Electrical issue 2011 Tour

[Larryg17]

We have been parked and plugged in to shore power for about 8 months.
Last night the Air conditioners would not go on and the electric toilets would not flush. I looked at the shore power and everything appears fine. I checked the breakers all good. Then I looked at the coach batteries and they were showing no volts. I started the RV, all the air came on and the toilets work. When I shut the coach off the batteries go down to 11.5. Any ideas would really help.
Thanks,
Larryg17

 

[l1v3fr33ord1]

Larryg17-

Nice to see you frequent both here and iRV2!

Simple answer- Your house battery bank charging source is not working.

When the engine is running, its alternator is supplying DC to the house 12V system, which is why house loads work when the engine is running.

More complicated answer- It depends on the answers to some questions:

1) What make and model of inverter/charger is in your coach?
2) Does it have a remote operation panel? If so, does it show the device is charging?
3) Do you have 120V on the outlets supplied by the inverter/charger?
4) Is there an AUX BATT or similar house battery disconnect switch by the coach door? Is it turned on?
5) At the inverter/charger, are there any circuit breakers that are tripped? Are there any LEDs lit? If so, what LEDs, what colors, solid, flashing, etc.?
6) If there is a remote Electrical Management System (EMS) display, such as "OnePlace," what does it show?
7) What is the model of your 2011 Tour?

With answers to these questions we can provide better advice.

 

[Larryg17]

Larryg17-

Nice to see you frequent both here and iRV2!

Simple answer- Your house battery bank charging source is not working.

When the engine is running, its alternator is supplying DC to the house 12V system, which is why house loads work when the engine is running.

More complicated answer- It depends on the answers to some questions:

1) What make and model of inverter/charger is in your coach?
2) Does it have a remote operation panel? If so, does it show the device is charging?
3) Do you have 120V on the outlets supplied by the inverter/charger?
4) Is there an AUX BATT or similar house battery disconnect switch by the coach door? Is it turned on?
5) At the inverter/charger, are there any circuit breakers that are tripped? Are there any LEDs lit? If so, what LEDs, what colors, solid, flashing, etc.?
6) If there is a remote Electrical Management System (EMS) display, such as "OnePlace," what does it show?
7) What is the model of your 2011 Tour?

With answers to these questions we can provide better advice.

Mark, the inverter says Magnum Energy The inverter is now on, looks like it was shut off.
There is a house battery switch near the door, it is on. When I turn it off all the lights go out.
There is an EMS and it says we are connected to 50 amp. Chassis batteries are at 12.4 House batteries are at 11.8.
Winnebago Tour CD
As you can see I am not real handy.
I think when we had the storm a couple of days ago, we lost power, but it went right back on. So we may have been running on Batteries for a couple of days.
Does any of this help?

 

[l1v3fr33ord1]

Larryg17-

A reading of 11.8 volts on the house battery bank is low. I suggest a two-pronged approach:

1) Break out the manual for the inverter. Read the "Troubleshooting" section for guidance on "Inverter not charging." Also read the section that describes how the "Status LED Indicator" works.

2) Some inverters will not start to charge unless the battery voltage is above a certain floor. If that is the case, you need to raise the house battery voltage above the floor. The best way (in my opinion) is to put an external charger on the house battery bank. An alternative would be to run the coach engine for a while (to charge the house battery bank) or to use the BATT BOOST switch to tie the chassis and house battery banks together temporarily.

Underlying the above is the assumption that your house battery bank is healthy. For instance, have you checked the water level and the specific gravity (with a hydrometer) in each cell? If not, such checks may be in your future. For now, try the above.

 

[Morich]

My first thought would be that after having the coach batteries on charge for that long and likely not being checked, they run out of water and now will not hold a charge. Testing the batteries first and then likely replace them would be an easy first step. Running the neigne to charge the batteries is not worth the effort as it takes at least 6-8 hours to get a meaningful charge back into fully dead batteries IF they are in good enough shape to hold the charge.

 

[Larryg17]

House batteries are sealed

My first thought would be that after having the coach batteries on charge for that long and likely not being checked, they run out of water and now will not hold a charge. Testing the batteries first and then likely replace them would be an easy first step. Running the neigne to charge the batteries is not worth the effort as it takes at least 6-8 hours to get a meaningful charge back into fully dead batteries IF they are in good enough shape to hold the charge.

House batteries are sealed.

 

[Larryg17]

Charging

Larryg17-

A reading of 11.8 volts on the house battery bank is low. I suggest a two-pronged approach:

1) Break out the manual for the inverter. Read the "Troubleshooting" section for guidance on "Inverter not charging." Also read the section that describes how the "Status LED Indicator" works.

2) Some inverters will not start to charge unless the battery voltage is above a certain floor. If that is the case, you need to raise the house battery voltage above the floor. The best way (in my opinion) is to put an external charger on the house battery bank. An alternative would be to run the coach engine for a while (to charge the house battery bank) or to use the BATT BOOST switch to tie the chassis and house battery banks together temporarily.

Underlying the above is the assumption that your house battery bank is healthy. For instance, have you checked the water level and the specific gravity (with a hydrometer) in each cell? If not, such checks may be in your future. For now, try the above.

How long would I need to run the coach to see if they will charge?
Thanks

 

[Morich]

The battery type changes how long it takes to charge as lead acid does take longer but if they are actually sealed, they are not lead acid batteries as they have to be vented to let the gases escape and avoid explosion.

 

[Ranger Smith-WO]

Usually on the magnum panel there is also a button that turns the charger off and on. Is the chg light on??

 

[JoeC-WO]

Another candidate for a quality shunt battery monitor. Please get one, install it correctly and learn how to use it. You will be able to avoid all battery surprises in the future.

 

[Journey39n]

I suspect the simplest answer is the solution, the house batteries are bad, and will not hold a charge. I would fully check that out before messing with more complicated problems.

You can run the engine for a while, and see if the batteries take a charge, or disconnect and charge with a manual charger.

I ran into a similar problem with 7 year old house batteries. All sorts of weird issues, until I replaced them, then all problems went away.

 

[Morich]

Batteries are so simple that we forget how easy it is for them to confuse us. Combine that with how much the batteries act as power for much of the other items "brain" and we can get into a massive funk if we don't make certain the batteries are good as a first step.

 

[Larryg17]

Well, we now know it’s the house batteries, even though they are sealed, there was major corrosion on the terminals, which was causing a bad connection. Batteries are good new cables will be installed. Thanks all for your suggestions and help.
Larry Gaynor

 

[Morich]

Thanks for the feedback!
Too easy to forget that as one of the main problem points and I need to write that on the back of my hand! Glad to hear you solved it!
As a second suggestion, it might be worth checking into a product called "NO-Ox-A" as a way to help fend off corrosion. It is a jelly-like item which comes in small cans so that it can be melted slightly by warming on something like a ight bulb and then when it is the right thickness, it can be painted/swabbed on connections at the battery to keep air from getting into the metal. Without air the corrosion is stopped for much longer. It is a product I first got into when doing telephone battery work and it was required on all connections and worked very well. Looks messy, works great!