Don't know what I'm doing !!!!!

[Papa Jupe]

Hello everyone,

I'm trying to charge my 26' Grey Wolf dbh w/ WFCO 8955 converter? I am plugged in to the house. It's been a few hours now and the trailer meter still says 1/3 full? I was also getting a click sound around every 30 secs or so. I went to my breakers and turned everything off except for the converter breaker. Am I supposed to do that? Also, I took out the batteries and hooked them up to my battery charger, but they both read charged. Thanks for any help you can give me.

[Charles Firth]

You might want to check the batteries with a volt meter to get an accurate reading, I would rely on that for a true reading. Your battery charger probably just has a light to say its charged. Your camper reading my not be accurate. In my TT charging a low battery while plugged into 110volt is a SLOW process takes forever. Hope this helps.

[Papa Jupe]

OK. Thanks, I will pick one up. By the way, how long did it take?

[Papa Jupe]

Why does my converter (assuming) make clicking noises?

[Flybob]

Do you have a battery disconnect switch? if so is it on.
There should be two 40A fuses. Check that they are good They are usually orange in color.
Do you hear the fan in the convertor? Does it appear to be getting hot?
If you have a volt meter, let the battery sit for about 10 hours and check the voltage and compare to chart below.

[Papa Jupe]

Hi. Both fuses are good. I did hear the fan go on and off earlier, but it doesnt seem to be getting hot. I even checked the 30 amp fuse located near the batteries. It was good. And no battery disconnect.

[saltyman]

That click sound could be a propane ignighter sound. Make sure all propane use items are turned off on your control panels.

[TGR]

Also check each battery cell's water level. Only use distilled water to fill them to the fill line.

[camaraderie]

Check Voltage while plugged in to "shore power" at both the output of the converter and the battery terminals.
You should see something above 13.2 V in any case while plugged in in BOTH places.
If you see something over 14.0V it means your batteries are more than 20% down from full and all is working properly.
I would leave the charger plugged in overnight...then unplug and REMOVE the negative battery cable and wait 24 hours before taking a reading with the voltmeter.
It should read 12.6 or 12.7V if the batts in good shape...and in no case less than 12.4 which indicates a severe loss of capacity.
Good luck!

BTW...if you buy an AC/DC clamp meter for about 50 bucks...you can not only measure voltage but you can also check how many amps are going in or out of your batts or how many amps anything in the coach is using while turned on. Handy. Here:
http://www.amazon.com/MASTECH-MS2108...dc+clamp+meter

[AVid]

Mine made the clicking noise when I hooked up the battery backwards. The clicking indicated the reverse polarity thing was working.

John

[Papa Jupe]

Thanks everybody. I'm begining to think bad batteries. We've only had this for about 1 month now. It sits in storage. I did check on them while in storage, and noticed they were draining. By the time I made it back to check, they were even lower. I brought it home to charge them and it doesnt seem to be working. Thanks again for the help.

[bikendan]

Well, if you don't have a battery disconnect switch, install one.
Otherwise your new battery will be dead again.
Unless it's plugged in where you store it.

[Timex]

After 4 years and 3 batteries, I finally got around to installing a $28 battery disconnect. It's odd that a battery is 12 volts but when it gets close to 12 volts on a meter it is almost dead. I tried charging mine but when it gets down into the 11 volt mark, they are DOA.

I could be wrong, but I have been told by several on FRF that:

You have to have battery power to activate the controls to the AC, fridge, furnace, etc. When you turn the AC on with a low to dead battery, it's saying NAW!