No 12 volt power

LovelandMike · 04-20-2021, 04:36 PM

2000 Winnebago Adventurer 37G
Engine starts up fine, but NO 12-volt power anywhere in the coach: in fact when I flip the Radio Main/House battery switch on the dashboard, the in-dash radio shuts off. The plug-in formerly known as the cigarette lighter has no power either.

The monitor panel tells me my engine battery is ~14 volts, but shows NO reading for the house battery. The furnace, which ran perfectly on Saturday, will not run.

In addition, I am unable to start the generator from the monitor panel, the cab dash or on the generator itself.

The auxiliary battery switch in the stairwell makes no difference; a week ago, when I'd flip the switch to disconnect, I'd hear a smoke or LP detector chirp, but nothing today.

I've looked in all the fuse locations within the coach for tripped breakers and found nothing amiss. I'm a newbie to all this and I'm probably missing something very obvious.

Any suggestions?

Winterbagoal · 04-20-2021, 06:30 PM

Have you tested the coach batteries for state of charge? If the battery enable/disable switch makes no difference, and even the detectors aren't reacting to it, your batteries maybe the problem. Or the disable/enable switch, or the battery isolator, or ? ? ?
If it isn't the batteries, it's connectivity somewhere. Your symptoms suggest dead, or very low, coach batteries, in my opinion. However, it could be as simple as a bad battery cable or battery clamp or lug at the coach batteries. Tug on each one of them (firmly, but carefully, don't short a loose + one), and see if any are loose or otherwise defective.
Lastly, what happens if you plug into shore power? If some stuff wakes up, note it, and the still dead stuff, and update the thread.

LovelandMike · 04-20-2021, 07:13 PM

I’ll try shore power tomorrow; thanks for the suggestion. The coach batteries are showing almost no voltage.

LovelandMike · 04-21-2021, 11:31 AM

To follow up: connected to shore power and everything works. I must’ve exhausted the house batteries somehow. Anyone guess how long it’ll take to recharge the batteries via shore power?

**creativepart** · 04-21-2021, 01:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LovelandMike

Anyone guess how long it’ll take to recharge the batteries via shore power?

A day or so, IF they take and then hold the charge. It will depend how long they sat depleted. If it's been a while then there is a good chance they are ruined, aka "sulfated."