House battery not charging while driving.

[CS Arty]

I’m brand new to Raving. My husband and I purchased a 2002 Roadtrek Popular 190. We have been traveling in it for 2weeks now. We are finding out lots that needs repair. I’m trying to fix it myself since my husband is Legally blind. We’re finding that the house battery isn’t charging when we’re driving. We have it turned on but when we get to camp it’s totally dead. We even turn the fridge off but it still drained it. I turned the fridge off because it would only heat up on propane. What am I doing wrong or need to do. Thanks for helping me in advance. CS Arty

 

[Kevin D Pem]

We need much more information. This would be a start:

How old are the batteries?
What type of battery?
Are you maintaining the charge at home?
How many hours are you on the road?
Is the alternator equipped to charge as 3stage charger?

Many common assumptions lead new RVers to believe the system is faulty, when the only problem is lacking experience with the systems used!!!

We have All been through this stuff,so we should be able to get you familiar with the issues!

Oh yes! We welcome you to the community!

 

[CS Arty]

Thank you for your reply. Yes I understand that it is user error. The big on/off switch on the control panel my husband always turned off. I said that we should just try it when we drive around today. It started charging. We know nothing about this switch. I have looked and looked in the manual but nothing to tell me what it is. Please inform me. When do I have it on and when off. The battery was purchased 11/23. The previous owner had it in storage for 4 yrs. So many things need to be fixed because of that. I appreciate all the help.

 

[CS Arty]

We need much more information. This would be a start:

How old are the batteries?
What type of battery?
Are you maintaining the charge at home?
How many hours are you on the road?
Is the alternator equipped to charge as 3stage charger?

Many common assumptions lead new RVers to believe the system is faulty, when the only problem is lacking experience with the systems used!!!

We have All been through this stuff,so we should be able to get you familiar with the issues!

Oh yes! We welcome you to the community!

I’m new at the forum and didn’t reply correctly. I’ve already posted my reply.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

A picture of the switch will help identify it.

To fully charge a deep cycle battery can take hours especially if a standard regulator is used. But even with a regulator designed for 3stage charging,the last 10% is slow intensionally.

This is the reason I asked my questions.

If you have your rig where you can't maintain the batteries you have a few options.

Take the batteries home to put on a maintainer, or install a solar maintainer. It simply is not practical to use the alternator for the job on short trips.

Unless the battery was allowed to drain below 50% the battery should be fine!

Do check the DOT age on the tires! The first two digits represent week, the last two are year. This number follows a DOT( DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION) code close to the rim on the tire. It is common to not let a tire run into the 6th year.

I personally don't worry about RV storage! some believe long storage intervals can be bad, but I have found only a few seals have failed me. The other items seem to show enough wear that it was replacement time before the rig was stored! Just pay attention to noises you two can't explain,tending to them as quickly as possible!!!

 

[CS Arty]

It’s the large switch in the middle. Thanks for the info on the tires. I’ll check the date.

 

[AbdRahim]

When the switch is off doyour AC outlets work? That may be to turn your inverter/charger on and off. If so, I leave mine on all of the time.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

There are several members here familiar with your RV. my hope is they have the same switch. Because it is such a generic switch, I can't help with it. It may be after market.