General questions I need help on...

[Tully]

Over the last couple of days I have changed out all my belts.* Turned out to be a very easy job.* Put in a new air cleaner and gas filter.* I then ran into some small issues.I have been reading the forum and my manuals from back to front.* I am doing my best to understand this coach.* So bear with me.
I had a small issue a few days ago.* Was not getting power to my outlets
I went to the back bedroom and switched all the circut breakers off then back on.* Seemed everything was ok.T

Friday night I turn bus on and the female voice says low house batteries.* I notice house lights very dim.* So, I fire up the genny and let run for a few hours and go back to bus.* Now everything seems to be working fine.* Shows 120 Volts on gauge.* However, when I hit the switch to check house batteries is says 10.5 volts / low house batteries.* My inverter box in he bay show unit is on- charging battery.* But it also shows flashing light saying battery low.* I checked my house batteries and they were very low on water.* I filled back up with dist. water.* I thought I was on top of this but was not.* They were very low.* All eight batteries took about 2 gallons of water.So here is my situation

:1}Voice keeps saying house batteries low.* Can I check these with a volt *** meter?* What is a normal reading?

2) If I am just running my genny only- would this not provide power to the*** entire coach including all 120 AC?*

3) Male voice now comes on and says Danger- bad ground on shore power?** I am not hooked up to shore power?From what I think I know- the inverter is suppose to take the DC house batteries and the the inverter it converts to 120 AC?***

4) When the inverter box in the bay says it is charging- does this mean this is charging the batteries. I am not certain. How does this work?

So, if he house batteries are low or bad I would have no power on the inside of the bus.My gaugue will go to 120 volts.* But every few minutes it will drop back to zero.I am really trying to understand the sequence here.* Is the inverter to be off whenever I am running the genny?What should be my first step here to get 120 AC working again on the bus?

Sorry to ramble.* Just tyring to through out what is happening in hopes that I can be given some info to work off of.

Tully
1990 Country Coach*

[garyde]

Tully, it depends how long you recharged on Generator. Keep charging until Inverters stop charging and turn off or go to float. I don't know what type of guages you have in the coach for monitoring the charge. My coach is a 24 volt coach and the guage will say 24 or better and the amperage will be down to zero when the batteries are fully charged ( when gen on or shore power hooked up)

[Alek&Lucia]

Tully,

You need a lot of generator hours to charge your batteries from dead.
Plug in your coach for 24hr and then check your house voltage.

Alek

[Tully]

Thats a good idea. I will plug the coach in and go from there.

Thanks,

Tully

[Tully]

With the genny running, should I have power through out the bus AC 120?

Tully

[dale farley]

Tully,

If your generator is running and your systems are working correctly, you should have the same power throughout the bus that you have when plugged into AC.

[Tully]

If my house batteries were bad- would I still be able to get 120 AC to the bus if I were just running just on the genny?


Tully

I have put dist. water in the house batteries. I am plugged into shore power at my office. I did notice the negative wires were very loose and could just be pulled off the batter. So, I am certain this may have been some of the problem. I have re-tightened the cables nice and snug.

[garyde]

Tully. When the Generator is running, all of the 120 volt power works as it would when plugged into shore power. The other loads off your inverter 120 volt load will work as well, running off of the inverter, not off of the batteries while the gen or shore is hooked up. In other words your breaker panel is split into loads off of inverters and loads directly connected to transfer switch for gen and shore.

[garyde]

Tully. When the Generator is running, all of the 120 volt power works as it would when plugged into shore power. The other loads off your inverter 120 volt load will work as well, running off of the inverter, not off of the batteries while the gen or shore is hooked up. In other words your breaker panel is split into loads off of inverters and loads directly connected to transfer switch for gen and shore.

[Tully]

Well I have tried everything. I fire up the genny. The genny gauge shows 120volts yet no power inside the bus.

I start the coach and keep it running and the genny running- I cannot get 120 volts.

When I shut everything down and let bus sit for a few minutes and fire everything back on- sometimes the coach will show 120 volts for a minute or so then it goes back to zero. Mind you, the generator is always showing 120 volts.

I do zero dry camping. Basically use the bus for going to and from Tenn. Can I not bypass the inverter and just run of generator power?

I just cannot figure this out.

Tully