Electrical problem diagnosis
Happy Thanksgiving to all
Have some kind of house battery / charging system issue. Wonder if anyone can point me in the right direction.
The house batteries are not receiving a charge from shore power although they are being charged by solar. I know this because there is no indication of charging on the panel when plugged into shore / no sun. But in sun, battery comes up to full charge. (I don't think it's charging from the alternator either, but don't know for certain / see below)
Inverter is functioning normally / producing a/c. Also. Shore power is providing a/c without the inverter on.
TrippLite manual refers to three steps to trouble shot this, all of which I've checked, (unit has a resettable breaker but it had not tripped / switched unit off completely and back on / checked in line fuses on battery cables)
House battery needs replacement anyway / it's not holding it's full charge very long anymore, but that seems incidental to the issue. I initially stumbled on this when I noticed my scan gauge reading only 12.2 volts. Suspecting an alternator issue, I took rig to a shop. On hooking the battery up to a charger / tester, the van battery was all the way down to 17%. We charged it all the way up and then with the van running, read 13.4 volts to the van battery. Not great but ok, I think.
This guy didn't either know about dual battery set ups, or want to work one them / either way, so with my battery charged, off I went with my scan gauge reading 12.9-13.1v (Friday)
Over the weekend I noticed the problem with the shore power not charging. When the motor is running, I would think the house battery would be getting charged, but I,m not sure. The battery charge level does not seem to be coming up.
Any thoughts? I'm reluctant to head out this weekend with this condition. My rig's equipped in this area as follows:
-2006 RB50 / E-350. SMB 4x4 / 6.0 PSD
Original house battery (not sure if 2x27D or one 4D)
-2 Optima Red Top van batteries (about 2 yrs old)
-Original Solara solar panels (2 at what I believe are 60 watts ea) with a Specialty Concepts Mark PV monitor panel inside the van)
-Tripp Lite 2000W charger-inverter & contol panel inside van
-Single alternator / replaced last April with Ford factory unit
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Paul Hoffman
SMB: 2006 RB-50 6.0 PSD SMB 4x4
1988 Porsche Carrera Cabriolet
2001 Harley Davidson Electra Glide (very not) Standard
2002 BMW R1150GS
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