Battery issues

[Dean The ResourcefulNorse]

Strange things cropped up yesterday. I was going to take the Avion on a day
trip to my Brothers 17 acre Ranch to use the generator. He was burned out of
home and shop in the fire in Vacaville Ca. Completely torched- total loss.
81 years old so he is not going to start over, but they are ok (and so is
the cat they grabbed). They are also well off and now can move anywhere with
no baggage.

But I digress. I had started the 3 way refer by cycling thru the electric,
then to propane. No problem with refer as it cooled. Next morning, Went to
start the coach and nada. Both front house and truck batteries were dead.

I put a commercial car lot style charger on it, went from 2 amp to 15 amp to
60 amp, and as I switched up, the whine from the rear radio speakers got
louder and louder. And I could not increase the voltage going into the
battery above 8.5 to 9 volts. An hour worth of charge did not change
anything.

The charger on the house battery did not produce the feed back in the radio
speakers and started to charge normally.

I suspected first that for some reason, the selection of 12 volt to the
refer has stayed on and run down both batteries. Can this happen?

I kinda now suspect that my truck battery has shorted and ran down the house
battery.

I went to the ranch to help doing things that did not need the generator in
another vehicle. Left the battery charger on the truck battery all day and
it did NOT take a charge.

Any conclusions leap to mind regarding the radio whine, the failure of the
battery to take a charge or if the 12 volt system can stay on when switched
to proipane?

DeanHanson

75 (produced in Nov 74) Avion twin bed.

 

[john r. lebetski]

Disconnect the negative on the house battery and try to charge out of circuit. Start slowly. Those big chargers can cause a big mess if battery is
shorted. If battery is getting hot it’s probably bad.
--
John Lebetski
Woodstock, IL
77 Eleganza II

 

[Matt Colie]

Dean,

If you can't get the house bank over 9 volts with that sort of power, something is really wrong.

With no idea how the speakers are in the picture that is probably a reaction to the current that is going someplace that it probably should not.

At this point, I would suggest that you back off before something expensive gets damaged. disconnect all the batteries and find a juice friendly
person to decode what you have. I am afraid that I am out of striking range or I would gab a meter a come along. Oh, I am signed up to do just that
tomorrow.

Matt
--
Matt & Mary Colie - Chaumière -'73 Glacier 23 - Members GMCMI, GMCGL, GMCES
Electronically Controlled Quiet Engine Cooling Fan with OE Rear Drum Brakes with Applied Control Arms
SE Michigan - Near DTW - Twixt A2 and Detroit

 

[johnny]

Dean, where are you located?
You describe several potential problems. As Matt C says, disconnect the batteries and see if you can find somebody with a multimeter and the
experience to help you figure out what's going on.
If both sets of batteries are dead, there's a (phantom) connection between them which has to go away. With all the battery negatives disconnected,
try slowly charging each one. You may well have one or more faulty ones.
Please get this corrected before something sets the coach on fire
How's to put a location in your sigfile?

--johnny

--
Foolish Carriage, 76 26' Eleganza(?) with beaucoup mods and add - ons.
Braselton, Ga.
I forgive them all, save those who hurt the dogs. They must answer to me in hell

 

[les burt]

Dean,
Some of the older/cheaper Commercial-style battery chargers only have half-wave DC Rectifiers. While they work well, the half-wave rectifier could be creating a lot of electrical noise. Your radio may have been on, but volume turned down, and that is what you were probably hearing.

Half-wave rectifiers are not the best for sensitive electronics, so while your charger may be ok for charging, it is not wise to use it as a power supply. Turn off all electrical demands while charging.

Les Burt
Montreal
'75 Eleganza 26'

>
> Strange things cropped up yesterday. I was going to take the Avion on a day
> trip to my Brothers 17 acre Ranch to use the generator. He was burned out of
> home and shop in the fire in Vacaville Ca. Completely torched- total loss.
> 81 years old so he is not going to start over, but they are ok (and so is
> the cat they grabbed). They are also well off and now can move anywhere with
> no baggage.
>
> But I digress. I had started the 3 way refer by cycling thru the electric,
> then to propane. No problem with refer as it cooled. Next morning, Went to
> start the coach and nada. Both front house and truck batteries were dead.
>
> I put a commercial car lot style charger on it, went from 2 amp to 15 amp to
> 60 amp, and as I switched up, the whine from the rear radio speakers got
> louder and louder. And I could not increase the voltage going into the
> battery above 8.5 to 9 volts. An hour worth of charge did not change
> anything.
>
> The charger on the house battery did not produce the feed back in the radio
> speakers and started to charge normally.
>
> I suspected first that for some reason, the selection of 12 volt to the
> refer has stayed on and run down both batteries. Can this happen?
>
> I kinda now suspect that my truck battery has shorted and ran down the house
> battery.
>
> I went to the ranch to help doing things that did not need the generator in
> another vehicle. Left the battery charger on the truck battery all day and
> it did NOT take a charge.
>
> Any conclusions leap to mind regarding the radio whine, the failure of the
> battery to take a charge or if the 12 volt system can stay on when switched
> to proipane?
>
> DeanHanson
>
> 75 (produced in Nov 74) Avion twin bed.
>
>
>
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