Battery and Lights

[nsbrobert]

I have a 2019 mini lite 2507s, two questions. First my battery was at half charge and I plugged RV into 120v outlet last night, when I checked this morning it is still showing half charged. Should it not have charged some over night? Second question, my ceiling LED lights won’t come on if I turn the battery disconnect switch off, I would think that with RV plugged in that all lights would still work with no battery connected?

[tomkatb]

The purpose of the battery disconnect switch is to take the battery out of service so it will not be discharged. For use in storage, only. The battery is necessary for the brakes!

Thus the lights are disconnected.

With the switch off the battery will likely not recharge with the converter.

You need to plug in, turn the disconnect on and use your voltmeter to find out what is wrong with your on board converter(battery charger).

Could be simple. Could be a fuse or breaker.

[nsbrobert]

Thank you for the reply, so you agree that the battery should have gone from 1/2 charge to 3/4 or more according to the light panel in RV that shows the battery level after being plugged in over night? I just didn’t know if it was more of a trickle charger and might be normal to take longer to charge a battery rather than maintain a full charge.

[A32Deuce]

The battery switch needs to be on for it to charge. Just think of it as you are camping to charge it.

[CHICKDOE]

i'd like to clarify a bit.

the battery disconnect is used to disconnect the batteries from the loads when in storage. this is supposed to keep the batteries from getting discharged while in storage. but there may be some loads, such as sensors or devices with memory resets, that do not get disconnected and still drain the battery. but this is another topic.

but one side effect of turning the battery disconnect to the off position is that it also disconnects the batteries from the converter so that in the off position the batteries will not get recharged if the charger is getting 120 vac power.

now if you are plugged into 120 vac power the converter should be running and producing 12 vdc power. this power can be used to power the 12 volt dc devices even with the battery disconnect off. if the battery disconnect is on the converter will still power the 12 volt dc devices and provide a 12 vdc recharge to the batteries.

having said all this the fact that your lights and other 12 vdc devices do not work when plugged into shore power says they are not receiving 12 vdc power from the converter. note that i did not say the converter is bad. more diagnosis is needed.

try this:
- verify that you are actually getting 120 vac power in. plug a fan, radio, or tester into some 120 vac receptacles and verify that they have power. is the microwave clock and light on? or plug a fan into the receptacle that the shore power cord is plugged into to verify that the receptacle is actually providing power.
- do you have an EMS device in your power cord that could interrupt power flow. is it passing power through the device or is it stopping power flow due to an error condition?
- go to your main distribution panel and flip each and every circuit breaker off and then back on to reset them.
- pull the reverse polarity fuses out of the converter and test each one to verify that is is still good and not blown. use a meter to test them - continuity setting or ohms setting.
- you may have a loose wire somewhere but i wouldn't look for it yet until you do the above.

something is not right but it may be very simple. do not just assume that the converter is not working!

[nsbrobert]

Yes the micro wave work and both refrigerators work. I will go and flip the breakers now, but as much as I hate to ask, do you know where I find the converter? I thought I weird that the ceiling LED lights not come on when battery was disconnected. Of one more thing, can I take the battery out and charge on my big charger and leave RV plugged in to 120v?

[CedarCreekWoody]

When you connect to shore power, and the converter is recharging the battery, it will immediately illuminate all four lights on the battery guage. If you were only showing two lights while plugged in then your converter was not charging your battery (most likely because you turned off the battery disconnect. )

[nsbrobert]

Battery disconnect was on all night too and still on

[rsdata]

it might be useful to know the size and type of your battery...
group 24 or 27 or 31... from the dealer it is probably the smallest which is lead-acid group 24

larger batteries take longer to charge... using converter charging only charging takes longer than using a dedicated charger that you might pickup at an auto parts place

did you check the water level in the battery? use distilled water only to bring it up to the split ring in each of the 6 cells... low levels will keep the battery from charging much... water is lost by charging and needs to be checked at least once per camping season

those lights are not very accurate... get yourself a cheap $10 digital volt-meter and measure at the battery terminals

[CHICKDOE]

ok, you are getting shore power.

i am not familiar with all the places that converters can be located. but a very common place is right underneath the actual circuit breaker / fuse panel. it is actually a slide in board that slides into a recess in the panel. look to see if you have this possibility. if you do the reverse polarity fuses are probably in the fuse section of the panel. they will be 2,3,or 4 fuses rated 25 or 30 amps (this is typical, not guaranteed). they will be grouped together. if you have something like this pull them and test them.

if not a part of the panel they will be on the actual standalone converter box (wherever that is).

[A32Deuce]

Mine in in one of the storage bays and wired to the panel.

[nsbrobert]

Found the two fuses they were on my panel with rest of fuses, they are good. If you don’t see an issue, I am going to leave shore power plugged in and remove the battery and charge it to a full charge. If I can find my amp meter I will check the terminals that are connected to battery first, I should see a voltage of about 13 or more right? If I do that means the converter is working right and that it’s just a slow charge and not enough to take a battery from half to full very quickly. Am I thinking right?

[CHICKDOE]

yes you are thinking right. use the dc volt meter setting. turn off or disconnect from shore power and take a 12 volt dc measurement at the battery terminals. from what you say you should get a reading of somewhere around 12 volts. (12.6 volts for a fully charged battery). then plug back into shore power and take another reading. if you are getting recharge power from the converter the battery terminals should now read around 13.6 volts.

but i believe you will not get this as you have stated that the lights do not run from the converter when plugged into shore power. if this is the case something is wrong.

yes it is ok to pull the batteries and charge at home. but before you do take pictures or put labels on the cables there is no confusion as to what cable goes to what terminal when you reinstall the batteries.

[nsbrobert]

Well stupid me looked at the wrong fuses. I found the right two for the converter and both are blown. When I plugged in yesterday I did get a spark at the receptacle, going to buy some 40 amps fuses and hope they don’t blow and work,

[nsbrobert]

Well it’s working, two new fuses and hear the fan on it running and checked amps at battery and it was 13.21. Thank you everyone for you time and willingness to assist me. This was my first time here and honestly just gave it a shot in the dark, not realizing there were people like you willing to help. Hope everyone has a great rest of your Labor Day weekend and again, thank you.

[CHICKDOE]

By any chance has anybody worked with the battery recently? Like installing it or connecting the cables to it? The fuses that were blown are called reverse polarity fuses and they are designed to blow if the battery cables were reversed when they were connected to the batteries. They can also blow due to an overload or dead battery. But glad you have them fixed. Putting a few spares in your tool box might be a good idea for the future.

[nsbrobert]

Yes I have had the battery out to charge, but don’t remember doing anything wrong however I guess not out of the question. I really don’t know, I guess if I did it’s a good thing the fuses did their job. All seems to be fine now including the interior lights working with battery now out being charged. I will be sure and pay attention when putting it back in. Oh and yes I bought spare fuses. Thank you for your assistance.

[A32Deuce]

Just be careful, with the battery out that hot/positive cable is hot when you are on shore power.