battery is not charging?!

[Janie-FUN]

Im very much a novice w elextrical. I understand what works on fuses and what runs iff the 110. However, i have just one issue that I am not resolving and worrying me to death.
1. My battery isnt charging. Ive had it plugged in and left only main curcuit breaker on and off for all the rest. Nothing. Now I habe to trickle charge the battery manually. I just replaced a darn gfi outlet is all! lol even before the battery lost its juuce, my lights worked fine but no elec outlets. I will upload pica to my gallery of the fuse/breaker panel for info.
Any ideas? TiA!

 

[Silverad0]

Your description is a little vague. It sounds like you need to energize all your 110V breakers. One of them will power your inverter which in turn charge your battery. If I am understanding your post correctly your battery seems OK if you are able to trickle charge it. With all your breakers tripped none of your 110V outlets will work while plugged in. There is two systems, 1st is 12 volt which will run your lights, water pump and ignition on the fridge and hot water heater. 2nd is 110 Volt which will power your inverter and electrical outlets. You also will be able to charge your battery if plugged in to your tow vehicle.

 

[APD]

Janie, welcome.
What Silverado said....
Also trace the positive line from your battery, as far as you can, back to the panel. You may have an in-line fuse somewhere on the positive cable. It also never hurts to double check the ground side to be sure it makes a good connection at both ends as well.

Alan

 

[Janie-FUN]

Silverado and Alan.. thank you. Battery has charged on trickle-charge. I had only just this mornimg learnes about 'inline fuse' and am looking for that. When attempting to run my plug in fan from an outlet yesterday, none of the outlets worked. I attempted to recharve the battery crom shire piwer with only the 30 amp main breaker On, but all other breakers off. This didmt seem to work. Also...battery disconmect is a push/pull toggle... one user on FB Funfinder vroup said Out is on..and pushed In is disconmected. I cant seem to determine a difference... owners manual shows a red left/right toggle.. not mine.

 

[M Wilkie]

Paul is changing out our converter this morning. It was not charging the battery while we have the rig hooked up to shore power. The old one also had an annoying hum when not under load.

 

[twinster2]

Janie-

I have a couple of thoughts on your issue.

First, be aware that the battery will not power any of the 110 volt AC outlets. The battery will only power the 12 volt DC system which is the lights, water pump, and the LP ignition for the frig, heater and water heater.

Second, the trailer has both a 110 volt AC and 12 volt DC system. Both systems are controlled by the inverter/fuse panel. With the shore line plugged into a 110 volt AC external source, you should have both 110 volts AC as well as 12 volts DC, because the inverter will produce 12 volts DC from the 110 volt AC system.

Third, like everyone has stated earlier, check for a blown 12 volt fuse that may be inline on the positive wire from the battery.

Fourth, the inverter/fuse panel, if like mine, is layed out where the 110volt AC side is on the left with circuit breakers (similar to your house) and on the right you will see slide in auto type fuses for the 12 volt system. Check to make sure that all the fuses are still good.

Fifth, to check if the inverter is making 12 volt power, plug the shore line into an external 110 volts AC source, then disconnect the positive lead on the battery, taking care that you do not touch it to anything that will short out the 12 volt system. If the lights are still working, the inverter is creating 12 volts DC from 110 volts AC. Next, use a volt meter to check if you are getting 12 volts or more between the disconnected positive battery connector and the negative terminal of the battery. If so, than you are getting charge back to the battery.

 

[Janie-FUN]

Thank you Michigan Traveler.. i was wondering same. So your co verter was 'running' but not charging the battery? Did you have any pronlems during this time with your electrical outlets too? Thanks!

 

[Janie-FUN]

Twinster2, theae are great points. I will check all of this. I cant seem to find an inline fuse but will google a pic to be sure I know what to look for..is it square like the panel fuaes??.. i did see a green plastic square tucked into the battery box about that size. I have read numerous.posts on this forum aboit bad wiring.. i cant even think about that yet...

 

[Dakota 1120]

Twinster2, theae are great points. I will check all of this. I cant seem to find an inline fuse but will google a pic to be sure I know what to look for..is it square like the panel fuaes??.. i did see a green plastic square tucked into the battery box about that size. I have read numerous.posts on this forum aboit bad wiring.. i cant even think about that yet...

That 'little green plastic square tucked into the battery box' is where I located the fuse on my unit........as the power tongue jack quit once that fuse blew. IIRC is't a 20 or 30 amp automotive blade fuse.

 

[Wolfpupp16bh]

I love this forum. I came here to see why my 2009 210 was not charging the house battery enough to use the outlets. HA. Apparently the outlets do not run off of a battery. The lights work great and so did the heater/fridge, but no plug outlets. Sigh.
Thanks!

 

[M Wilkie]

Thank you Michigan Traveler.. i was wondering same. So your co verter was 'running' but not charging the battery? Did you have any pronlems during this time with your electrical outlets too? Thanks!

No, we were able to use the 110 outlets and 12 volt lights while plugged into 110 from the house. Probably not wise to have it on that circuit. Paul installed a 30 amp service on that side of the garage but we needed to have several stumps removed before using it. (We live in an oak woods). I really don't understand these things but the converter was old (over 20 years) and he says it was either undercharging or overcharging the battery instead of regulating it. Over time the battery was only half charged. Not good. We're hoping it didn't destroy the marine deep cell battery (dated 2016) that came with the trailer. We have it on the charger now in the garage. This is a 1996! Shasta fifth wheel that we bought about a month ago and are fixing up. He had to modify the enclosure to fit the new converter and get longer wires. Another unplanned for delay. Lol!!

 

[LJAZ]

If I'm reading your description correctly, you said you also changed a GFCI outlet and now you have no power at the 110v outlets either. Are you sure that you wired that correctly and especially that the ground to that outlet is good. If not, that could be what shutting down the 110V side of the converter. I wouldn't think that would affect the 12V side, but maybe the converter sensing a ground problem and shutting off. Not 100% sure that could happen though. Do any of the 12v lights work from shore power?

 

[brackenlip]

Not trying to sound demeaning to the OP, but I would never recommend someone go messing with electrical issues unless you really do know what you are doing.
It sounds like you may not have sufficient understanding of the systems to work on this safely. 120V shore can and will kill you in less time than it takes to say "oops".