Put one probe on the line-in and the other probe to ground. ...Beep or not? Beep... you need a new converter.

[SmilingSimon]

Fundamentally, you always need to make sure your GROUND wires are solid, loosen all and make sure a nice NON RUSTY/Paint contact to chassis.


Obviously if a fuse is blowing then too much current is flowing, that could mean a shorted device OR wire rubbing against a chassis/ground wire.


plastic shielding is a must on underside/chassis but 'wear' locations where vibration can occur can be why something is blowing a fuse, but would be 'iffy' while sitting still and would be more apt to occur when in motion.


GL !

[Morich]

Originally Posted by colorado

I have a 98 winnie adventurer 35wp that we are pulling out of high rockies cold storage. I've replaced all the batteries, and she starts, and most everything works, except when I try to use the aux batteries. Zero lights, and zero bars at the panel. However, when the aux battery is turned off at the dash, the overhead lights work. I pulled a blown fuse out of the dash for the converter, did I do that by putting the batteries in wrong, or is that the culprit?


Hugs and kisses without spreading germs.

This is a time for slow and steady to avoid adding more trouble but then it just takes grit to sort through as your specific year, make , model has some really good info on how it is wired and works, so it will need to be looked over and tested.
So some questions first will let us know what level to start for assistance. We can't do the test but we can point to where and how!
Sounds like you may be a bit of novice on electronics but that just means you may need more experience and now is a good time to get some.

Do you have or can you get a meter that reads voltage and resistance as referred to above. Even a cheap one will do but over the long haul with an RV, one that costs about $20-30 will do better/longer. I'm always aware of budgets but a meter is one that certainly pays off very well.
Some ideas:
https://www.google.com/search?q=mult...hrome&ie=UTF-8
One that I might like as simple to avoid too much confusion but still does all the things we need for RV and more:
https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/...B&gclsrc=aw.ds

Next step is how the RV is wired and a place to start might be to check carefully the battery install---just to verify but I think they will be fine as that would be far bigger trouble, if not correct!
As part of that, there are online drawings here to show the battery wiring but do you have a Chevy or a Ford chassis?
https://www.winnebago.com/Files/File...998/126722.pdf

Page one for Chevy, Ford on page two!

I suggest leaving the converter fuse out until we sort out and remove some of the items which might be blowing the fuse. Finding and disconnecting fuses or breakers and then testing will save fuses!

[Morich]

Did not mean to leave you hanging but this is what you need to look at on the batteries to assure they are right---just as a big thing to check!!
I chose the Chevy as they are basically the same but slight difference in the locations of ground studs, etc.

Basic idea is that all negatives are connected to a ground point. The positive of the start battery has a cable to go to one side of the mode solenoid and the positives of the two coach connect together and a cable goes out to the other side of the mode solenoid.

Clicking this picture on a computer makes it come up larger to read.

[SmilingSimon]

The one BIG common downside to all or nearly all multi-meters is there needs to be an alligator clip or such so can use both hands on other end - which is very often needed.


pin probes are fine for electronics and testing batteries but NOT for debugging both ends of possible long wiring issues.


GL

[NeilV]

Did you use two 12 volt batteries or two 6 volt batteries? If 12 volt then they need to be setup in parallel with the connecting wires between the batteries going from positive to positive and negative to negative while 6 volt batteries would have to be in series with one connecting wire between the batteries going positive to negative. Put the 12 volt in series then you will be running 24 volts and blowing fuses along with potentially other items. If the new batteries were not charged fully enough then a high charging rate can potentially blow the main fuse to the house batteries however that is usually a 40 or 50 amp pop up breaker.

If you are unsure of how to hook up the pair of house batteries then try just one 12 volt battery and see how that goes so you can rule out shorts elsewhere in the system,

[DryCreek]

Originally Posted by imnprsd

You can't have too much power as you put it. 12V is 12V..

But, you can have too much voltage if you wired your batteries incorrectly!

[BobC]

A multimeter with a clamp-on amp probe will help isolate the offending circuit(s) if excess current draw is the problem. They're not too expensive. Here are some examples:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=dc+clamp+...s_ts-doa-p_4_8

Just make sure the clamp on ammeter, in fact, reads DC amps as well as AC. Some don't.

[Bo Walker]

I think you may have hooked your two coach batteries in series. They should be hooked up parallel.