12 volt problem in 2003 Holiday Rambler Endeavor

[TXheat]

We recently got this RV and for the most part the shore power system works fine, the entry steps work fine on 12 volt when not connected to shore power the 12 volt lights do not function the control panel does not function. One of these strangers symptoms is that when connected to shore power it appears that the batteries are not getting enough charge although the control panel shows around 11 something. These batteries are fairly new but they may not have been connected properly. There are four six volt batteries in series, when connected to shore power the refrigerator functions the water pump functions the switch to the propane valve does not light up nor do any of the other 12 volt switches the battery cutoff switch is not off this is a real head scratcher. If anyone can put me on the right track to finding a solution and greatly appreciate it attaching photos in case they help, thanks

 

[Kevin D Pem]

For starters a setting battery at 12vdc is considered dead, '0' charge.
Your bank is set-up as 2s, 2p, or better called serial parallel.

First question is how old is new, or fairly new?

If abused, 1week old can be dead.

We could work through the wiring, but it's important to start with charged batteries. Fully charged bank should read 12.67 when new and sitting.

To My thinking there are to many cables, or maybe not enough! All depending on where they go, so do some wire tracing and draw where things go to. Then get back with us!

 

[osuallen]

On the left rear battery, it looks like a negative cable is connected to the positive terminals???

 

[TXheat]

For starters a setting battery at 12vdc is considered dead, '0' charge.
Your bank is set-up as 2s, 2p, or better called serial parallel.

First question is how old is new, or fairly new?

If abused, 1week old can be dead.

We could work through the wiring, but it's important to start with charged batteries. Fully charged bank should read 12.67 when new and sitting.

To My thinking there are to many cables, or maybe not enough! All depending on where they go, so do some wire tracing and draw where things go to. Then get back with us!

I don't know I'll have to check I think a few months and there was no one living in it till we moved in. Right now the Xanteex is going crazy reminds me of the old intro for Lost In Space. On the panel it says 11.18. fluctuates. It won't charge. I'll trace some wires but what I really need to trace is the source of this problem do I have a fuse issue with the 12 volt system? Could it be the inverter? Could it be the converter? Maybe it's just the batteries? Right now I have the Norcold fridge connected directly to a 20 amp on the shore power and the light is on and getting a message says no AC no FL I have to look up to No FL before it wasn't doing that so everything's screwy at the moment.. so the Xantrex was an easy fix all I had to do was pull out the phone like coupler from the inverter itself and it reset. Interestingly the zantrex shows battery state as full with a current house battery reading of 11:19 fluctuating. To the best of my knowledge there are no energy vampires that could be hogging the 12 volt. I don't know if it's related but it's showing incoming AC breakers amps at 20. In addition to that I just discovered that there is a 50 amp smart EMS AC line and it can select service type and it can select either 30 or 20 amp select even though it does show 50 amp and then it shows gen set I'm going to have to consult the manual or something else possibly given that I'm not very familiar with us but what I don't understand is if we're on 50 amp why can't I select 50 amp? I read up more on the EMS and how it works I still don't understand why it won't show 50 am when connected to 50 amp but that really doesn't have much bearing here I want to update and say that I met her tested the batteries with outside battery disconnect off to both house batteries and chassis batteries which shore power off and I was only coming up with about a four at the most when restoring shore power the most I got on the meter is an 8 is xantrix continues to show 11 point something. Could it be the xantrex isn't set properly to charge these batteries? Or have the batteries failed? Update the EMS is now showing 50amps, there seems to be a real fould odor in the upper compartment where the working microwave plugs in, probably a dead mouse, are there are signs of previous rodent occupation. So this is interesting I'm reading in the electrical systems house parts in the manual that the 12 volt battery is actually six batteries in one case. When charged each cell has a voltage of 2.1 volts 16 cells are hooked together this makes a 12.6 volt battery fully charged. Given the current issue I'm not sure what to make of this? So after further study of the manual it's quite possible that the battery was overcharged because as I recall it had been connected to shore power and left on shore power I myself didn't do that but it's possible that they overcharged them because I would guess that it should have been more than likely on the control panel the charging should have been disabled so they're likely to be overcharged.

 

[TXheat]

If you're referring to that black cable on the left rear battery it looks like it's connected to the fuse but not a battery,

 

[TXheat]

What about ditching the whole lead acid deep cycle batteries and going with 12 volt LiPO batteries? I just don't know how that wiring process would be done and I haven't been able to find anything yet online but if that makes more sense someone chime in let me know if you've already done it and how it went thanks

 

[Kevin D Pem]

I don't know I'll have to check I think a few months and there was no one living in it till we moved in. Right now the Xanteex is going crazy reminds me of the old intro for Lost In Space. On the panel it says 11.18. fluctuates. It won't charge. I'll trace some wires but what I really need to trace is the source of this problem do I have a fuse issue with the 12 volt system? Could it be the inverter? Could it be the converter? Maybe it's just the batteries? Right now I have the Norcold fridge connected directly to a 20 amp on the shore power and the light is on and getting a message says no AC no FL I have to look up to No FL before it wasn't doing that so everything's screwy at the moment.. so the Xantrex was an easy fix all I had to do was pull out the phone like coupler from the inverter itself and it reset. Interestingly the zantrex shows battery state as full with a current house battery reading of 11:19 fluctuating. To the best of my knowledge there are no energy vampires that could be hogging the 12 volt. I don't know if it's related but it's showing incoming AC breakers amps at 20. In addition to that I just discovered that there is a 50 amp smart EMS AC line and it can select service type and it can select either 30 or 20 amp select even though it does show 50 amp and then it shows gen set I'm going to have to consult the manual or something else possibly given that I'm not very familiar with us but what I don't understand is if we're on 50 amp why can't I select 50 amp? I read up more on the EMS and how it works I still don't understand why it won't show 50 am when connected to 50 amp but that really doesn't have much bearing here I want to update and say that I met her tested the batteries with outside battery disconnect off to both house batteries and chassis batteries which shore power off and I was only coming up with about a four at the most when restoring shore power the most I got on the meter is an 8 is xantrix continues to show 11 point something. Could it be the xantrex isn't set properly to charge these batteries? Or have the batteries failed? Update the EMS is now showing 50amps, there seems to be a real fould odor in the upper compartment where the working microwave plugs in, probably a dead mouse, are there are signs of previous rodent occupation. So this is interesting I'm reading in the electrical systems house parts in the manual that the 12 volt battery is actually six batteries in one case. When charged each cell has a voltage of 2.1 volts 16 cells are hooked together this makes a 12.6 volt battery fully charged. Given the current issue I'm not sure what to make of this? So after further study of the manual it's quite possible that the battery was overcharged because as I recall it had been connected to shore power and left on shore power I myself didn't do that but it's possible that they overcharged them because I would guess that it should have been more than likely on the control panel the charging should have been disabled so they're likely to be overcharged.

Well yes!!! Technically a battery is a grouping of cells tied in series. When you tie more than one "battery" in series, you add both cell groups together to increase the number of cells in your newly configured"battery ".

Going lithium is the same with each cell having a different value (voltage). You will not be fixing the problems going with lithium. Truth is you may add to your problems,as some of the system will need to be updated to work properly.

Not to very long ago I installed a rack mount 48volt lithium to My RV I just decommissioned it about 2 weeks ago. I will be giving it back to the company that reworked it!!! It's not for me!!!

When I get a rats nest (someone else's mess), I label all wires, verify what I think there for, and connect everything one item at a time to find the issues. I strongly recommend buss bars or posts for the connections.

 

[TXheat]

Well yes!!! Technically a battery is a grouping of cells tied in series. When you tie more than one "battery" in series, you add both cell groups together to increase the number of cells in your newly configured"battery ".

Going lithium is the same with each cell having a different value (voltage). You will not be fixing the problems going with lithium. Truth is you may add to your problems,as some of the system will need to be updated to work properly.

Not to very long ago I installed a rack mount 48volt lithium to My RV I just decommissioned it about 2 weeks ago. I will be giving it back to the company that reworked it!!! It's not for me!!!

When I get a rats nest (someone else's mess), I label all wires, verify what I think there for, and connect everything one item at a time to find the issues. I strongly recommend buss bars or posts for the connections.

I did consider the fact, some of the system may need to be updated to run lithium batteries. So just to be clear, as far as the cables running to the batteries your recommending labeling them and buss bars or posts for the connections?

 

[Kevin D Pem]

I did consider the fact, some of the system may need to be updated to run lithium batteries. So just to be clear, as far as the cables running to the batteries your recommending labeling them and buss bars or posts for the connections?

They not only look better, they promote single point battery connection!

To be clear! It is not nessisary, but will reduce trouble shooting in the future. By far, the least expensive are posts. They can be a brass/steel bolt in a block of plastic (what I use).

 

[TXheat]

Would having the starter key in a ACC position cause the symptoms I've been describing. I discovered that I've been keeping the key in the ACC position instead of in the middle I would think that would be draining the battery. It would appear the battery is now charging normally last I checked it was at 7 or 8 on the multitester but it keeps showing as 11+ on the panel. I guess that's normal. I need to take another meter reading to be sure.