House batteries will not charge

[pol]

1995 Land Yacht house batteries were fully discharged. They will not take a charge from shore connection. Batteries are one year old.

[HowieE]

Separate them and check the voltage. If there is a difference between them the low one will pull down the other. Check them with a hygrometer. You will most likely find a bad cell.

[mayco]

Converter might have bit the dust also. Do your 12v devices (lighting and such) work when plugged into shore power? They should, regardless of the condition of your batteries. When plugged into shore power, all your 12v systems should be working if your converter is operating properly. Your converter should be fused, I would check the fuse if none of your 12v systems are working when plugged into shore power.

[pol]

When plugged in all systems appear to work. Do you know the proper position for the dock switch when connected to shore power?

[Al and Missy]

On my trailer, the switch disconnects the loads from the batteries but leaves the batteries connected to the converter. On some others, I think, it disconnects the batteries from everything. Both configurations disconnect the batteries from most loads, but obviously if the batteries are completely disconnected they will not charge.

Put a voltmeter on your batteries while plugged in with the switch in USE. Should read 12-13 volts. If not your battery fuse may be blown (if you have one). Throw the switch to STORE/DOCK. If it goes to zero then you are not charging batteries in that position. If it stays at 12-13, unplug the converter. If it then goes to zero, the batteries are dead. If it stays at 12-13 still, put the switch back in USE. If it stays at 12-13, your load center main fuse may be blown. Trailer wiring varied over the years. Some have fuses in places where others don't.

Al

[fordfarmer]

check the water level in the cells. Do not overfill. Try an independant battery charger with wiring to unit detatched. When large batteries are fully discharged, they need to be trickle charged over long period. (24 hrs) This should rule out batteries. Or, you could get a battery load tester at autoparts store to determine if you have a short. My guess is your house inverter charger is shot.

[idroba]

And even 1 year old batteries can be damaged and not take a charge if they have been left discharged for any period of time, like over several days. If they have been left dead for over a month, they probably are never going to be useful again.

[mikesSE]

Sometimes these high capacity storage batteries won't charge after they are completely drained and it takes a different method to save them.Take the cables off of the batteries,and charge them directly with a small trickle( unregulated ) charger until you see the voltage reach more than 12.5 volts,then hood them back to the trailer system,and let it finish charging the batteries.The trickle might take a day or two.I have 2 AGM's in my Safari,and extended times of drain,killed the to the point the automatic chargers sense the charging rate as being too high,and shut down.My 2 cents.

[mikesSE]

[QUOTE=mikesSE;1665933]Sometimes these high capacity storage batteries won't charge after they are completely drained and it takes a different method to save them.Take the cables off of the batteries,and charge them directly with a small trickle( unregulated ) charger until you see the voltage reach more than 12.5 volts,then hook them back to the trailer system,and let it finish charging the batteries.The trickle might take a day or two.I have 2 AGM's in my Safari,and extended times of drain,killed the to the point the automatic chargers sense the charging rate as being too high,and shut down.My 2 cents.