Battery Charging Issue

[dsol]

I thought I would share an issue I had and solved on my Voltage TH:

I had an issue getting my batteries charged and while boondocking I was in a bind and made the (wrong) choice of replacing my two batteries. Generator was working and powering everything but plugged in to and external generator, using the on board Onan or even hooked up to my truck the batteries didn't want to charge.

I checked the converter and while it appeared to put out 14 plus volts it would immediately step down to 13 or so but once I stopped the generator I would immediately get a low battery warning, which led me to believe it was the converter. However, because the batteries didn't seem to charge after an hour plus tow from the truck I thought I might have two issues.

I then thought it might be a bad ground which would make sense.

So after getting home and having a mobile tech come out--who by the way thought the same things I thought--we determined the ground was good, the converter was good and my truck's alternator and wiring was all good.

So it turns out the problem was the 50-amp auto resetting breaker in the bus bar that all the 12 volt electrical runs through. These little bussmann self resetting breakers can fail and I would have never thought a 50 amp breaker would fail that doesn't get much use or stress---but it did. it was simple to replace and now everything is fine, aside from the two new deep cycle batteries I bought for not good reason and the cost of the mobile RV mechanic to come out, trouble shoot and solve the issue.

So my public service announcement is carry a few of these with you and if you have a failure try this swap before spending more time and money!

[persistent]

Thank you for posting the solution. We always appreciate solutions.

[franktafl]

Thanks for posting that! Where was that little devil installed at? Near the batteries?

[dsol]

Originally Posted by franktafl

Thanks for posting that! Where was that little devil installed at? Near the batteries?

Yes, on the wall behind the batteries at the rear of the battery compartment. There is a bus bar with a few of those breakers mounted in it. I believe on the older trailers that bus bar is exposed but on my year there is a plastic cover over it that is held in place with a couple of those square headed screws. It’s a very simple swap.