Help with charging house batteries

[Gaedel]

I have a 2016 Roadtrek Zion. It has solar panels and is connected to shore power to a regular house plug. What switches in the control panel do I need on and off in order to charge the battery? I have no power whatsoever. It's been sunny all day and still have no power. It has also been plugged into the house for 4 days, it has been overcast until today. No power.

 

[mkguitar]

most RV's will have a battery disconnect switch often called "The Red Key" because a plastic red key is usually used to turn this on and off. clockwise is on.


check that.


I would isolate and have ONE source of power while you figure this out. maybe shore power your best bet.


if the battery switch is on, and the shore power is on, the ac to dc "converter" need to be checked. many of these have fuses at the output ( which would charge your battery)


or your battery could be dead as a doornail and needs to be replaced


all our RV's will have 120 volt circuit breakers ( like your house), smaller 12 volt DC circuit breakers and also 12 volt dc fuses ( often the same type used for the car). these should be checked

 

[Gaedel]

Pictures

It has an on/off switch. To charge, does it have to be on or off in order to charge the house batteries?
It has a reset switch which turns on the Battery Disconnect light. Does the light need to be on or off to charge the house batteries?
It has an inverter switch. Does it need to be on or off to charge the house batteries?

I push the red button on the side of the satellite box and nothing lights up on the indicators on the box.

No breakers are flipped off.

I confirmed there is power getting to the shore connector on the RV.

Here's the Rv:

Control Panel:

Satellite Box:

Shore Connect (to 15 amp house outlet):

 

[Gaedel]

Why aren't the pictures being displayed? I uploaded them to Dropbox and verified they are there.

 

[RizeMaster]

Why aren't the pictures being displayed? I uploaded them to Dropbox and verified they are there.

There may be a minimum number of posts required before you are allowed to post pics, like 3, not sure. Or they got caught in the spam filter. Or something. Try again.

Does your Zion have Lithium batteries? If so, they may be "offline" due to becoming discharged too much.

Inverter should be off when you are struggling with getting juice. Battery disconnect, not sure which way that goes.

 

[Gaedel]

In the manual it calls them AGM batteries, whatever that means. The manual does not say where to put the switches to charge.

 

[Gaedel]

From the user manual:

Coach Batteries
The coach batteries in your Roadtrek are sealed AGM batteries. Do not attempt to open them. There is no user maintenance
possible on these batteries.

Battery disconnect switch
The battery disconnect switch provides power to all 12 volt
appliances, such as the water pump, the refrigerator, and so
forth. This switch should be off when you are not using your
Roadtrek, and on whenever you are driving or camping. The
"Battery On" light next to it will indicate the position of the
switch.

Optional Solar Panels
Solar charge controller
The optional solar panels will charge your batteries when
sufficient sunlight is available. The solar charge controller is
installed at the factory for the type of panels and batteries
installed on your vehicle, and Roadtrek strongly recommends
that you make no adjustments or changes to the charge
controller or its programming. If equipped with a display, the
charge controller usually displays either system voltage or
amperes generated by the panels

Shore Power
The shore power connection is through the shore power cord, stored in the driver's side large compartment. See Outside your
Roadtrek for location. The switchover from shore power to inverter is automatic.
To connect to external (shore) power, open the side compartment and remove the power cord. Plug the power cord into the
campsite 30 amp power source. See HOWTO: Shore Power for a concise guide on how to connect and disconnect to shore
power

It is possible that a campground (or perhaps a friend's driveway) will not have a 30 amp receptable available for your use.
You can purchase a 15 amp to 30 amp adapter and connect to an ordinary 15 amp household outlet.
Be aware that in those situations, you will have limited power compared to a 30 amp circuit. You will be able to run a single
large appliance at a time; you may need to turn off your air conditioner if you want to use the microwave, for example.
If you exceed the current capacity of the receptacle you may pop the breakers in the pedestal. If this happens, turn off some
appliances and reset the breaker.
It is also possible that you will find a 50 amp receptacle. Again, you can purchase a 50 amp to 30 amp adapter. In this case
your power should not be limited as you will have the full 30 amps available. Although you are connected to a 50 amp
service, you can only draw 30 amp; there is no advantage to connecting to a 50 amp service if a 30 amp service is available

 

[Gaedel]

It says I should be able to run a single appliance on shore power, but nothing works. I really don't know which switch should be on or off for shore power, or even to charge from solar.

 

[RizeMaster]

First thing I would do - take a multimeter and check the voltage of the house battery/batteries. If zero, you will most likely need to replace them.
Sounds like the battery disconnect switch should be on (lit).

 

[Gaedel]

We confirmed there is power getting into the RV using a multimeter behind the plug connector. However, there is not power getting to the breaker box. Does anyone know what is between the two points and where to access? Is there some sort of transfer switch between the two points?

Is the back of the RV, i.e. 12v or 110v, supposed to get power with the enging running? It does not. Only two lights come on, which I figure are running off the engine battery. The awning does not have power.

Does anyone know the location of the house battery? Is it underneath the coach or is it accessed inside the RV?

Thank you for all your help.

 

[RizeMaster]

I don't know anything, so take my scribbles with a pinch of salt...

Yes, there is a transfer switch which should handle the transfer between generator power and shore power. I think. But not sure how to trouble-shoot this.

My questions was though whether your batteries are ok. In your OP you mentioned you don't have power at all. So that's not good.

Not sure where your house battery is (or are, if multiples) located. I think usually they hang in a tray underneath the car, maybe towards the back. Have you had a look under there?

Engine running should charge empty house batteries, so in a sense yes, you should get power in the back, but the cabin stuff is run off your house batteries.

I am a bit curious how you ended up in this powerless state. Did you just find that camper somewhere and took it over, or did it used to work and now stopped? What changed? Normally you would have some sort of documentation/schematics/drawings of where is what. Not that the Zion is such a rare beast, I am sure there's a lot of info online.

 

[reilym]

My PW had a cheap inline automotive blade fuse between the solar charge controller and battery, located near the red key disconnect. Might check for one of those. In my case, I discovered a large voltage drop across the fuse holder and I wound up replacing it with a 30 amp MIDI fuse with a noticeable solar charging performance improvement.

 

[N147JK]

Consider driving it to a Roadtrek dealer and have them walk you through the electrical system, point by point. You will want to understand the basics of how the system works before you take it out camping.