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Old 07-28-2018, 10:51 PM   #1
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AC/Heater question

Bought my 300bhsl in 2015,, tech never said turn water heater breaker off when not in use, i never touched it, have not touched in 4 years, My 30 amp breaker has been blowing, found a dried battery( been slacking this year cuz returned to work part time to help out some dingaling young engineers.)
Should I have kept that off while sitting in driveway?
2) How do I check the AC compressor control, it wont turn on although is in AU ( Auto ) and the fan does work on HI and LO< tech told me AC wont work in those positions, and AC is set to 88 degrees ( since we are not using it and it is 110 lately in AZ),, I have read that the starting cap in the unit will melt the wires, I wonder if something is going on up there, since the AC unit has run constant pretty much 8 months out of the year here.
Thanks for suggestions, I have been searching here and there also.. Figure you guys give straight answers
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Old 07-29-2018, 12:03 AM   #2
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Bought my 300bhsl in 2015,, tech never said turn water heater breaker off when not in use, i never touched it, have not touched in 4 years, My 30 amp breaker has been blowing, found a dried battery( been slacking this year cuz returned to work part time to help out some dingaling young engineers.)
Should I have kept that off while sitting in driveway?
2) How do I check the AC compressor control, it wont turn on although is in AU ( Auto ) and the fan does work on HI and LO< tech told me AC wont work in those positions, and AC is set to 88 degrees ( since we are not using it and it is 110 lately in AZ),, I have read that the starting cap in the unit will melt the wires, I wonder if something is going on up there, since the AC unit has run constant pretty much 8 months out of the year here.
Thanks for suggestions, I have been searching here and there also.. Figure you guys give straight answers

If the battery has been cooked it's probably dead as nails. The control board needs 12 volts to operate and charge the starting capacitor.
Replace the battery and Aaron will tell you to get an new converter too.
Do that first and then see if the A/C will come on.


If you drain the water heater it's a good idea to throw the breaker but in southern AZ the threat of freezing is pretty low. But you'd still want to drain the water so it doesn't get nasty just sitting in the driveway.
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Old 08-04-2018, 08:55 PM   #3
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AC update,, both batteries are fried,, lack of use I guess, one Walmart dried up, the other a Interstate.. still dont know why it fried, but the breaker on the frame was clicking on and off..

The AC was a matter of me doing to many things at once,, I have it on FAN instead of COOL<< Fan was in AU,, hit COOL and it came on and runs great.. Converter so far test okay..
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Old 08-05-2018, 02:59 PM   #4
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Battery management

never said turn water heater breaker off when not in use, i never touched it, have not touched in 4 years, My 30 amp breaker has been blowing, found a dried battery”
The water heater is probably not related to the dried battery issue. The blown breakers probably is. The water heater runs on propane or shore power. I have never seen one capable of using 12 volts.
Turning the electric water heater on when the heater is empty is bad of course. Switching the breaker off before draining is a good practice.
The dead batteries may be blowing the breakers. A short in the batteries may draw more the 30 amps through the self resetting breaker near the batteries. The shore power 30 amp breaker may trip when the converter draws too much current trying to bring the house 12 volt system up to 12 volts while connected to a shorted battery.
Batteries probably need to be disconnected when not in use and when connected to shore power for longer than a couple of days.
The RV system usually has a small “parasitic” load that will kill the batteries. So, keeping it plugged in is typical.
The 12 volt converter in my Kodiak Cub has a sustaining voltage of 13.6 volts when the batteries are fully charged. That is a bit high for long term use. It causes the batteries to “boil” slowly. That causes the electrolyte to dry up permanently damaging the battery.
Flooded cell batteries need to be checked for water level frequently. One of my AGM batteries showed signs of venting. I added battery disconnects to stop that. Removing the negative battery lead can also work.
Batteries will last for months without charging as long as there is no load on them. Check periodically to see how long it takes to drop to 12.4 volts. 12.4 is the minimum before the battery starts to accumulate sulfate on the electrodes.
Paul Bristol
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Old 08-05-2018, 03:13 PM   #5
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it is too bad at walk through the tech ( the manager was too busy ) didnt tells us anything about it, My Walmart battery shows signs of leakage, the Interstate does not,, although it did shortly after I Found the dried up Walmart.. nothing is connected now to battery and the converter voltage at the " batteries" shows 13.1. I put a clamp on current meter on the AC breaker box and Air draws 16.5 Amps ( dont know how accurate the HF meters are but seems to work ok when used elsewhere. Going to watch it before I tear the Electric box out and see if the converter fan is out or something, I have to get my knees replaced and bone on bone is no fun trying to kneel, kids are grown and gone,, will manage,, Thanks for the reply..
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Old 08-05-2018, 04:28 PM   #6
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So you never heard of a 'three way'? There probably are still some around (Aaron probably has one in the back 40), that were gas, 110vac and 12vdc.
The may have been made by a Swedish vacuum cleaner company that sold to Dometic. That's what comes to mind, Electrolux.


Dunno, but they do exist.
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Old 08-05-2018, 04:33 PM   #7
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it is too bad at walk through the tech ( the manager was too busy ) didnt tells us anything about it, My Walmart battery shows signs of leakage, the Interstate does not,, although it did shortly after I Found the dried up Walmart.. nothing is connected now to battery and the converter voltage at the " batteries" shows 13.1. I put a clamp on current meter on the AC breaker box and Air draws 16.5 Amps ( dont know how accurate the HF meters are but seems to work ok when used elsewhere. Going to watch it before I tear the Electric box out and see if the converter fan is out or something, I have to get my knees replaced and bone on bone is no fun trying to kneel, kids are grown and gone,, will manage,, Thanks for the reply..

There used to be a real battery company down on Miracle Mile, close to the Forest Lawn Cemetery I think. He rebuilt batteries and carried real deep cycle ones as well.

Walmart and Interstate, leave 'em in the store.
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Old 08-05-2018, 05:51 PM   #8
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more information please

When your TT was stored for many months, was it plugged into shore power?
Do your batteries have a disconnect switch? If so, was it on or off.
Does the weather where you stored your TT drop below freezing?
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Old 08-05-2018, 06:14 PM   #9
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yup to shore power, nope to disconnect,, live and learn.

Live in Tucson,, 105 today,, might freeze two days a year,, no water in lines etc, and we put in a portable heater to keep it up about freezing.. always plugged in.

Sundancer, I think that place is long gone, going to have to look into the golf cart stores and see what they have, Batteries plus on Every corner here.. I have Interstates in my diesel, so far so good.. Oreilly and AutoZone have junk too..
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Old 08-05-2018, 09:23 PM   #10
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yup to shore power, nope to disconnect,, live and learn.

Live in Tucson,, 105 today,, might freeze two days a year,, no water in lines etc, and we put in a portable heater to keep it up about freezing.. always plugged in.

Sundancer, I think that place is long gone, going to have to look into the golf cart stores and see what they have, Batteries plus on Every corner here.. I have Interstates in my diesel, so far so good.. Oreilly and AutoZone have junk too..

I bought from them several times over the years to keep my battery bank up to par. There were two places that I hit on my way south. Nice guys, always padded the invoice so the taxes would be less at the border.
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