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2000 Lance 920, Battery Not Charging With Alternator?

stupendous_man
Explorer
Explorer
Hi all,

I have a 2000 Lance 920 I recently purchased that is not charging the battery while underway with the truck. Everything is connected securely, the battery is brand new, and things are charging under shore power. The battery is powering the truck with no problems. I’ve inspected all the fuses, which were fine, and looked for any tripped circuit breakers, of which there were none. I also have looked at the wiring harness from the camper to the truck plug. This harness did have some nicks and cuts in it, and a bit of damaged/oxidized wire in those cuts. However, I didn’t see any evidence of a short, as there was no scorching. The cuts were repaired with electrical tape. The running lights are all working through this same plug.

Any insight on where to look next, what to try, what to replace, would be greatly appreciated!
13 REPLIES 13

Grit_dog
Nomad III
Nomad III
^Cool! You may have found the issue.
However if you’re getting low erratic voltage already to the hot wire on your trailer plug, somethin else may be amiss.
I won’t try to confuse the issues now until you try hooking up what was unhooked in your fuse box. But hope that fixes it!
2016 Ram 2500, MotorOps.ca EFIlive tuned, 5” turbo back, 6" lift on 37s
2017 Heartland Torque T29 - Sold.
Couple of Arctic Fox TCs - Sold

stupendous_man
Explorer
Explorer
KD4UPL wrote:
Most Lance campers use their own cord to connect to the truck. It has #8 wire for the 12 volt + and - conductors. With this size wire and the short distances involved with a truck camper it should charge just fine. It's not like a trailer camper connected to the stock 7 pin connector which has small wire running to it already.
The charge line on a Chevy does not come from the factory connected up. The wire is secured under the under-hood fuse box. It needs to be connected to one of the studs in the fuse box. There is normally not a fuse in there for that stud or sometimes a "dummy" fuse. I have no idea why GM decided shipping the trucks this way was a good idea.
With the truck running you should have 13.6 or more volts between the 12 volt + and - pins on the camper connecting cable. If you do and your battery doesn't charge then the problem is in your camper somewhere. If yo don't have voltage there the problem is in your truck somewhere.


Thank you! I checked for the wire you were talk about, sure enough there is an “Aftermarket 12V Trailer Power Feed” wire that is not attached to the available stud on the fusebox. There was also a 10A fuse laying inside the fusebox which I am thinking will be used for that stud. Currently I don’t have the right nut on hand to attach the wire, but I’ll connect it up later today and report back.

CA_Traveler
Explorer III
Explorer III
FYI Proper charging of a discharged flooded battery starts with bulk charging raising the battery voltage to 14.6V, then absorb mode holds the voltage as the amps decrease, resulting in float mode maintaining 13.4V.

At 12.56V you are actually below a fully charged battery at rest - RESULTING IN NO CHARGING.
2009 Holiday Rambler 42' Scepter with ISL 400 Cummins
750 Watts Solar Morningstar MPPT 60 Controller
2014 Grand Cherokee Overland

Bob

CA_Traveler
Explorer III
Explorer III
Lwiddis wrote:
12.56 volts isn’t going to charge a battery. Too little pressure.
X2 One possibility is that the charge wire beween the two batteries is to long/small for even minimal charging. Two methods: Install much larger wire, perhaps 8 ga. Or use a DC to DC charger. There are posts on both of these.
2009 Holiday Rambler 42' Scepter with ISL 400 Cummins
750 Watts Solar Morningstar MPPT 60 Controller
2014 Grand Cherokee Overland

Bob

KD4UPL
Explorer
Explorer
Most Lance campers use their own cord to connect to the truck. It has #8 wire for the 12 volt + and - conductors. With this size wire and the short distances involved with a truck camper it should charge just fine. It's not like a trailer camper connected to the stock 7 pin connector which has small wire running to it already.
The charge line on a Chevy does not come from the factory connected up. The wire is secured under the under-hood fuse box. It needs to be connected to one of the studs in the fuse box. There is normally not a fuse in there for that stud or sometimes a "dummy" fuse. I have no idea why GM decided shipping the trucks this way was a good idea.
With the truck running you should have 13.6 or more volts between the 12 volt + and - pins on the camper connecting cable. If you do and your battery doesn't charge then the problem is in your camper somewhere. If yo don't have voltage there the problem is in your truck somewhere.

Lwiddis
Explorer
Explorer
12.56 volts isn’t going to charge a battery. Too little pressure.
Winnebago 2101DS TT & 2022 Chevy Silverado 1500 LTZ Z71, WindyNation 300 watt solar-Lossigy 200 AH Lithium battery. Prefer boondocking, USFS, COE, BLM, NPS, TVA, state camps. Bicyclist. 14 yr. Army -11B40 then 11A - (MOS 1542 & 1560) IOBC & IOAC grad

stupendous_man
Explorer
Explorer
Grit dog wrote:
Yes you are getting power at the 12V pin on your truck side socket or yes you are not getting power at that point?


I am getting power from the 12V pin on the truck side socket, however it fluctuates between 4-8V.


ticki2 wrote:

What terminals are you speaking of that you checked . Chevy has a 40a fuse under the hood for a charge line . Do you have power on the charge line at both ends ( truck and camper ) of the connecting cord .


I was talking about the battery terminals. I checked the truck 40A fuses, they look unbroken. I have power from the truck end charge line. How would I check the camper end, if it has to be plugged in to the truck to get power?

ticki2
Explorer
Explorer
stupendous_man wrote:
Lwiddis wrote:
The charge from a TV to an RV is minimal. Are you sure nothing is coming from the truck?


TV = truck?

Yes, I just checked with a voltmeter and the voltage across the terminals stays the same. I believe it used to get up to around ~12.56V with the truck on, but I think that difference could have come from the interior lights switching from on to off, which I didn’t account for at the time.


What terminals are you speaking of that you checked . Chevy has a 40a fuse under the hood for a charge line . Do you have power on the charge line at both ends ( truck and camper ) of the connecting cord .
'68 Avion C-11
'02 GMC DRW D/A flatbed

stupendous_man
Explorer
Explorer
ticki2 wrote:
What year , make and model truck


It’s a 2009 Chevy Silverado 3500HD SRW 4x4, 6.0L. The alternator is working fine.

Grit_dog
Nomad III
Nomad III
stupendous_man wrote:
Lwiddis wrote:
The charge from a TV to an RV is minimal. Are you sure nothing is coming from the truck?


TV = truck?

Yes, I just checked with a voltmeter and the voltage across the terminals stays the same. I believe it used to get up to around ~12.56V with the truck on, but I think that difference could have come from the interior lights switching from on to off, which I didn’t account for at the time.


Yes you are getting power at the 12V pin on your truck side socket or yes you are not getting power at that point?
2016 Ram 2500, MotorOps.ca EFIlive tuned, 5” turbo back, 6" lift on 37s
2017 Heartland Torque T29 - Sold.
Couple of Arctic Fox TCs - Sold

ticki2
Explorer
Explorer
What year , make and model truck
'68 Avion C-11
'02 GMC DRW D/A flatbed

stupendous_man
Explorer
Explorer
Lwiddis wrote:
The charge from a TV to an RV is minimal. Are you sure nothing is coming from the truck?


TV = truck?

Yes, I just checked with a voltmeter and the voltage across the terminals stays the same. I believe it used to get up to around ~12.56V with the truck on, but I think that difference could have come from the interior lights switching from on to off, which I didn’t account for at the time.

Lwiddis
Explorer
Explorer
The charge from a TV to an RV is minimal. Are you sure nothing is coming from the truck?
Winnebago 2101DS TT & 2022 Chevy Silverado 1500 LTZ Z71, WindyNation 300 watt solar-Lossigy 200 AH Lithium battery. Prefer boondocking, USFS, COE, BLM, NPS, TVA, state camps. Bicyclist. 14 yr. Army -11B40 then 11A - (MOS 1542 & 1560) IOBC & IOAC grad