We have been hooked up to shore power for a while now and just lost electricity for about 24 hours.
We ran off the house batteries during that time and it appears we've drained them down. Shore power is back up but we still have no juice on the 12 volt circuit. Shouldn't the converter be powering the 12 volt circuit in spite of the batteries being drained. Shore power has been up for about 5 hours now and still no 12 volt power. No lights, no hot water, yikes!!!
Also we have been exeriencing intermitant dimming of our 12 volt lights lately that appeared to be growing worse.
Thanks.

You may have to kick off the charger and restart it, this is a guess but one based on experience.

Take a volt meter and measure from Positive to Ngative on the battery. If you have 13.5 volts or more then the charger is kicking in, less it is not.

If the batteries are flat, that is no charge and you are running 12v stuff at the same time you are charging flat batteries the charger may have too high a load and is kicking out.

So turn all the 12v stuff off and chekc the battery, same deal as before 13.5 and higher charger is working. Turn on some 12v stuff and see if this kicks the charger out.


If you just can't get 13.5v or more period a check on the charger for a breaker (it may be a push button) or a fuse is a good place to start.

Timothy

First thing is to properly charge the batteries and have them tested. I would suggest either a hydrometer or conductance meter test. I can't keep them straight, but some auto parts stores and either Costco or Sams uses the Midtronics conductance tester. The typical load test that is used for starting batteries is not a useful test of a deep cycle battery.

If your starting battery is up, you can troubleshoot by substituting it in place of the house batteries.

It is possible that your converter is not up to the task of charging the dead batteries and supplying your 12 volt needs at the same time. Some older converters are incapable of charging discharged batteries.

on mine if you run it down below 10 volts because of power outage the heart charger doesnt regonize it and you have to reset it. It tells you that in my manual. well we are on subject my genny is charging start batts, can Ijust switch the 2 hot wires on isolater to get it to charge the wright batts? I know the owner before me useded it run his house after a tornado and there is a big splice where he hooked itto heart the mistake may be there. the altenator is charging both house and start batts so that tells me that isolater is ok, Any way I just got out eye surgery so have to quit and rest the old eyes.
Lloyd

If you have (likely) a dual-output converter, the power to the 12V house circuits is separate from the charger circuit. When 120V is disconnected, a relay switches the house circuits over to the battery. Even if it's not charging the batteries, you should still get lights, etc.

Since you're getting nothing, the converter has apparently shut off, either because the 120V circuit is dead, or the converter itself has tripped out.

Thank you everyone for all of your helpful responses. What I have according to my vehicle manual is a Traiad-Ultrad 75 amp fan cooled converter/charger. Also six deep cycle house batteries. Yesterday the batteries were only putting out about six volts on the voltmeter. I have had a six amp charger on them all night thus far. In addition still no 12 volt power hence the Converter/charger does not appear to be doing what it is supposed to be doing. Although if you put an ear to it, there is a humming sound. At least I think that's the converter in the generator compartment correct? Perhaps a way to diagnose the converter?

quote:

Originally posted by brandman:
Also six deep cycle house batteries. Yesterday the batteries were only putting out about six volts on the voltmeter.

6 batteries? - Are you sure the batteries are 12 volts and not 6 volts?

2 - 6 volt batteries in series is 12 volts. A lot of coaches run 6 volt batteries in a series and parallel circuit to give them more reserve capacity. You stated 6 volts at the batteries and I just want to cover all bases in case you decide to go out there with a 12 volt jumper cable and blow them up. What is the voltage at the charger with it on and off?

If this is what you have then I think your constant duty solenoid failed.

quote:

Although if you put an ear to it, there is a humming sound. At least I think that's the converter in the generator compartment correct? Perhaps a way to diagnose the converter?

The humming is just the step-down transformer (120VAC to 12VAC). That voltage has to be rectified to 12VDC, and then distributed. The transformer could be working fine or have failed, as it could still hum even if not putting out, but that's unlikely.

The first thing is to check the voltage at the batteries (heeding Bill N Y's cautions as it's most likely you have a 6V series-parallel arrangement on the house batteries, and you SHOULD NOT use a 12V charger on them (the charger would probably trip out anyway).

Check the 120V outlet the converter's plugged into. That breaker could be tripped.

There should be a reset button on the converter, which you should check next.

Then check the output at the converter. There are probably two - one for the charger, and another for the 12V circuits. Both should show around 13.5V.

If there's low voltage, disconnect the output cables and measure under no-load.

If there's no output, that would indicate the converter is kaput...if the charger section only failed or were tripping out on overcurrent, you'd still have house 12V.

Now if you have a single-output converter, it could be tripping out on overcurrent trying to charge dead batteries, it may be dead, or there's a breaker to be reset.

Once again my heartfelt thanks to all of you for your thorough replies. What a wealth of information. I think I'll copy and paste them in my library for my future reference. I did discover what was causing the immediate problem however. It turned out to be a faulty internal switch. The one inside that cuts the power to the 12 volt circuit. Don't know if that's what is causing the intermitant dimming, but it feels great not to go bump in the night and to have hot showers.
And you're correct Bill. It's actually 4 six volt batteries we have in a series and parallel circuit.
Thanks again...........

quote:

Originally posted by brandman:
I did discover what was causing the immediate problem however. It turned out to be a faulty internal switch. The one inside that cuts the power to the 12 volt circuit.

The switch to the constant duty solenoid? Believe it or not, the constant duty solenoid is really not made to be left on for months at a time.

quote:

Originally posted by brandman:
Don't know if that's what is causing the intermitant dimming

The intermittent dimming could be cause by one of the following.

Your batteries could have been overcharged or deeply discharged and now the only thing you have left is a surface charge (little or no reserve) on the batteries. Each time you load it down the batteries drop quickly and then the charger kicks it up a notch and it looks brighter.

You have loose or corroded cables. You have a bad ground connection. The constant duty solenoid is not allowing full current to pass thru.

Try to trace this out. If your converter is over or under charging you'll burn out batteries. Also make sure you have deep cycle batteries installed (you stated that you did) instead of the regular automotive type batteries. The next time you move your coach and use anything but shore power you may run into trouble.

For all: Batteries are one of the most over neglected items on any vehicle. The only time they get the attention they need is when they stop working. Imagine only changing your oil when it starts to develop a tap?

Bill N.Y.

Don't forget to check the battery water level (best done when fully charged). Use only distilled water.

quote:

I did discover what was causing the immediate problem however. It turned out to be a faulty internal switch. The one inside that cuts the power to the 12 volt circuit. Don't know if that's what is causing the intermitant dimming, but it feels great not to go bump in the night and to have hot showers.

That's probably the cutover relay that switches 12V power to the house circuits - straight from the converter when 120VAC is connected, to the batteries when 120VAC isn't.

To Bill N Y's suggestions about what's causing the intermittent dimming, I'd add the possibility of the converter going bad. A new Intellitec 9280 can be had for <$200 oneBay.

If it were I, I'd just replace the thing now, because it's getting pretty old...I'm thinking of getting a 9280 and ratholing it, but I'm in the process of installing more gifts on StaRV II...so it'll have to wait.

Thanks for the information and tips on tracking down the dimming problem Bill. I'll follow your advice to the letter although we have not had a problem with dimming lately.
I do make certain the house batteries are topped off with distilled water as a usual practice.

The switch is something I thought all Barths had. Ours is a green colored plastic toggle swith at the base of the wall next to the stairwell. It cuts the power to the twelve volt system in the off position. I was told by the previous owner
that it should be in the off position when refueling.
Thanks Rusty for the tip on the new converter source.
Hopefully won't have to use it for a spell.

YW! There's no reason for the house 12V to be off when refueling, but the reefer (open flame) should be.

Yes that was the primary reason for cutting the switch. Evidently the apparatus that runs the gas flame for the fridge is on the 12 volt system.

The 12V circuit is only for the igniter. Once the flame is established the gas valve is kept open mechanically, and if the flame goes out, the gas is shut off automatically. Turning the reefer off shuts off the flame and the igniter.

Shutting off the 12V circuit doesn't turn off the reefer burner.