Wanderlodge Gurus - The Member Funded Wanderlodge Forum

I usually disconnect the coach and generator battery when I leave my
coach at the storage facility (no electric hookup). I forgot the
generator battery and it fed through the isolator and ran down
completely. I ran the generator for several hours to charge it (I
manually activated the relay to couple the coach batteries to get it
started). The battery reads 10 volts when disconnected. I hooked the
coach up to power and I am waiting till tomorrow to see if there is an
improvement.
Am I beating a dead horse here? I don't know the age of the battery,
but it seems to be a few years old.

Gardner

Gardner, I don't know about FC,s but I would let it charge and see what
happens. Check the battery water level. Worst case, a new battery. I would
consider a main battery cutoff switch in place of disconnecting and
re-connecting batteries. Many problems are caused by operator error. That
includes this operator.

Leroy Eckert
1990 WB-40
Niceville, FL





----- Original Message -----
From: Gardner Yeaw
To: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, October 06, 2006 6:56 PM
Subject: [WanderlodgeForum] Did I destroy my battery


I usually disconnect the coach and generator battery when I leave my
coach at the storage facility (no electric hookup). I forgot the
generator battery and it fed through the isolator and ran down
completely. I ran the generator for several hours to charge it (I
manually activated the relay to couple the coach batteries to get it
started). The battery reads 10 volts when disconnected. I hooked the
coach up to power and I am waiting till tomorrow to see if there is an
improvement.
Am I beating a dead horse here? I don't know the age of the battery,
but it seems to be a few years old.

Gardner





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Gardner,

I don't know about the dead horse, but it sounds like you're beating
a dead battery... You'll probably have to spring for a new one. At
least it was only the generator battery, not the house batteries.

Pete Masterson
aeonix1@...
'95 Bluebird Wanderlodge WBDA 42'
El Sobrante, CA




On Oct 6, 2006, at 4:56 PM, Gardner Yeaw wrote:

> <snip>
> Am I beating a dead horse here? I don't know the age of the battery,
> but it seems to be a few years old.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

When I finally wrestled the thing out of the coach I found the date,
it was 5 years old so time to replace anyway. New one on order.

Gardner
78FC33

--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, Pete Masterson
wrote:
>
> Gardner,
>
> I don't know about the dead horse, but it sounds like you're
beating
> a dead battery... You'll probably have to spring for a new one.
At
> least it was only the generator battery, not the house batteries.
>
> Pete Masterson
> aeonix1@...
> '95 Bluebird Wanderlodge WBDA 42'
> El Sobrante, CA
>
>
>
>
> On Oct 6, 2006, at 4:56 PM, Gardner Yeaw wrote:
>
> > <snip>
> > Am I beating a dead horse here? I don't know the age of the
battery,
> > but it seems to be a few years old.
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

Gardner,

Five years isn't bad for a well maintained battery, but if you
aren't sure of it's treatment in the five years by all means replace
it. After all, it is essentially your backup battery, for starting
your backup electrical system.

I think the bigger problem here is why the battery died in the first
place. It's been a few months since I put on my Wanderlodge
thinking cap, but I'm thinking the isolator, if properly wired,
should be keeping the genny battery isolated.

If you have a switch on your dashboard labelled 'aux batt' or the
like, this switch will connect your gen battery to the house and
start system when you need it. The relay which allows this to
happen may be dead in the closed position. This can happen when
someone holds the switch down too long in an effort to charge the
gen battery from the house system. The relay is
considered 'momentary' not 'continuous'.

A quick check of the system would be to press the 'aux batt' switch
and note any deflection of the voltmeters. If none, your relay is
shot, or your isolator is wired improperly.

Good Luck,

Gary Miller
83 FC 33
Milwaukee area

--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "Gardner Yeaw"
wrote:
>
> When I finally wrestled the thing out of the coach I found the
date,
> it was 5 years old so time to replace anyway. New one on order.
>
> Gardner
> 78FC33
>
> --- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, Pete Masterson
> wrote:
> >
> > Gardner,
> >
> > I don't know about the dead horse, but it sounds like you're
> beating
> > a dead battery... You'll probably have to spring for a new one.
> At
> > least it was only the generator battery, not the house batteries.
> >
> > Pete Masterson
> > aeonix1@
> > '95 Bluebird Wanderlodge WBDA 42'
> > El Sobrante, CA
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Oct 6, 2006, at 4:56 PM, Gardner Yeaw wrote:
> >
> > > <snip>
> > > Am I beating a dead horse here? I don't know the age of the
> battery,
> > > but it seems to be a few years old.
> >
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
>

Gary,
I was pretty sure that the genny battery should not have
discharged and you configmed it. The aux switch is not working so I
had to manually engage it to start the generator. I need to go over
the wiring of the isolator and find out the purpose of a rogue
connection to the generator side. I think someone may have added
something but I haven't found the other end of the wire yet.

Oh well, nothing like a little chalange to keep the brain working.

Gardner
78FC33

--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "Gary Miller"
wrote:
>
> Gardner,
>
> Five years isn't bad for a well maintained battery, but if you
> aren't sure of it's treatment in the five years by all means
replace
> it. After all, it is essentially your backup battery, for starting
> your backup electrical system.
>
> I think the bigger problem here is why the battery died in the
first
> place. It's been a few months since I put on my Wanderlodge
> thinking cap, but I'm thinking the isolator, if properly wired,
> should be keeping the genny battery isolated.
>
> If you have a switch on your dashboard labelled 'aux batt' or the
> like, this switch will connect your gen battery to the house and
> start system when you need it. The relay which allows this to
> happen may be dead in the closed position. This can happen when
> someone holds the switch down too long in an effort to charge the
> gen battery from the house system. The relay is
> considered 'momentary' not 'continuous'.
>
> A quick check of the system would be to press the 'aux batt' switch
> and note any deflection of the voltmeters. If none, your relay is
> shot, or your isolator is wired improperly.
>
> Good Luck,
>
> Gary Miller
> 83 FC 33
> Milwaukee area
>
> --- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "Gardner Yeaw"
> wrote:
> >
> > When I finally wrestled the thing out of the coach I found the
> date,
> > it was 5 years old so time to replace anyway. New one on order.
> >
> > Gardner
> > 78FC33
> >
> > --- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, Pete Masterson
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > Gardner,
> > >
> > > I don't know about the dead horse, but it sounds like you're
> > beating
> > > a dead battery... You'll probably have to spring for a new one.
> > At
> > > least it was only the generator battery, not the house
batteries.
> > >
> > > Pete Masterson
> > > aeonix1@
> > > '95 Bluebird Wanderlodge WBDA 42'
> > > El Sobrante, CA
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Oct 6, 2006, at 4:56 PM, Gardner Yeaw wrote:
> > >
> > > > <snip>
> > > > Am I beating a dead horse here? I don't know the age of the
> > battery,
> > > > but it seems to be a few years old.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> > >
> >
>