RV Battery Charger

[Ram Montana High Country]

Thinking 12V battery charger is bad - hooked to shore power and the battery is usually dead. Terminals are clean and it's full of water.

Where is charger located and how what is test procedure to determine good or bad?

[scottz]

Originally Posted by Ram Montana High Country

Thinking 12V battery charger is bad - hooked to shore power and the battery is usually dead. Terminals are clean and it's full of water.

Where is charger located and how what is test procedure to determine good or bad?

The unit is called a converter. On my Montana it is co-located with the breaker panel. You will occasionally hear a fan running in that area.

I would start by

• putting volt meter on the battery without the trailer plugged in, measure voltage
• Next, plug the trailer in, measure voltage again. This will tell you if your converter is working

If it is not working, start trouble shooing from there.

[rohrmann]

Also make sure your battery disconnect is turned on, so the red key doesn't come out. Your converter can't charge the batteries if this is off.

[Golfmedik]

If you have a multimeter, set it to volts and test the wires coming from the converter to the battery after disconnecting them at the battery. With it plugged in to shore power, you should have 13.4-13.6V on the cables.. If so, the converter is good.

[ABS]

Is this true for all Montana's I have a 2016 3820FK whose batteries are going dead. All the power readings appear to be normal at the converter

[Pathfinder75]

Originally Posted by scottz

The unit is called a converter. On my Montana it is co-located with the breaker panel. You will occasionally hear a fan running in that area.

I see I'm 4 days late but curious if RAM MONTANA HIGH COUNTRY found the converter. I will agree they often are in back of circuit breaker housing. MY 2017 353RL HC converter IS mounted remote from breakers. See in picture with basement rear panel removed MOUNTED HIGH ON CEILING (arrow pointing to it) .
Love the wire and plumbing nightmare. Slowly working on making it neater.
Equipment list that came with owners manuals (Stove, TVs, water pump, etc.) Should have brand, model, serial number listed. Google it to see what it looks like.
Photo is a WFCO MODEL WF-9865 (65amp) with charge modes "float" = 13.2 VDC, "absorption" 13.6 VDC, and "bulk" = 14.4 VDC.

Best of Luck finding problem.

[Ram Montana High Country]

Pathfinder75 - what a picture … thought I was in Star Wars of something - dang thing has decided to stay charged for now so it let's me put it off. I was hoping for cooler weather and wanted to install the EMS on the same trip into the jungle under there.

Thank you for the time and pic

[Ram Montana High Country]

Good info - thank you - Saturdays project if it doesn't rain.

Should Breaker panel pull out from the inside? Will have to install the Progressive EMS at the same time.

[Ram Montana High Country]

Is there a smart circuit in the converter to properly charge the battery or might it be better to get a "Battery Tender" to charge the battery?

[Texan]

Originally Posted by Ram Montana High Country

Is there a smart circuit in the converter to properly charge the battery or might it be better to get a "Battery Tender" to charge the battery?

If you are hooked up to shore power then your converter should keep the battery charged. I don't keep my shore power plugged in so i use a Deltran 1.25 volt maintainer that you can purchase from Wal-mart. These are very good quality maintainers.

[mazboy]

how to test a battery. Take it to a store that checks the quality of the battery.

[DQDick]

Two more things. First the modern converters, like a 2017 has, have a smart charger built in. Second, the battery disconnect does not disconnect a lot of things like the propane detector etc so if you park and don't totally disconnect the battery it will die within a short period of time and that in turn will kill the battery for good.

[Ram Montana High Country]

but its plugged into shore power … hence my though on bad converter. Had the battery checked six months ago - good to go but can't imagine why as many times as it has been drained.

[Carl n Susan]

Originally Posted by Ram Montana High Country

but its plugged into shore power … hence my though on bad converter. Had the battery checked six months ago - good to go but can't imagine why as many times as it has been drained.

When you had your battery checked 6 months ago did you disconnect it and remove it from the RV? If yes, is there a chance you might have hooked it up backwards, even if for only a second? Connecting a battery backwards will blow the polarity fuses in the converter and it won't charge. The fuses are easy to remove and replace. Performing the steps spelt out in post #4 will help answer the questions.

[Ram Montana High Country]

If I convert to two 6v golf cart batteries in series, will the same charger be ok?

[AZ Traveler]

Originally Posted by Ram Montana High Country

If I convert to two 6v golf cart batteries in series, will the same charger be ok?

No need to change your converter as long as you stay with a lead acid or AGM battery.

[Texan]

Originally Posted by Ram Montana High Country

If I convert to two 6v golf cart batteries in series, will the same charger be ok?

Yes. I changed to 2- 6volt Trojan batteries and my converter keeps the batteries charged with no problem.

[Ram Montana High Country]

Appreciate ALL the input

[prndl]

you're on shore power, do you have 12V in the trailer?

[suny07]

Hi,

thats exactly why I have changed to lithium batteries.
Zero Maintenance and if disconnected they will hold the charge for ever.
No gassing, no watering ... its just time to jump on new technology I think.