Multiple failures or one.

Rhoadzie · 03-29-2016, 10:28 PM

On my way back from a couple weeks on the road. I'm having multiple failures. Could they be related? Inverter for fridge shows an overload and is not working. Now slide out not working. Before we left I replaced single battery with dual 12v connected in parallel. Everything worked great until we left to come home.

beachcamper · 03-30-2016, 06:22 AM

Are the batteries connected in parallel or series. Could be hooked up to supply 24 volts which would cause problems

bubbles · 03-30-2016, 10:44 AM

Sounds like your batteries are depleted (low voltage output). May have blown a fuse or two because of this.

SeaDog · 03-30-2016, 11:00 AM

I would recheck the battery connection to ensure parallel setup, and test the batteries for voltage. What happens when you bring on your generator (if you have one)

Rhoadzie · 03-31-2016, 01:19 PM

They are hooked up in Parallel. What fuses could be blown? Where should I check? I looked under the fridge in the fuse panel. The breakers are all good (120v). I checked the 15 amp and the 40 amp fuses in there also and they are all good. I checked for voltage (12v) on both sides of the big fuse right under the front of the trailer and have voltage on both sides. I assume that means it's good. I am going to disconnect the power to the inverter and see if the inverter is causing a load situation. What else can I try?

Rhoadzie · 03-31-2016, 01:21 PM

By the way. I did get the slide out working when hooked up to the tv.

Rhoadzie · 03-31-2016, 02:16 PM

Ok. I'm at my TH. Batteries are at 9v. I have 14v coming from TV, but the batteries did not charge. Please explain how this works. Where should I check next.

**Flybob** · 03-31-2016, 02:32 PM

Check for a resetable breaker on the frame rail near the tongue. Has the unit been plugged in ( using convertor to charge batteries?). If you draw the batteries down the TV will not recharge very well as there can be a significant voltage drop in the wiring. The TV aux will maintain good batteries, will take a long time to recharge weak ones. If you are running fridge on inverter and trying to charge batteries from TV batteries will die. I would take the batteries out and recharge with auto charger then try again. Keep an eye on the batteries, as 9V is pretty low and you may have damaged or weakened them.

Rhoadzie · 03-31-2016, 02:49 PM

I see the breaker. How do you reset it? We started out last week with two new batteries, hooked in parallel. We dry camped in a Walmart, no problems. We had to dry camp the first night in Florida, no problems. Then we were hooked up to shore power for a week. After that, I am assuming the batteries were low and never charged. We have had problems on the road with the inverter, low voltage, and getting the slide in and out. I am pretty good with electronics but don't quite understand how the batteries are supposed to charge between the two vehicle or while on shore power. How does the "converter" play into this whole deal. I am home getting the generator and going back to hook it up. I think I can check the output of the inverter then. I just wish I knew how all the wiring worked so I could troubleshoot my problem.

SeaDog · 03-31-2016, 03:28 PM

The converter is the unit that supplies 120V from shore power to the 120v circuits in an RV. it converts 120V to 12V DC that supplies 12V power to the DC portion of your electrical system like batteries and lights and it is a charger for your batteries.

The inverter takes the 12V input (from batteries) and inverts it to 120V when you are on batteries to power things like Fridge, TV, AC etc that require 120V.

Shore power
Converter charges batteries, powers 120V circuits and provides 12V power

On Batteries
Inverter supplies 120V power to required equipment and will pull the batteries down very quickly if you are not recharging them with shore power or generator.

bob dirt · 03-31-2016, 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rhoadzie

They are hooked up in Parallel. What fuses could be blown? Where should I check? I looked under the fridge in the fuse panel. The breakers are all good (120v). I checked the 15 amp and the 40 amp fuses in there also and they are all good. I checked for voltage (12v) on both sides of the big fuse right under the front of the trailer and have voltage on both sides. I assume that means it's good. I am going to disconnect the power to the inverter and see if the inverter is causing a load situation. What else can I try?

You can't check fuses this way. You will have back feed on wires. Either check across the fuse with both leads or pull the fuse out and check continuity.If you check across a fuse while it is hot, there should be no voltage reading if the fuse is good (just like checking 2 spots on the same wire)

MNtraveler · 03-31-2016, 03:39 PM

Reset the breaker by turning it fully off then turn it fully on.

**Flybob** · 03-31-2016, 03:41 PM

There should be a small push button on the breaker. Push it. if it clicks it was tripped. For your set up. I would operate under the assumption that the 12V aux from the TV will keep charged batteries charged if a few small things are on. It will not recharge a dead or very weak battery especially if inverter is running fridge. If you use the generator to recharge the batteries, hook the TT to the 120V out of the generator and allow the converter to do the charging. While charging, check the battery voltage it should be 13.8V or higher when convertor is running. The 12V battery chargers on most generators are marginal at best.

Rhoadzie · 03-31-2016, 03:56 PM

I hooked up my generator. I got a little over 13v on one side of the terminal mounted on the frame. The other side I have 1v. I can't figure out how to send a picture of where I am talking.

Rhoadzie · 03-31-2016, 05:34 PM

Ok. I found a breaker under the TH that was blown. It is a 24vDC Y08 30A. I went to the local RV dealer (not the one I bought the TH from) and he gave me a 12vDCY42 30A. Anyone know if these are compatible?

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