Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 07-14-2022, 07:25 PM   #1
Senior Member
 
MarinBlaine's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Location: Marin County, CA
Posts: 114
Need help! On the road and house battery stopped charging

Hello friends,

We are on day 8 of a 3 week trip, and house battery stopped charging today. When engine is on, everything works incl refrigerator, and a little gizmo I have says the rear electrical system is getting current from alternator…but battery is dead. I’ve had zero battery issues before, though it’s probably 5-6 years old.

Luckily we also have a cooler so I was able to save most of the fridge…but now my beer is warm.

I know search is my friend, but I’m currently in a spot with very weak signal and want to see if the answer is right there at top of mind for someone.

Couple of other things:

1. We just camped at 10k ft for 2 days…which is my usual limit, don’t try 3. So battery was low to start the day.
2. We plugged our vacuum into a cheapo DC lighter inverter today off the starter battery before we realized we had a problem…I wanted the house battery to not have a strain.
3. There are 3 breaker switches on my EB50 under the sofa facing forward…above the battery. The two on the left (1 30A labeled MAIN and another 15A) were flipped off when I realized the battery was dead, but this has happened before…we were off road all day looking for our next spot on a not-great road and one of our hard sided bags with a lip at switch height was bouncing around. We flipped the switches on and drove. A couple more hours and no charge. Not really sure if they tripped or if the bag got it.
4. We are in the San Juans in southwestern Colorado, if anyone has a recommended rv electric expert to refer that would be helpful. Maybe Durango?
5. Ford E350 EB50
6. No blown fuses in SMB box behind those breakers

Thank you for any ideas

Blaine

__________________
---

MarinBlaine
"MooseMobile"
2001 E250 5.4 EB50 Aero Hightop
MarinBlaine is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-14-2022, 09:27 PM   #2
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2020
Posts: 47
whats the voltage on your house battery with engine off? I would measure that with the engine off, and then when the engine is running measure it again to make sure the voltage is going up when the engine is running.
This will help to pinpoint if its the battery or a charging system problem.
jonyjoe101 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-14-2022, 09:50 PM   #3
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Western Colorado
Posts: 1,228
If there's no further tripped breakers or noted blown fuses I'm willing to bet that you battery is toast. 4 years is all I ever got out of my 4D AGM. You didn't mention if you have solar? If so, do you have input voltage from it to the battery?

It's probably out of your way but Leisure Solar in Grand Junction can likely help. The owner's name is Lee 970-216-0701.
__________________
Desert Solitaire
2003 7.3L EB 4x4
Timberline 4x4 conversion
saline is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-15-2022, 05:19 AM   #4
Senior Member
 
MarinBlaine's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Location: Marin County, CA
Posts: 114
Thanks guys.

Saline, no solar. It’s tough to imagine the battery would go from totally working fine to can’t hold any charge at all in one day, but this is my first rodeo dealing with the house battery so maybe that’s how they go? And thank you for referral to Lee, but Grand Junction is opposite direction of where we are planning to head…but you never know.

JonyJoe, Only tool I have to measure volts is a cigarette lighter Bluetooth adapter which shows volts, I’ll give that a try when it’s light out.

We can limp along but no fan at night is gonna be a bummer for the next two weeks…hoping we can figure it out.
__________________
---

MarinBlaine
"MooseMobile"
2001 E250 5.4 EB50 Aero Hightop
MarinBlaine is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-15-2022, 05:50 AM   #5
Senior Member
 
1der's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: San Francisco, CA
Posts: 3,259
I am in Loveland, CO for another week or so if you are coming anywhere close. I can have a look at what is going on if you want to come by here.

re: the main and other AC breakers - these are for AC loads. Their relationship to your house battery is determined if you are connected to shore power, if you have an inverter and/or if you have a charger (can also be part of the inverter). If you are connected to shore power and have charger in your system then the house battery should be provided a charging current from that charger. Otherwise your house battery will only be provided a charging current from your alternator while the engine is running. You said you have no solar. So, no other charging source is present.

When not connected to shore power what can be important about the Main and other AC breakers relative to the house battery is ic you have an inverter and it is switched on. The inverter will look to your house battery for power if any 120VAC load is being used.

A $25 to $40 Multi Meter (I like to recommend the Klein MM300) and learning some of its basic uses is an essential tool for troubleshooting and determine health of the our rigs electrical systems and batteries.

Let me know. Thxs!
__________________
Ray
Beastie 3: 2002 7.3 EB Cargo: Agile TTB, CCV High Top, Custom Walk Through, Lots of stuff added. www.BlingMyRig.com
1der is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-15-2022, 06:37 AM   #6
Senior Member
 
MarinBlaine's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Location: Marin County, CA
Posts: 114
JonyJoe, 14.8v at the cigarette lighter in back with engine on, can’t test the battery directly. With engine off, it’s 8.6v

Ray, thanks for your note and text…not planning on being near Loveland but that could change…we’ve had to re-evaluate our whole trip mainly based on sweltering sleep with no fan in our hightop
__________________
---

MarinBlaine
"MooseMobile"
2001 E250 5.4 EB50 Aero Hightop
MarinBlaine is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-15-2022, 06:40 AM   #7
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 712
MarinBlaine -- not sure what your "rig" is -- but my 2005 SMB E350 V10 back in the day -- same thing happened while in Florida -- turned out my battery separator went bad - as diagnosed by a Boeing Elec Engineer (retired - on his Harley). DEAD House Batt. Called SMB West (Peter) in the day - he told me what part number, etc., and I ordered it delivered to local FEDEX.

Good luck with a solution -- don't give up yet !
doublevan2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-15-2022, 07:52 AM   #8
Senior Member
 
Scalf77's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Beaverton, OR
Posts: 2,490
So your battery degrading to some point after every use. That degradation shows up in reduced capacity. So as the battery ages, the capacity of it is reduced. This can slowed down with good battery charging, and such. The other important variable is your usage model. If you normally used 50 Ahrs a day, you could get two days and be at 50% SOC on a 4D battery. At year 3 or 4, it would no longer be a 200 Ahr capacity battery. Let's say it degraded 10% , now sitting at about 180 Ahrs. That same 50Ahrs a day would have it down to 40% SOC. Of course this just makes the whole ageing process go faster,

8.6 volts sounds like a bad battery.

-greg
Scalf77 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-15-2022, 08:18 AM   #9
Senior Member
 
ShuttlePilot's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 632
Greetings Blaine,

Based on what your describing here I agree that it's likely a dead battery. I've had flooded and AGM batteries go from what seems like fine to worthless in a few days. I'm 4-5 hours away from the San Juans, although what I feel is a beautiful drive if you decide to take it.

Sending you a PM

- Eric
__________________
2005 SMB RB 4x4 6.0 PSD
A rocket on the pad is safe,
but it's not what rockets are built for.
ShuttlePilot is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-15-2022, 08:28 AM   #10
Senior Member
 
MarinBlaine's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Location: Marin County, CA
Posts: 114
Doublevan: thanks for the tip! I think maybe you’re referring to the isolator? This is under the hood, receives the charge from the alternator and then splits the charge, feeding the starter battery off one line and house battery off the other…right? I think mine is ok, in that when the van is running there is still power going to the back of the van.

And after reading my SMB manual which has an electric schematic, the feed to the house battery from the isolator goes to the battery first, before powering the systems in the back of the van. So when I turn the engine on, given that the rear systems power up, that tells me the battery is getting the charge first, just not holding it, right?

Greg: thanks for chiming in. I’m reconciling myself to it being a bad battery too…but after a lifetime of batteries in cars going bad, it’s always been an evolution of failure, rather than it just stopping working all of a sudden. Prior to yesterday, fully charged the house battery would be 12.4+, then after using for a couple of days would degrade down to maybe 11.8…and I checked it as recently as Tuesday or Weds. it never would get as low as it is now. So the quick/instant devolution of the battery is challenging my common sense…but again this is my first time dealing with house battery.

Ray also texted me offline, and perhaps the very rough driving day yesterday created some sort of physical failure of the plates etc?

So now the question is, where does a civilian like me test/source a 4D battery in southwestern CO…are these things kept in stock somewhere? My sense is that it will need to get ordered?
__________________
---

MarinBlaine
"MooseMobile"
2001 E250 5.4 EB50 Aero Hightop
MarinBlaine is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3
Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Sportsmobile SIP or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 11:02 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.