Batteries charging from solar but not shore power

[johndorst]

We have a 2011 20' FC Bambi. It has recently been in covered storage that has 4-hours daily of trickle charge power. After about a month in storage, the batteries were showing 11.6 volts on the ZAMP monitoring panel. We brought it home to troubleshoot.
When plugged in, the battery disconnect switch shows connected (and cannot be disconnected) but the ZAMP monitoring panel does not indicate that it senses a charge. During the day, however, when there is daylight, the monitoring panel shows charging activity.

The trailer has been plugged in to shore power for 1.5 days and the panel shows voltage has increased to 11.7 from 11.6.

Can someone confirm that the ZAMP panel will show charging activity from both solar and shore power sources?

Could this issue be caused by the inverter/converter (I don't know which it is!)?

The batteries (Trojan deep cycle batteries) are about 1.5 years old. The did run a little dry this summer, the cells were slightly exposed. But, when we were camping in mid-October, the batteries were fully charged from shore power prior to our departure and did not drop below 12.2 V during the trip with no shore power.

By the way, we just pulled the fuse for the stereo system because every time the battery disconnect is turned on/reconnected the stereo turns on. Of course, in our trailer it is hidden in a cabinet so you don't notice it is on necessarily.

We appreciate any thoughts or suggestions you might have.

[lsbrodsky]

In my 25 the Atkinson panel was connected only to solar so the panel only saw solar charging amps through its shunt. There was no shunt for DC load or the AC/DC charger until I installed one.
Check your fuse panel and measure some voltages. It is possible that your charger has failed.
Larry

[KJRitchie]

When plugged into shore power the Store/Use switch light/LED will always be on even in Store mode. You need to unplug from shore power, then set the switch to Use then plug in shore power. Now shore power has a connection to the battery.

If you take a voltmeter and test the positive/negative terminals on the charger/converter you should see something like 13.6v if its the OEM charger. Go to the batteries and test the voltage there with the voltmeter. You should see 13.6v there too.


If the batteries are down to 11.6v you should put them on a dedicated battery charger and bring them back. Purchase a hydrometer from a auto parts store and test the specific gravity. If cells are down then you will need to pump 15 volts into each battery to try to recover the cells. It may be necessary to take your batteries to a battery store to see if they can recover them to a starting point.

Kelvin

[jdalrymple]

Not sure on the voltage indicator, but don't forget that the use/store switch indicator will glow red when connected to shore power in either "use" or "store".

It may be that it glows read when the solar is producing energy and the batteries are not actually connected....depending on where the solar charger is connected in the trailer wiring.



Regards,


JD