Ritabago's Dad Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 Ran the generator for about two hours tonight, charging up my coach battery and portable 12v power supply. After I shut it off, I get faded, flickering lights on the panel. Nothing wants to run. I pull in a lantern and start cooking by that. Check the panel again and I've got full lights, so I fire up the water pump and coach lights. Panel says 3/4 charge on coach battery. Look at it again a minute later and it's at full charge. What do I have, a short of some kind? Thanks for any help. The coach battery was run down to empty two weeks ago and I had to jump it. Since then, I've noticed that it has shown more of a tendency towards 3/4 or so, but it does occasionally show full. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linda s Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 Why are you running the gen instead of just plugging into shore power to recharge your coach battery. If your looking at the charge on your moniter panel it's not uncommon for them to not be very accurate. Not a good idea to ever run any battery down to nothing. Might not be charging properly now even though I think you just bought a new one. Linda S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 Ran the generator for about two hours tonight, charging up my coach battery and portable 12v power supply. After I shut it off, I get faded, flickering lights on the panel. Nothing wants to run. I pull in a lantern and start cooking by that. Check the panel again and I've got full lights, so I fire up the water pump and coach lights. Panel says 3/4 charge on coach battery. Look at it again a minute later and it's at full charge. What do I have, a short of some kind? Thanks for any help. The coach battery was run down to empty two weeks ago and I had to jump it. Since then, I've noticed that it has shown more of a tendency towards 3/4 or so, but it does occasionally show full. Seems you need to check for some bad connections somewhere? A true check of the battery is also warranted instead of relying on what your panel says. In fact, it might not even be getting fully charged. Some battery chargers will not work 100% correctly when run off a portable generator. Small gen-sets and battery chargers has been a big issue for years. But -a genset specifically designed for an RV is usually not a problem if working correctly. Also, there are some higher-end electronic battery chargers that will work off of any generator. So, it's hard to say without knowing exactly what you have. If you have a Microlite gen and it's running 200 RPM slow, the voltage will be too low to properly run most battery chargers. The problem is - normal grid-type 120 VAC is actually 170 volts at each end of the Hertz "wave." 120 VAC is just an average. Many battery chargers only work between 150 and 170 volt range. Many cheaper generators only put out 150 volts on the cycle peaks and dips and therefore chargers don't work well. Like I said though, if you have a properly working generator specifically designed for an RV, it shouldn't be an issue. Any inverter-type generator will also be OK. The problem generators are the portable AC units. Seems the first thing to do is charge and load-check your battery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ritabago's Dad Posted March 23, 2013 Author Share Posted March 23, 2013 Usually, driving for a couple of hours charges the coach battery, but not in the last couple of trips. My coach power was fine on a trip in February but, then again, I did have shore power then. Crap. I'll check the connections. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ritabago's Dad Posted March 23, 2013 Author Share Posted March 23, 2013 I started up the engine and got enough of a charge to turn the Gennie over. Come to think of it, I haven't been plugged into shore power for a while (been boondocking a lot) so maybe that's what I need? Plug in when I get home? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 Usually, driving for a couple of hours charges the coach battery, but not in the last couple of trips. My coach power was fine on a trip in February but, then again, I did have shore power then. Crap. I'll check the connections. You've got a 45 or 60 amp alternator. I assume you've got capability to charge the "coach" battery at near that rate when driving. If you drove for an hour sending only 40 amps to your coach battery - that ought to be equal to 4-6 hours of camping and drawing the battery down. What gets taken out of the battery has to go back in. If you draw an average of 10 amps per hour for 4 hours - it takes 1 hour to recharge at 40 amps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ritabago's Dad Posted March 23, 2013 Author Share Posted March 23, 2013 Linda, I left the furnace on high overnight and it drained the battery - I didn't think it would do that. The camping where I'm at now is primitive; no option for shore power. Jdemeris, thanks for the info. I'm hoping that a solid night of shore power will do the trick. If not, looks like maybe it's time for a new battery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 If you have something like a 19,000 BTU input propane furnace, it only draws around 3 amps and runs what ?? , maybe1/4 of the time when you use it? That comes to an average of less then 1 amp per hour. A typical "house" battery rated 110 amp-hours is supposed to be able to run a 1 amp load for 100 hours continuously, i.e. four days. That,s to stone dead. Run to a safe 50% discharge and it's around two days. If your furnace alone kills your house battery in one night you've got a serious problem somewhere. Granted though - I don't know what furnace you have, nor do I know what battery. A big 24,000 furnace can draw 6 amps instead of 3. A type 24 deep cycle battery from Walmart can run a 5 amp load steadily for 16 hours and a 10 amp load for 7 hours (to full discharge). A type 27 deep cycle battery from Walmart can run a 5 amp load steadily for 21 hours and a 10 amp load for 8 1/2 hours (to full discharge). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ritabago's Dad Posted March 24, 2013 Author Share Posted March 24, 2013 Maybe there's a short somewhere? I jumped the coach battery and fired the Gennie up for an hour. Haven't had any issues with the cabin electrical since. Granted, I haven't tried using the furnace, but the water pump doesn't sound labored like it did before. Got me through festival. Definitely going to plug in when I get home tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted March 24, 2013 Share Posted March 24, 2013 Maybe there's a short somewhere? I jumped the coach battery and fired the Gennie up for an hour. Haven't had any issues with the cabin electrical since. Granted, I haven't tried using the furnace, but the water pump doesn't sound labored like it did before. Got me through festival. Definitely going to plug in when I get home tonight. If it was mine - first thing I'd do is unhook the house battery and fully charge it. Then load-test. If all checks OK, next step is to hook back up, make sure there are no drains when all is turned "off" and verify it's getting charged when the engine is running. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ritabago's Dad Posted April 5, 2013 Author Share Posted April 5, 2013 Just wanted to share how things have gone since my last post. First, I got home and plugged in to shore power in our backyard for three days. When I hit the road again a week later, all lights and gauges were great - 12 v appliances ran with vigor and didn't drain the coach battery. Second, at my next stop, the gauges wouldn't light at all. I checked my coach battery and the screws had come loose. This particular battery came with one hex and one wingnut. I always figured finger-tight was good enough. I still thought it was odd to have only one wingnut. Anyway, I got a wrench and got just a bit past finger-tight (Highway 49 in Mississippi probably jarred them loose) on the nuts. Tried the gauge - all good. So, I'm thinking a combination of lack of a full charge (via shore power) and loose connections probably contributed to my issues here. So far, so good on this leg (I'm in Missouri now) and boondocking a lot. Thanks again for all of your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanAatTheCape Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 charge the house battery. get it tested - walmart/ chain auto parts will do it for free. the pwer converters can fry a battery - also letting the battery go completely flat shortens the life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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