Help on battery...

[badog62]

My 390 MBL Oakmont has a single battery in the front storage and it doesn't seem to be charging. My first clue was the "lo-dc" flashing on my fridge. After checking the battery panel and noticing that it only has a single red light when there should be four. I read on previous links about a fridge panel and it draws power from the battery along with the stereo. The water level is good. I'm not certain where the charger is to see if it's working properly. How dire is this?
Thanks in advance.

 

[danemayer]

Hi badog62,

You're about to run out of 12V DC power needed to keep the refrigerator running, along with the furnace, interior lights, landing gear/leveling, and more.

If you're plugged into shore power, your Power Converter is failing to supply power to the coach and to keep the battery charged. Check in your main circuit breaker panel for a tripped circuit breaker. The Power Converter is usually on a 20 amp breaker. Don't rely on how the breaker looks - flip all of them off and back on. If it was tripped, the test panel lights should show normal right away.

If that's not it, the Power Converter electrical plug may have come out of it's outlet. The converter is usually located behind the rear wall of the passthrough basement storage, but the location varies by model.

If you're not on shore power, you are running the battery down and will be out of power shortly. You can get some charge by plugging the trailer umbilical cord into the truck and running the engine for an hour. That should get you enough power to close slides and hitch up.

 

[badog62]

Alright, now it's getting weird. I went out and checked the battery, the connections looked fine, the water level is good, I didn't touch any wires. I come back in and the fridge is NOT blinking "lo-dc" and I check the panel and it's got four lights. About an hour later I went back to the fridge and opened all four doors and it starts flashing "lo-dc" and the panel is back to one light. I go back and open the fridge doors and it goes back to normal. Scratching head.

 

[danemayer]

Are you plugged into shore power?

 

[badog62]

Yes I am

 

[danemayer]

Sounds like your Power Converter output is intermittent. Since the battery is not keeping things running either, I'd guess it's run down as well because it also depends on the Converter to keep it recharged.

You'll need a pretty good charge on the battery to close up your slides and operate the landing gear/leveling system to hitch up to the truck. And you need enough charge to keep the refrigerator running or your food will spoil.

I'd check the Power Converter to make sure it's plugged in fully.