Battery not charging

[murry135]

I think it is that simple also, but who are we to say anything.

 

[porthole]

Guess I will check that in the morning. I had no problem getting the battery charger to work when I plugged it into one of the receptacles on the camper. The TV was working fine, but the lights in the camper wouldn't come on and the awning lights were barely lit. I have checked the fuse box and don't see any blown fuses. From what I can tell there would be a light on next to any fuse that wasn't making a connection. Thanks for the quick response.

Sure sounds like your "converter" is not converting 120 volts AC to 12 volts DC to charge your battery and run all your 12 volts circuits.

When operating correctly, the converter will power every 12 volt circuit in the trailer, even if the battery is removed or the battery disconnect switched off (if equipped).

DO YOU HAVE a battery disconnect switch? Is it on? If off, all the 12 volt stuff will work off the converter, but it will not charge the batteries.

Start there. Most toy haulers have a round "pie plate" access cover on the rear basement wall on the door side. Behind that cover is the plug for the converter. Where you have vents on the basement wall is most likely the actual location of the converter behind the wall.

The "pie plate" most likely screws in, two indents for your fingers to grab (or channel locks if Bubba installed the plate)
Pull the pie plate, make sure the converter is actually plugged in. If it is, unplug and plug something in you know to work, verify the outlet is working.

If the outlet is working, but you don't hear the hum of the converter, the next step is to check the fuses on the converter itself.

Unless something has changed, Heartland has been supplying the toy hauler line with a quality Progressive Dynamics 80 amp converter.
Look at the picture on this page, in between the fan outlet and the terminals lugs for the wires you will see the 3 blade type fuses. Check those, pull and look at them.
http://www.progressivedyn.com/rv_converter_pd9280_2.html

If the outlet is good, the fuses are good (and verified) then perhaps your converter has died. Your best bet might be to call PD tomorrow.

You mentioned the battery. Batteries are installed by the dealer, not Heartland. So, as you can very well guess, unless specified, the odds are good the cheapest battery goes in. Some typically not up to the loads we put on the systems.

I would trust the PD converter before the battery supplied. If the battery has any issues, like 1 or 2 bad cells, the converter could overcharge the good cells and cause some "boil over".

The fuses you mentioned with the LED's.

The LED indicator only lights if the circuit has a short and the fuse is blown. But, the LED indicator will only light if the load is still applied.
You can experiment with this yourself. Pull a fuse from the panel for the water pump, with the pump turned off. Since the pump is off and no load or short present, the LED remains off. Now switch the pump on with the fuse still out. The LED will light.

 

[Jim.Allison]

I can see how you might be amazed or wow'd, but really it's simple if you understand your rigs systems. You can do it too. LOL

It is amazing how one person can know so much about everything, WOW. I had to say it.

 

[TravelTiger]

I can see how you might be amazed or wow'd, but really it's simple if you understand your rigs systems. You can do it too. LOL

One does not need to know exactly how all the systems work to own an RV, and many don't. If something doesn't work, they return to a dealer or hire an RV tech. That doesn't mean they are not intelligent. By virtue of reading nearly every post on this forum for 6 years, as a woman, I've learned a lot. It still doesn't mean I'm comfortable about making my own repairs. Please don't assume because it's easy for you that it's easy for everyone.




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[Jim.Allison]

My post was not directed at people similarly situated as you, please do not misunderstand what you thought you read. It was a response to a sarcastic comment made by someone who did not like my post because it included too much information. Information that might be beneficial to a person such as yourself. I encourage you to look at the whole thread before you pile on.......

One does not need to know exactly how all the systems work to own an RV, and many don't. If something doesn't work, they return to a dealer or hire an RV tech. That doesn't mean they are not intelligent. By virtue of reading nearly every post on this forum for 6 years, as a woman, I've learned a lot. It still doesn't mean I'm comfortable about making my own repairs. Please don't assume because it's easy for you that it's easy for everyone.




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[TravelTiger]

I'm not piling on anything. I may not know much but I know sarcasm directed at others is not helpful for anyone, and that goes for everyone.


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[Jim.Allison]

YOU are exactly right........"Sarcasm directed at others is not helpful.........." Could not have said it better myself!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BTW thanks mom.....

I'm not piling on anything. I may not know much but I know sarcasm directed at others is not helpful for anyone, and that goes for everyone.


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[Jim.Allison]

So, lets get back to the OP.

I hope our experiences and ideas have helped the OP fix his rig and crawl out of the "dead battery abyss." I think the thread consensus is it's the charger/converter and those 3 little 30 amp blade fuses. Im are pulling for you cause I feel your pain.

 

[Blue Oval]

OK.... My convertor is a WIFCO..... Trying to see if I can find a fuse on it. I'm plugged into shore power and the fan on the convertor is not running.

 

[Jim.Allison]

Do you know which WFCO you have?

At this point you should insure that the charger breaker is engaged by flipping it off then back on. If no results, the disconnect the battery and move to the DC panel and check voltage by removing the master fuse and probing with a multimeter, visually inspect the master fuse and check continuity across the fuse if it appears to be good. If that main fuse is good and there is no current then walk back to the charger and inspect it for being plugged in/wired in correctly.

Here is a link to the WFCO I think you might have.......... bottom of second page illustrates the reverse circuit protection fuses.

http://www.wfcoelectronics.com/Images/Products/OtherDocs/13-3.pdf

OK.... My convertor is a WIFCO..... Trying to see if I can find a fuse on it. I'm plugged into shore power and the fan on the convertor is not running.

 

[Blue Oval]

My converter does not look like the one in the picture. It actually had the round fan cover and the fuses are in a different configuration. That being said one of the two 40 amp fuses was bad. I replaced it and the fan came on. Very difficult to replace. I can't see the fuses so everything is by feel and apparently they don't go in perpendicular to the box, but rather at an angle to each other. At least that is the way it feels

 

[Blue Oval]

WFCO 9875 is the model number.


I would love to go over my rig with someone that can show me how everything works and the do's and dont's. The guy that did the walk through with me at CW didn't even scratch the surface, but how could I have known that at the time.

 

[Jim.Allison]

I think this the owners manual for your charger/converter unit. Im guessing from your response that the charger/converter is now working.

http://www.wfcoelectronics.com/Images/Products/OtherDocs/13-3.pdf

I feel your pain. When we picked up our unit my mind was overloaded. My wife did the walkthrough and I just followed along, thinking that I would not have a problem catching up. Little did I know how much information I missed during the walkthrough. My wife was the boss of the rig for a couple of weeks before I finally got up to speed. LOL, once I understood the thing, it got better.

I really got to understand the rig when I got behind the basement wall, and into the systems while installing my generator and solar power system. Today I have no fear, there are no ghost back there and there is nothing that can't be fixed or replaced. This site and all the contributors helped me immensely. Don't worry you will get going soon. BTW, I found that pulling out the owners manual and going through it a second time fills in the gaps.

Currently, I would like to improve my sound system, It seems like I get great sounds from some movies and trash from others. The DVD/receiver is a Sony and the TV is a Toshiba and at this point I don't know if it is the way that I'm using it or if it really is that poor. So you can see that you are not alone in understanding the systems.

WFCO 9875 is the model number.


I would love to go over my rig with someone that can show me how everything works and the do's and dont's. The guy that did the walk through with me at CW didn't even scratch the surface, but how could I have known that at the time.

 

[Blue Oval]

I don't have a meter with me to the converter and know it is working 100%, but I think the fuse was the issue.


Speaking of doing systems, I also have a Sony DVD player and can only watch movies in black and white. Not sure how to change that.


THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR THEIR HELP!!!!!

Maybe I can repay it later.

 

[danemayer]

Speaking of doing systems, I also have a Sony DVD player and can only watch movies in black and white. Not sure how to change that.

If you have a Toshiba TV, the video input might be on the wrong setting. The cables used and the menu settings have to match. Sometimes the TVs default to Colorstream input and have to be changed.

 

[JohnD]

Battery not charging...figuring out bad audio!

Speaking of doing systems, I also have a Sony DVD player and can only watch movies in black and white. Not sure how to change that.

I bought a Bluray player to use instead of the built-in DVD player and use an HDMI cable to hook it to the TV, which should eliminate any standard audio/video cable mix ups.

Currently, I would like to improve my sound system, It seems like I get great sounds from some movies and trash from others. The DVD/receiver is a Sony and the TV is a Toshiba and at this point I don't know if it is the way that I'm using it or if it really is that poor. So you can see that you are not alone in understanding the systems.

I have the big Jensen radio/cd/dvd player in our trailer . . . whomever wired it up at the factory didn't know much about stereos.

As for the audio while watching TV or movies, the sound through the Jensen stereo always sounded funny . . . like a blown speaker!

Now, I did discover that one of the inside stock speakers was indeed blown, so I replaced them with a set of good speakers.

They sounded much better when listening to the radio, but as soon as we started to watch TV, we got this buzzing sound again!

On our last campout a couple of weeks ago I decided to see if I could figure this out!

We have two Vizio TV's in our trailer . . . both identical except for the screen size.

Anyway, I went into the TV menu and started playing around with the audio settings, and low and behold . . . I finally figured it out!

What was causing this problem with the stereo was the TV's 'SRS Surround Sound' mode, which makes the TV sound like it has surround sound when you are listening with only the TV's internal speakers.

But run it through a separate stereo unit with 'SRS' turned on, and it weirds out the sound!

Try doing that and see if it helps your sound issues . . .



My next audio project . . . get some real outside speakers!

The stock Jenson's are junk . . .

 

[boatto5er]

WFCO 9875 is the model number.


I would love to go over my rig with someone that can show me how everything works and the do's and dont's. The guy that did the walk through with me at CW didn't even scratch the surface, but how could I have known that at the time.

Attending a rally is a great way to do this. There's no end to the help you can get at one. Check the list of rallies on the forum portal page and see if there's one you can make.


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[Jim.Allison]

I did not mean to hijack the thread, I was consoling the OP on systems/walkthrough, I wanted him to know he was not alone.....LOL. But thanks for the sound system information. It would be sooooo nice if I went to a rally and got tech guru who just walked up and did his magic and handed me a remote. LOL I can only dream.

 

[Jim.Allison]

Every one of us should have one of these dedicated to the rig. I bought this for the rig and I leave it with the rig so that I'm not tempted to let it migrate into my shop. YouTube is a great place to learn to fully use it if you dont already know how.


http://www.lowes.com/pd_464288-295-...26974&kpid=50125831&CAGPSPN=pla&kpid=50125831

 

[wkcox]

I have had some very similar issues with my RW415, which I have had for 2 years. This forum, and some of the same authors of these posts, have been very helpful for me. Please keep the information coming, and the more detail the better. Photos and links are great. Thanks!