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Re: Battery Problem -- Need Help!
Reply #50 –
"Set the clock on the microwave and thanked my lucky stars."

"I would do like Larry did and wiggle your prongs on your plug to make sure they are not loose (as well as the cleaning he talked about)."

Kent,

If no wiggle and you're satisfied the plug is okay, when you plug the cord into your pedestal, is it loose at all?  Any sag on the plug rather than being held firmly?  Receptacles can become worn over time and lose their ability to maintain a good grip on the prongs.  I like it when I have to exert some force when I plug into a receptacle.  It suggests to me a good connection.  Maybe a loose connection at one of the lugs on the receptacle if all else seems okay?

Bill



Bill
2003 -- 23' FL
Re: Battery Problem -- Need Help!
Reply #51 –
Bill,

Thanks. The outlet is only a couple of years old. I have an outdoor cover over it. I notched the cover to allow for the oversized power cord and the drop angle.

The fit is snug with no play. After I cover the box & power cord with two 3 mill plastic bags, I use a bungee cord to wrap securely around the whole outlet and hook it to an adjacent fence. Nice and snug, no play and no obvious moisture.

I will follow Larry’s advice and polish the prongs and add a bit of dielectric grease. This should do the trick.

Waiting for my turn on Rise Of The Resistance at Disneyland right now. As with many of my LD trips, I am going SOLO today.

Fighting for the Resistance.

Kent 
2015 27' RB "MissB.Haven"
Re: Battery Problem -- Need Help!
Reply #52 –
I apologize for not updating you sooner about my battery problem.  Since I wrote last, I had been at the Everglades National Park and did not have cell service or my hot spot for internet, although AT&T customers did.  I am now back to cities and have placed calls for RV service technicians.  I have been managing since the batteries do charge up to about 13.1 with solar or with the Ford engine on.  They then pretty much have stayed in the 12.2 to 12.6 range. (When they had dropped down to about 9, I was on shore power but in the shade.)  They do not charge with shore power or the generator.  I again thank you all for your advice and I will report back with any progress and solution to this problem.

Monica
Monica
2017 MB
Re: Battery Problem -- Need Help!
Reply #53 –
12.2v-12.6v is pretty low.  They should charge to 13.6 plus when charged and rest, fully charged at about 12.9v.  9 volts for any length of time can be fatal for 12v automotive batteries.
If possible, you might want to have your batteries charged and load tested. Then you can get a good idea if it is a battery or a charging problem.
Harold
2014 27 MB
Towd: Either the Jeep Wrangler or trailer containing the BMW R1200GS and 2 E-bicycles
Happy wife=Happy life
Re: Battery Problem -- Need Help!
Reply #54 –
Hi Harold, this is an ongoing problem that Monica was just updating us on. The converter 12volt supply, or a switching relay seems to be the most likely suspect.   RonB
RonB (Bostick) living in San Diego
Original owner of "Bluebelle" a '99 TKB
Re: Battery Problem -- Need Help!
Reply #55 –
Updates are always appreciated.

I'd still load test those batteries.

HD
2014 27 MB
Towd: Either the Jeep Wrangler or trailer containing the BMW R1200GS and 2 E-bicycles
Happy wife=Happy life
 
Re: Battery Problem -- Need Help!
Reply #56 –
"I'd still load test those batteries."

Agreed, since discharging to 9V could have damaged them. But that raises a question: how meaningful is the kind of load test done by a garage or battery seller when applied to a deep-cycle AGM battery? My impression is that those places are accustomed to testing flooded-cell starting batteries, which have quite different characteristics. Would the results of such a load test provide a good estimate of an AGM house battery's condition?
Andy Baird
2021 Ford Ranger towing 2019 Airstream 19CB
Previously: 1985 LD Twin/King "Gertie"; 2003 LD Midbath "Skylark"
Re: Battery Problem -- Need Help!
Reply #57 –
Sorry if this is a repeat.  My original reply disappeared into the ether.

Andy, Good question.

Monica needs an honest electrical repair shop/tech and unless she is near San Diego, I can't help with that.  However, I had a similar problem on our tug where charging was intermittent, which was a frustrating problem when we were anchored 100 miles from home with low battery voltage.  We have a good marine electrical shop that sells AGM and flooded batteries, as well as cables, chargers, etc.  I pulled the AGM's and they load tested all of them.  The Lifeline AGM batteries were determined to be OK (five years old) and the problem was determined to be an intermittent problem in the big Xantrex charger/inverter.  The shop was good enough to recommend a local Xantrex repair facility that diagnosed and repaired the Xantrex unit for a fraction of the cost of a new one. 

The most difficult part of the job was pulling the batteries and charger, hauling them to the shop, and putting all back together.  The cost was less than $200 and the problem was solved.

Monica, good luck on solving the issue.  Electrical issues are often difficult to diagnose and always frustrating, but you will end up feeling smarter and self-reliant when you figure it out and get things fixed.

Harold
2014 27 MB
Towd: Either the Jeep Wrangler or trailer containing the BMW R1200GS and 2 E-bicycles
Happy wife=Happy life
Re: Battery Problem -- Need Help!
Reply #58 –
Quote from: Andy Baird  - 

Agreed, since discharging to 9V could have damaged them. But that raises a question: how meaningful is the kind of load test done by a garage or battery seller when applied to a deep-cycle AGM battery? My impression is that those places are accustomed to testing flooded-cell starting batteries, which have quite different characteristics.

Testing deep cycle batteries requires a much large piece of equipment than what ordinary auto shops have.
Much of the emergency lighting and power systems at LAX use large banks of batteries. The electricians had a trailer mounted  load bank, a huge, fan cooled resistor, big enough to put a heavy load on a large battery bank, for an extended period without burning up. It's similar to the dynamic braking resistors seen on top of diesel railway engines, the type designed for descending long mountain grades.
Resistor grids on the roof of an X'Trapolis train - Wongm's Rail Gallery
A large marine electrical shop would be expected have a battery load tester large enough to test boat batteries, which can be huge when compared to car and RV batteries.

Larry



Larry
2003 23.5' Front Lounge, since new.  Previously 1983 22' Front Lounge.
Tow vehicles  2020 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, 2001 Jeep Cherokee
Photo Collection: Lazy Daze
Re: Battery Problem -- Need Help!
Reply #59 –
Update of my battery problem saga and resolution (hopefully):  This is long.  Note: misspellings in the quotes are how the words were written.

Prior to going for my appointment to diagnose my house battery problem I called and spoke with the Parallax converter tech person.  He said the problem could be different things and offered to e-mail me a Troubleshooting Guide to give to the RV technicians.  I gave them the guide and they were receptive. I went for my appointment.  Their website said that they do service with electrical problems and work on all types of motorhomes.  However, they primarily work on large Class A’s.  I also had an oil change for the chassis and an oil change for the generator plus had them repair a couple of small items on the coach.  After diagnosing for two hours, to my amazement they said that they did not find any problem with my batteries and that they were charging on shore power and with the generator (which had not been the case with me) as well as with the Ford engine and solar.  They had taken the cord out of my bin and used that to test and diagnose.  They wanted to make sure that I didn’t have a faulty cord.  They said they ran the generator.  They said they did not find any issues, and everything worked as designed.  I asked how that could be possible.  I told them that I had used a surge protector (Progressive PT30X-30amp Portable EMS) when plugged in.  The tech told me that he is almost certain that the surge protector was the source of my problem.  I asked him to explain this and write it down for me.  He wrote, “External Shore Power Surge Guards cut off @ 113 v @ Low Voltage à Cutt off for 3 mins or 180 seconds, check for good pwr for 3 mins More Before Coming Back On.”  He also added that in his opinion one should not use an external surge guard when camping in Florida as there is too much fluctuation due to the high temperatures and high use of electricity.

When I paid my bill, they told me that they would give me a $50 discount if I wrote a good review.  I would have to write the review right there in order to get the discount.  Since I had had such a bad experience with the previous RV tech who said that I needed a new converter and batteries, I appreciated their honesty and did write a good review. At the time I thought that they had solved my problem.   (My son recently told me that reviews are meaningless because vendors do exactly what this place did—offer a discount for a good review.  That had been my first experience.)

When I camped and plugged into shore power and ran the generator my original problem was still there exactly as it had been—batteries were still not charging on shore power or with the generator!  I called them back and spoke with the owner who said he wanted to make this right and to come in the next day which I did.  They claimed that on the first visit the problem didn’t present itself.

When I returned, their Service & Part Description was:

“Job ID 1:  UNIT NOT CHARGING HOUSE BATTERIES WHEN PLUGGED IN OR ON GENSET COMEBACK

Condition:               converter not charging

Cause:                        loose network wire for on signal

Correction:               removed conveter cover

                                    took voltage reading

                                    discovered converter off

                                    removed mount bolts and

                                    slid conveter assembly out

                                    found loose network monitor cable

                                    tighted cable and converter came on

                                    -- tested – converter unit shuts off

                                    and does not come back on by itself,

                                    have to hit converter charger for it

                                    to come back on

                                    will replace component and charge

                                    customer our cost for part, no labor

                                    charge”

I had to return a third day to have the Parallax Power Center /Charger Unit installed.  I had told them that I was considering having a different brand of converter installed and they told me that I would then have to pay labor as it would be more involved than just having the same model replaced, so I went with Parallax.

I spent hours over three days at the RV service center.

 
Monica
2017 MB
Re: Battery Problem -- Need Help!
Reply #60 –
"When I paid my bill, they told me that they would give me a $50 discount if I wrote a good review.  I would have to write the review right there in order to get the discount.  Since I had had such a bad experience with the previous RV tech who said that I needed a new converter and batteries, I appreciated their honesty and did write a good review. At the time I thought that they had solved my problem.   (My son recently told me that reviews are meaningless because vendors do exactly what this place did--offer a discount for a good review.  That had been my first experience.)"

 as a person that's writes many reviews I had to smile at this.    This would be the easiest $50 I've ever got.    All reviews that I know of and use can either be edited later or deleted by the original reviewer.

As an aside I find it a site have all glowing reviews or all bad reviews I discount the whole review process.    No place is 100% prefect or 100% bad.

Glen
personal fine art photo stuff
TF Mack | Flickr
It's all good .......
2014 Twin King
Re: Battery Problem -- Need Help!
Reply #61 –
I'm glad you finally got a resolution, Monica! But now I'm curious...

Can somebody explain what kind of "network wire" a Parallax converter would have? Monica's 2017 LD obviously has a newer model than I'm familiar with. I can make a guess--a CAT5 cable to some kind of remote control panel--but I'd be interested to hear from somebody who knows. And if that's what we're talking about, what would the remote panel be controlling?

As some here may remember, I once had a problem with my Xantrex proSINE 2.0 inverter/charger that turned out to be caused by a corroded modular (RJ11) plug at the proSINE end--it was in an external compartment, and apparently enough moisture sneaked in over time to cause corrosion. The symptom was gibberish displayed on the proSINE's remote control panel, which was an elaborate one intended to display voltage, amperage, and allow changing the proSINE unit's myriad settings. But I don't know what the much simpler Parallax converter would need a remote panel for, so I'm curious.
Andy Baird
2021 Ford Ranger towing 2019 Airstream 19CB
Previously: 1985 LD Twin/King "Gertie"; 2003 LD Midbath "Skylark"
Re: Battery Problem -- Need Help!
Reply #62 –
Harold (Blueox25),

I'm interested in your "local Xantrex repair facility" location. San Diego? I have a Xantrex charger/inverter that doesn't work. The shop that determined it wasn't working was reliable but did not mention it might be repairable.

Thanks!

-Judy
Judy Dewey
2003 26' RK