No power from shore or battery

[Jeff Sr]

I have a 3170ds motorhome. After sitting all winter, I put in my batteries and plugged it in to find that I have no power--no lights, no frig, no slides, nothing except one outside receptacle.
This tells me that I have power from the shore power to the unit.
My batteries all read good at 14.4 volts together.
I thiught it might be the shut off switch but I don't even have electric current from my 30 Amp cord working anything....
Where do I start?

[BehindBars]

Does the microwave oven come on?

It is not uncommon for mistakes to be made at the battery installation. Be certain the polarity is correct and that every one of the multiple cables is properly connected. Do you have a photo of the batteries when they were last properly connected?

Are these new batteries? If old ones, why were they removed?

You said, “ I don't even have electric current from my 30 Amp cord working anything.”, but also said, “ I have no power--no lights, no frig, no slides, nothing except one outside receptacle.”. Please clarify. Does the outside receptacle have 120 volt AC present or not, or are you talking about a 12 volt DC receptacle?

Are these lead acid batteries? Reading 14.4 volts DC on a 12 volt lead acid battery will only happen if an active charger or alternator is connected. Otherwise, expect more like 12.6 volts.

[Jeff Sr]

Batteries are connected as they were. I removed them to trickle charge them inside over winter.

New twist: only when vehicle engine is running, and the disconnect switch is on, I have outside awning lights--no battery lights inside.

The batteries all read about 12.72 right now.

[Jeff Sr]

When the engine is off, there is no power to the disconnect switch. It seems like the power from the batteries are not getting to the disconnect switch.
That does not explain, no power from the 30 amp shore power

[BehindBars]

If you don't or can't answer the questions in post #2 about the outside receptacle and the microwave, I can't help any further.


Based on your symptoms and similar problems reported by others on the forum, I suspect the battery cables are not all in their proper place.


I'd suggest in the future you just fully charge the house batteries before storage, then disconnect the negative cable(s) and leave them in the coach. They will be fine and they don't need trickle charging. Then you can hopefully avoid these headaches after storage time is over.

[Jeff Sr]

The battery cables are correct.
They run dead prematurely when not trickle charged for 6 months but that is not the real issue.

Update. I bought a new disconnect switch to rule that out. It seemed to help but now, when the vehicle engine runs the DC items operate such as lights. As soon as I turn the engine off everything shuts down.

[tomkatb]

You need a voltmeter, alligator clips, flashlight, and time to check everything out.

What you describe could be anything. Loose terminals. Broken wire. Backwards connections. Bad switch to interconnect batteries. Bad 30 amp cable. Bad batteries. The list goes on.

Fix an item at a time. Start with the battery.