Coach battery drained, won't charge even on shorepower

[HippieFemm]

Sent: 6/7/2003

I'm having a problem with my coach battery. I have a 1970 chieftain, 27'. Kohler gen. My coach battery is 1 year old. I used everything in April and it worked fine. I never ran the lights or anything for more than a few minutes at a time unless the generator was running. I parked it for 2 weeks and when I got back in it the gauge says the coach battery was dead, and the gen. would turn over but not start. I was at an rv park for 3 days plugged up to 30 amps and thought that would recharge the battery. No luck, it was still dead. Not being an electrical genius I am at a loss. I have a small battery charger that I use for cars and mowers. Will that be safe to recharge my coach battery? Once it is charged will my gen. crank? Why did my gen. not keep the battery charged? I was under the impression that as long as I didn't run a bunch of stuff without the gen. on I wouldn't lose charge in by coach battery. What on earth did I do wrong?

Any info is much appreciated. I read things about having the dual switch on the dash in the wrong position and burning up my alternator. This scares me. So far the truck is cranking up and running fine. Thanks in advance,
Marsha

[mightybooboo]

Sent: 6/7/2003

Marsha,welcome to the site. I'm sure the electrical gurus will have lots of good advice for you.
BooBoo

[melyash]

Sent: 6/7/2003

Marsha, I have several suggestions for you. I don't have a Chieftain, so anybody with a chieftain can give specific locations etc.

First, Did you check your circuit breaker panel? there is usually one hidden away somewhere and the position of those switches on it can control whether or not you run your lights from the battery or shore power

Your Generator should charge your batteries but it usually does it through what is called the converter. This is a box that converts 110volt power, (generator or RV Park power) into 12Volts to run your lights and DC appliances.  Look at the fuses on your converter. They are probably behind a small door that you have to unscrew a single screw to open. Don't take the whole cover off! This should be a small access door you can open. See if any of the fuses are bad.

  Caution   Before doing any changing of fuses or messing about, I would suggest you disconnect both leads to your Coach battery (negative first, then positive), to make sure you don't run into trouble there. Be sure not to ground the 12V lead when you lay it aside, since we will be checking circuits later and may apply power to that terminal thru the converter.

If all the fuses look good, (I would take a meter and remove the fuses and test them if your not sure), follow the wire from a terminal on it labeled "charge" and make sure it goes to the battery Positive cable. If that looks good and is not corroded, you may have a bad converter. Taking extreme caution, and checking that the battery leads are not grounded and are still disconnected , and that all the fuses are back in place and the inverter door is not resting on any bare wires etc,... plug your winne into 110 volts and check the voltage between the positive battery lead and the negative battery lead. ( I mean the wires that are currently disconnected from the battery). You should see around 13Volts here. If not, your converters charge circuit is not working and will not charge your battery.

Keep in mind, most converters on Early winnes have only about a 4 amp output so it may take a while to charge. Since you said you were plugged in for three days you should have been fine, but remember that it does take time to charge the batts.

As to the dual batt switch, If wired correctly, the switch only allows a connection between the alternator and the coach battery when the ignition switch is ON. So never leave the ignition switch on and the engine not running. If you want to run the radio, us the Accessory switch position ACC (on mine it is to the left of OFF). Now with everything back together and carefully checked, You can check your battery isolator solenoid.  When the ignition switch when turned on, and the engine has started, and the bat switch is turned to dual, you should hear a metallic click somewhere, usually near the battery compartment, that tells you the alternator is connected, and subsequently charging the coach battery. If you don't hear the click, you can check it with the engine off, just make SURE you do not have the Winne plugged into 110 volts when you do these next steps.

So with the ignition switch on, but the engine not running, briefly switch the Dual batt switch to dual, and listen for the click. If you do not hear one, your battery isolator solenoid is bad, ($15 bucks at any RV Store).

If you turn the ignition switch to off, and still hear the solenoid moving down there when you flip the Battery switch to dual, your battery switch is miss-wired and could be a major problem down the road.

I have heard of people that wired the solenoid actuator wire (the one that is supposed to be wired to the ignition side of the ignition switch) and wire it directly to the battery or other wired ways. This would allow the alternator to be connected to the bat with the engine off, and the possibility of the converter providing power back to the battery, and causing problems such as burning out your alternator etc.

If your Battery switch works right as I have described it, then your worries about leaving the dual batt switch on, are unfounded. As long as you turn off the engine and the ignition switch, and only use the ACC side to run your radio, you should be good to go.

Good luck,

Matthew Elyash

P.S. When you wire anything new into your rig, be it a radio or an inverter or whatever... BE SURE to wire a properly sized fuse into the positive lead of the item, it is your first and last line of defense against what could be an electrical fire extinguisher. SAFETY FIRST.

[melyash]

Sent: 6/7/2003

Also, since you used it in April and the bat is now dead, start looking for phantom power drains, such as TV's that have a channel memory, Clocks, Refridg, controls, LP Gas Detectors, Compartment lights and closet lights etc.

Good luck
Matt

[denisondc]

Sent: 6/7/2003

These Winnebago's seemed to have plenty of different ways their wiring was originally set up, and many of them have been modified over the years. I wouldn’t assume very much. Your Chieftain probably had more options than my Indian, but if your Winnebago is like my 1972 D22, the converter doesn't charge the coach battery at all. Being plugged in to shore power will turn the converter on, but it has a relay to disconnect the batteries at such a time, and the converter supplies all the 12 V coach accessories. My genset doesn't have a 12v charger in it either. It simply generates 120volts. I like it the way it is, don’t plan to change it. And to use the genset to run things I have to flip 2 pairs of circuit breakers, first to disconnect the shore power, then to connect the generator. You don't ever want the genset and the utility company to be arguing about the relative voltage phases!! To switch to shore power I reverse the circuit breakers again. The starter on my genset is connected to the chassis battery, not the coach battery. If the genset turns over but doesn't start, look for it feeding from an empty tank, or having a fuel valve shutoff, or having water in its float bowl or something.
If I need to charge my coach battery when I am plugged in to shore power, I have a battery charger with me and I connect it up myself. Mine was made this way. If I need to charge the coach battery when I am driving along, I put the dashboard switch into the both position. Since the solenoid and the wires are olde, it sometimes takes a highway bump before the connection is made. Fixing that connection is on my list of Things-To-Do, but on page three. I never need to run my genset when I am driving along, and I normally leave the coach battery connected via the -both-switch for about 4 hours. The way my dual battery switch is powered, unless the ignition is one, it wont connect the batteries anyway. Your Winnebago may differ.
The battery charger you use for your car will work fine on the Winnebago batteries, but you might need to leave it on overnight for a healthy charge.

[mightybooboo]

Sent: 6/7/2003

Marsha,this is a super deal for a 120 volt to 12 volt converter and SMART battery charger, don't know where you could get a better deal.This is from the progressive dynamics Internet site.

BooBoo

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A little cut/paste on the charge wizard
BooBoo

PD9105 Charge Wizard
The Intelligent Way to Charge Batteries 
   


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[melyash]

Sent: 6/7/2003

Wow Boo, that is a good deal! I was just ready to buy a different charger, when this came up, now I will probably go with this on instead!

I need to ask them a few questions, but this sounds like a system for me!
Matt

[Collyn down-under]

Sent: 6/7/2003

Charging mode employed is good. Seems a really worthwhile buy. Only qualification is that the equalization voltage (14.4 volts) is far too low to be effective but as most units lack this part of the system altogether it's not a serious drawback.
Collyn