Dim Interior Lights

[tdelorme]

This may not be a problem, but it just does not seem right.
This morning before daylight I was loading the coach for a short weekend trip. Pulled out of the bus barn and parked up by the house so Jan could get all her things packed in. When I saw how much she had and that it was going to be awhile before we were ready to pull out, I shut the engine down and kicked on the generator.
After a few trips in and out, she asked me why I had the interior lights dimmed. So the problem is, with the gen. running, all the 24 volt lights look like they are getting about 12 volts. As soon as I started the engine, everything returned to normal. As well as I remember, the lights were fine when I was plugged into shore power. Any ideas out there?? Thanks.

[nrhareiner]

Good morning,

It sounds to me like the gen set is not powering the coach electrical circuits. Is the breaker thrown at the gen set? Do you see AC volts coming into coach from the gen set?

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Ted,

By your description it sounds like the battery voltage was down, and despite the generator running the house batteries were not getting charged. Starting the engine allowed the alternator to charge the house batteries.

Assuming you were charging the batteries when connected to shore power, we need more information. Do you have an automatic transfer switch or do you have to manually turn a knob to select the power source? If you have to turn a knob is it possible the knob was in the shore power position?

If your coach has an automatic transfer switch, the priority for the switch is generator, shore and then inverter so you should have been charging. Give us a little more information please.

[tdelorme]

Well, thanks, Kim and Jon. It's the house batteries. They are showing 10 volts. I'll look into it when it warms up a little bit. They are hidden up in the first bay and their chargers show that they are working (charging.) But, there is a problem somewhere in there.
The transfer switch is manual on the coach. This is the first manual transfer switch I have ever owned and I like it. Real straight forward.
Generator voltage coming in is just over 120 volts.
Thanks for the help. It's hard to be objective when looking for a fix and the problem is right on top of you and thats all you can see.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Ted....free advice, worth every cent you pay for it.

If your house batteries are at 10 volts step one is to bring them back as quickly as possible, if possible. That is beyond dead. Individually check each one. You may have an issue with one or more because a few hours of running house lights should not have drawn them down. If you draw a 12 volt system below about 12.2 volts or thereabouts you are shortening your battery life.

This should give you a little insight, but there are other excellent sources of infor on the internet.

http://www.lifelinebatteries.com/charging_procedures.php

But your real issue is why the generator wasn't charging the batteries. My guess is the big black knob may not have been turned to the generator position, but if it was then some investigation is in order.