Fridge/Voltage

Tazman22 · 05-03-2022, 02:40 AM

I have a question for all and just maybe someone has had a similar issue. We took out our alpine out of storage and decided to camp one night in an rv park close to home to make sure everything worked. Now the issue, the wife and i got a little chilly at night so i fire up the furnace, when i woke up the next morning i noticed that my batteries where at low voltage i believe it was at 10.6 and my fridge was displaying the flashing error, Lo/DC and we were hooked up to shore power 50amp so shouldn't of my batteries been charged? I had power to everything else in the coach, so does one think it may be a converter issue since my batteries were not being charged and the fridge displaying the error. had to leave the 5'ver at the resort while i returned home to charge batteries, went back to install battery to bring in slides and worked like it was suppose to, which i could not do before since it was reading low voltage. Now should of i been able to bring in slides using shore power or no. We are still new to this rv'ing stuff. So thanks again to all the gurus

out there for your input on this.

pasayten · 05-03-2022, 03:50 AM

The slides work off the batteries... Shore power uses the converter/charger and charges the batteries... All the 12v stuff works thru the batteries. Sounds like you need to check out the converter/charger...

The RV refer is usually 12v/propane or 120v shore power... Was it switched to 12v/propane only? Was it on the "auto" setting? Wondering why it was on 12v/propane to begin with... Or is it a 12v only refer?

**chuckster57** · 05-03-2022, 04:05 AM

Refer needs 12V for the control board to operate. Charged batteries are needed to operate the slides. I would verify 110VAC on BOTH legs of the shore power first. After that I would check the conveter for proper voltage output.

Tazman22 · 05-03-2022, 04:05 AM

The refer was on auto swithover, which worked when we first plugged in to the power until that late evening furnace start up. And refer is propane/12v. Thanks for reponse.

Javi · 05-03-2022, 04:33 AM

Battery disconnect
2-pole auto reset breaker
Converter reverse polarity fuses
120 Volt Converter circuit breaker
Converter

Tazman22 · 05-03-2022, 08:05 AM

Thanks everyone, so here is my last question. I'm in a delima so could i be hooked up to shore power and have a battery charger hooked up to the battery to keep it charged up or would that be a bad thing?

**JRTJH** · 05-03-2022, 08:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tazman22

Thanks everyone, so here is my last question. I'm in a delima so could i be hooked up to shore power and have a battery charger hooked up to the battery to keep it charged up or would that be a bad thing?

The converter applies charging power to the battery based on the voltage sensed "on the line". If you connect a stand alone battery charger to the system, the converter/charger will sense the voltage output of that charger (usually 13.6 VDC) and "sense that the battery is fully charged, so it will trigger the converter/charger to not further charge the battery bank"...

So, in essence, if you connect a "second battery charger to the battery" you'll disable the trailer charger.... And, if your second battery charger is a "fully automatic charger" the trailer system "may" disable it the same way, so you could potentially wind up with two battery chargers, both turning off each other....

Tazman22 · 05-03-2022, 09:55 AM

The reason i had asked is i don't think my converter is working properly and my need a replacement, i just need something to get me by for the next 2 days. So if i don't have my second battery hooked up to the system and only to a stand alone charger, can i disconnect the weak one put it on the stand alone charger and place the good one in its place.

**chuckster57** · 05-03-2022, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tazman22

The reason i had asked is i don't think my converter is working properly and my need a replacement, i just need something to get me by for the next 2 days. So if i don't have my second battery hooked up to the system and only to a stand alone charger, can i disconnect the weak one put it on the stand alone charger and place the good one in its place.

Yes you can remove the battery from the trailer and install the charged one. Make sure you connect the trailer leads to the correct battery post.

bobbecky · 05-03-2022, 12:32 PM

You never responded about whether your battery disconnect switch is turned off. If that is turned on, you also need to verify that the 120 volt breaker in the panel is not tripped or is turned off. It would also really help if you indicated what rig you have, year and model at least. Also, if you have been removing and reinstalling these batteries, you must be very careful to not connect them backwards, because if you do, even for a split second, you will blow the 12 volt reverse polarity protection fuses and you will not get power out of the converter.

Tazman22 · 05-04-2022, 12:54 AM

Thank you everyone for all the input. I found my issue I had 2 40amp fuses blown on my power converter which i found behind the basement wall. This place is great with all the gurus. bobbecky i will sure update my information. Again thank you all and happy RVing.

CedarCreekWoody · 05-04-2022, 04:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tazman22

Thank you everyone for all the input. I found my issue I had 2 40amp fuses blown on my power converter which i found behind the basement wall. This place is great with all the gurus. bobbecky i will sure update my information. Again thank you all and happy RVing.

Those are thr reverse polarity fuses mentioned above.

Todd 423 · 05-15-2022, 09:43 AM

Why did you take the batteries out to charge them at home? Dont you have 12v from your tow vehicle?

**JRTJH** · 05-15-2022, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Todd 423

Why did you take the batteries out to charge them at home? Dont you have 12v from your tow vehicle?

The tow vehicle charging system through the 7 pin connector is not much more than a "trickle charger". When you consider that it's a 12 ga or a 14 ga wire, it can't carry much amperage and at the distance from the truck's voltage regulator to the trailer battery (going through 4 or 5 connectors) there's not a "lot of juice" (amps) getting to the battery. So, there isn't much charging capacity using the truck charging system.

I've had 75% charge status on my two GC2 batteries and after towing 6 hours, had 85% charge status, so with my truck's charging system, it would take more than 24 hours to fully recharge the trailer batteries.

Using the onboard converter/charger is the most efficient if shore power is available, and lacking an "upgraded solar system" taking them home to recharge on a 10 amp charger is probably the most time efficient.

Todd 423 · 05-15-2022, 11:58 AM

I had the same thing happen to me. Parked my toyhauler for s couple days and the batteries were down to 9.4 V. I have a generator, but not enough battery left to start it. Hooked up my truck and let it run for several minutes then started the generator. I have the 12V, from the truck on a 30A fuse, 10Ga wire. It blew the fuse initially, I didn't give it enough time to put enough of a charge in the RV batteries.

BigBobIa · 05-15-2022, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Todd 423

I had the same thing happen to me. Parked my toyhauler for s couple days and the batteries were down to 9.4 V. I have a generator, but not enough battery left to start it. Hooked up my truck and let it run for several minutes then started the generator. I have the 12V, from the truck on a 30A fuse, 10Ga wire. It blew the fuse initially, I didn't give it enough time to put enough of a charge in the RV batteries.

I keep a lithium jump pack in the truck just for this. About the size of a couple packs of cigarettes. Haven’t had to use it for the generator but have started a couple cars.

With all the electronics on the truck don’t want to take any chances with jumper cables.

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