Batteries stopped charging

[Executive45]

Asking for a friend. 2018 Solitude and the batteries stopped charging. He has four 6VDC battery bank with solar on the roof. He's hooked up to 50amp service. Checked all the normal stuff, GFCIs etc. Pedestal is solid so it's a coach gremlin. He woke up in the middle of the night to his alarm showing 11.4VDC on his battery bank. His rig has a Xantrex Freedom II inverter. I've checked all the fuses, breakers etc. and narrowed everything down to what appears to be a charging issue. I've read where there are two 'hidden' fuses behind the converter panel but I don't know where to look for those. Anyone have any thoughts.??? TIA...Dennis

[opnspaces]

Thanks for the update, glad you found it.

[Executive45]

Found the fuse and everything fired up so that's done. Thanks everyone for your help....Dennis

[Executive45]

If anyone is following this post, I haven't forgotten. My friend has been out of town and just returned. Hopefully, we will get to this today. Thanks for your patience....Dennis

[Executive45]

Thanks everyone. We are in a campground. I'll print your replies and give them to him in the morning. I'll take my meter along and try to help him. I'd hate to see him call out an RV tech if it's just a fuse or something simple. I'm not too familiar with fivers as I've never owned one. He said he just had one of the batteries replaced so I'll start there and check each one to see what they're reading, then I'll look for the charger. I have the phone but I also have a scope that I can hook up to the computer. I'll let everyone know what I find out tomorrow. Thanks again....Dennis

[opnspaces]

Are you saying he was hooked up to 50A service when he woke up to the battery alarm going off? You're going to have to find the charger it's probably behind the breaker panel. If you're lucky you can open a cabinet or remove a drawer and see the charger behind it.

You need to know if there is 120v AC on one side of the converter and 13.x + volt on the other side. If you determine that you have charge at the converter then you can start looking for why that charge is not getting to the batteries. Remember you can use your mobile phone to stick into dark holes to take a picture of a component and then pull it out and blow the picture up on the screen to look at it.

[CA_Traveler]

Vette Racer wrote:

naturist wrote:
WARNING: do be aware that it is essential that the solar charge controller be attached to the battery at all times when the solar panels are attached. That is, disconnect the solar panels BEFORE disconnecting the battery, and reconnections the battery BEFORE connecting the solar panels. Charge controllers cannot be attached to the panels without a battery lest the controller be damaged.

Hummm, I unhook my fuse from controller to batteries to kill the solar input whenever I am on shore power, been doing that for years without issue, otherwise solar kicks on every morning and overcharges the batteries which are already up and in float mode. Maybe I've just been lucky.

Some controllers require power sequencing and some don't. Follow the manual instructions.

[Vette_Racer]

naturist wrote:
WARNING: do be aware that it is essential that the solar charge controller be attached to the battery at all times when the solar panels are attached. That is, disconnect the solar panels BEFORE disconnecting the battery, and reconnections the battery BEFORE connecting the solar panels. Charge controllers cannot be attached to the panels without a battery lest the controller be damaged.

Hummm, I unhook my fuse from controller to batteries to kill the solar input whenever I am on shore power, been doing that for years without issue, otherwise solar kicks on every morning and overcharges the batteries which are already up and in float mode. Maybe I've just been lucky.

If inverter/charger is not charging would check fuses on inverter first.

[Bipeflier]

Battery shut off switch? Is it on?

[naturist]

WARNING: do be aware that it is essential that the solar charge controller be attached to the battery at all times when the solar panels are attached. That is, disconnect the solar panels BEFORE disconnecting the battery, and reconnections the battery BEFORE connecting the solar panels. Charge controllers cannot be attached to the panels without a battery lest the controller be damaged.

[time2roll]

Assuming the Xantrex is an inverter/charger you need to check 120vac input and 13.6vdc output right on the terminals.

Same for solar. Check voltage on both the input and output of the controller.

Post the results.

[cummins2014]

Executive wrote:
Asking for a friend. 2018 Solitude and the batteries stopped charging. He has four 6VDC battery bank with solar on the roof. He's hooked up to 50amp service. Checked all the normal stuff, GFCIs etc. Pedestal is solid so it's a coach gremlin. He woke up in the middle of the night to his alarm showing 11.4VDC on his battery bank. His rig has a Xantrex Freedom II inverter. I've checked all the fuses, breakers etc. and narrowed everything down to what appears to be a charging issue. I've read where there are two 'hidden' fuses behind the converter panel but I don't know where to look for those. Anyone have any thoughts.??? TIA...Dennis

Have a friend going thru this also, yes the friend has three fuses in his converter, not really hidden, but you need to get to the converter to check them , his are 30 amp. His fuses were okay, it appears his converter is bad, not getting the usual 13.5 or so out of it, its starts working okay then does not, and the battery gets run down. Friend is headed for a new converter.