Battery Issue

[emptynest]

I thought I had my battery issues resolved but it is now not switching over to battery power when I cut the shore power to the RV. The refrig and pump will start flashing like they want to but it never does.

I checked the charge and it is getting a 13.6 on the meter. I made sure the battery had water. The battery disconnect is set correctly.

Anybody have and thoughts on what could be the problem?

[Art-n-Marge]

The 12v batteries (13.6 means the batteries are also being charged successfully, so you are right the batteries seem good) are used to control the circuit boards that help pumps and electronics run for both the fridge and heater (and furnace and all other 12v lighting, etc.)

It appears you are having propane issues. In combination with the 12v circuitry, propane is used to fuel the heat sources to heat the water and operate the fridge per the 12v used for the control boards.

Besides that you are out of propane, there are many other things to consider. For example, the propane bottles do NOT have to be empty, they could be so low that there isn't enough propane to keep up the pressure to provide the fuel. Topping off the propane tanks will help. Other flow issues might be caused by faulty regulators. Since you probably have two tanks, maybe the autoswitch didn't work, or you are just plain out of propane. If one appliance works and another doesn't you could have a bad appliance for a particular fuel source (110v electricity works, but propane doesn't). There are two regulators in Montanas - one is on the passenger side (secondary tank) and has a small regulator that has been known to be undersized (should be 30 psi, but I had to swap out my lower rated unit), the other is a larger dual input regulator that may or may not have an autoswitch to control which tank is being used for supply.

I'd concentrate on debugging your propane supply. If you need more help, describe your new findings and you should be able to get help here beyond what little I provided as a start. Best of luck.

BTW - Great profile name, "emptynest". For many of us, that is so obvious, I'm surprised no one has used it yet (including me, lol).

[Irlpguy]

emptynest you only mention the fridge and pump, does that mean you have lights in the RV? Also when did you take the reading at the battery, if it was taken when the RV was connected to shore power then you may have been reading the charge being put into the batteries from the Converter. It you were disconnected from shore power then it would seem your batteries are Ok, having said that the best way to check any battery is by using a hydrometer and check each cell individually.

You could be showing a 13.6V reading when connected to shore power but your battery/batteries could be poor. Take the reading when not connected and a bit of time has passed after disconnecting.

I do not see where propane enters into the equation unless you are trying to run the fridge on propane, it is a 2 way fridge and does not run on 12V. The fridge however requires 12V to operate on both 110V and Propane since the control board runs on 12V.

I think it is either your batteries or the disconnect and when connected to shore power you are getting the 12V required for the fridge and pump from the converter.

[K0LCB]

Modern propane cylinders have flow restrict or, if they sense open line, they will shutdown, turn off and start over

[triplehorn]

subscribed.

I'm with Art-n-Marge, more info is needed to evaluate this but also think since there is enough power for the fridge to blink in error, must be no fuel source to switch over to.

[DQDick]

Propane should not be affecting the pump.

[Irlpguy]

emptynest, since you also mentioned in your OP that you thought you had resolved your battery problems, that makes me believe you may still have them.
You mention the Fridge: If the fridge "mode" is set to AU (automatic) when you unplug from shore power it will try to switch over to propane, if the propane is shut off or you are not getting propane to the fridge it will flash an error code. Mine alternates between no AC and no FL. Which means I have no AC and no Flame. You can check your error codes if you still have your manual. If the "mode" is set to AC and you unplug from shore power the fridge simply goes off.

It is very simple to check to see if you have propane by attempting to light one of the stove burners.

There does need to be 12V at the fridge for the error code to flash, that would indicate you have 12V coming from your battery to the fridge at least.

None of the above explains a problem with the pump, if you are referring to the water pump and that is not working when unplugged from shore power, does it work when plugged into shore power. It is 12V and must either get the 12V from the converter or the battery.

Being a little more descriptive regarding the problem would make it much easier to help resolve it.

[Art-n-Marge]

oops, when I read pump, I was thinking hot water heater, doh!

Hopefully, the OP will provide more detail since it seems that the current description is not detailed enough. We need to know if the propane is turned on, if the propane operates whether it's 12v or 110v, how is the 13.6v being measured and if anything is charging the batteries when disconnected from shore power, the converter cannot be charging the batteries. What were the old battery problems?

Irlpguy is spot on when he mentions the water pump is only 12v whether shore power is connected (the 12v comes from the converter) or not (the 12v comes from the battery).

If you disconnect the batter(ies) and measure the voltage you should get between 12.6v to 12.9v. I had a problem on my rig that I was reading 13.0 with shore power on the batteries and this was caused by the second battery being bad and it was drawing down the other battery and the voltage reading. After removing the bad battery, it read 13.7 when connected to shore power or 12.8v for the remaining good battery when not connected to shore power or my TV. The point being, there's lots of things that need to be known and measured for many power configurations.

I hope we can get more info. I'm mostly curious why it's reading 13.6 if not connected to shore power but maybe that's because the measurement was made right after the disconnect and this is residual voltage from the recharging. I think waiting a while with nothing connected and the voltage would drop under 13v especially if other stuff is using the battery.

[kdeiss]

You should always take a Battery Volt Reading 1 Hr after coming off charger.
Emptynest needs to take his battery and have it tested professionally Battery Shop,Auto Zone.Advanced Auto Etc to be sure he has a good battery then go from their

[emptynest]

Just an update on the issue. We moved today so I was able to see what worked. Basically nothing ran off battery, lights, refrig, water pump, nothing. I read the battery while off of shore power about 2 hours after being off. It came up with 12.69 but it wouldn't hold that reading, it bounced all kinds of lower numbers on the reading. This battery is less than six weeks old. (Interstate) I have put water in it once about two weeks ago.

Sound like the battery might be bad?

The battery that came with the RV when we bought it popped its top, thus why we replaced it. The dealer thought it might have be overcharged, so I closely monitored the new battery and always got a good 13.6ish reading on the charge.

[H. John Kohl]

With your statement of the original battery popping its top, I suggest you look at your converter properly charging the batter before you go any further.
This is not an easy trouble shooting.
Good luck and let us know what you find.

[Irlpguy]

Lance there are a couple of things that pop out at me in your last post:

1)You say that nothing worked, not lights or anything, that tells me you have no connection between the batteries and the power distribution/breaker or fuse box. The voltage you indicate should operate your lights if nothing else. Check all connections from the battery to the circuit breakers to the distribution panel. Check the ground and make sure it is good. Check your reverse polarity fuses in the panel as well. Turn on the light in your service center and then switch your battery disconnect into both positions and see if the light comes on.

If your meter is making good contact and is good itself, and yet the voltage is jumping around you may have shorted plates in your battery.
I would take this battery back to wherever you bought it if possible or if not, to any Interstate dealer and have it checked, it would still be under warranty at this point.

2) Batteries that are serviceable (you can add water) would be very unlikely to "pop" their top. Overcharging will cause the evaporation of the water in the battery, it also causes heat and warps the plates whereupon they short out, making the battery useless. I have seen dead batteries freeze in the winter and "pop" or break. A charge voltage of 13.6 volts should not overcharge your battery, however 13.2 or 13.4 would be better.

As for the converter you may be able to find the troubleshooting or test procedure for your converter in it's manual, if you don't have it, get the make and model and try to find that information on the internet. Your converter may or may not be equipped with a charge regulator as mine is. You can also find that out on the internet and what the charge rates should be for your particular make/model

I carry with me all the time a battery hydrometer, I can check each individual cell for it's specific gravity and it will tell me if I have any bad cells, all it takes is one bad cell to make the battery pretty much useless.

[Recumbent]

I bet it is the converter! Here is my story about previous Monty as we had similar issues with the battery and it turned out to be the converter. Our OEM battery boiler over two times. When starting up the learning curve I first Installed a new battery and still trouble holding charge. While traveling we used a good quality charger to keep the new battery up. We got to our home-base where I felt more comfortable doing my on handyman work and I bought a multimeter as recommended by members here on the MOC and checked everything out. Based on the results from using the multimeter, watching the 12 volt lights grow dim then brighten back up and listening to the converter operate it was obvious. Put in a new converter and then no more trouble. I don't know much about electricity so I figured the best way to proceed was to post every test and observation I made here to get feedback.

[fauch]

Two must-checks:

the 110 v breaker labeled 'converter'. even if it appears to be closed, open it and re-close it.
and the 30 amp 12v fuses labeled 'reverse polarity'
these are the only two booger-goblins that have ever kept me from running 12 volt systems.

[emptynest]

The fuses for the reverse polarity don't have lights, there are two 40 amp fuses. I pulled them both and they seemed ok (not broken). The breaker seemed a little loose, so I turned it off than back on.

I checked the the battery this morning and it was a little wet. Not sure if that was just that I didn't get the caps on good and water came out in the move or something else?