Battery Not Charging

My battery is not charging when plugged in to shore power. The green light on the Battery Tender is on, but the "charging" light does not come on. Any suggestions for trouble shooting this problem? I noticed an in line fuse on the charger wires, but the fuse looks ok.

Thank you

 

If the battery tender green light is on, it is connected to the battery and the fuse is good, and it is happy with the battery condition. What "charging" light are you referring to? Do you have any other evidence the battery is not charged?

The battery tender is pretty clever with different color light indications for different conditions. Solid green means connected and fully charged.

 

Here's what's happening. The camper is always plugged in and when we got ready for this trip the battery was stone dead. New battery in now and even though we are connected to power the voltmeter (in dc outlet) shows the battery has drained to medium (light indicator). I don't have a proper tester with me.

When we arrived the voltmeter read high and 14.7 volts. Now it is medium and 12.3 volts even though we're plugged in.

 

Seems to me that the charger is not working properly from what you wrote. Check the fuse on the charger to see if it is blown. If it is, just replace it and see if the battery starts to charge. If the fuse is good, or if the fuse blows again, there is a problem with the charging system, and I doubt it is the battery. Regardless of the indications you may see on the charger, it may have bit the dust, as shown that the battery is draining regardless that you have shore power connected. I would most defiantly call the Camp Inn and I'm sure that they will set you straight.

Good Luck,

JP

 

Just went through something similar. Follow trouble shooting chart in manual first should diagnosis problem. Our battery tender was bad which a replacement was ordered from CI. Then installed self. I think the best way to check if you battery tender is.working in to get under trailer.and look up between water tanks. The tender is located there, should have a solid green light on if operating properly...CI was great in working me through this and now am back operational...if you are half way.mechanical and electrical savy you can switch out if.its bad.took about 3 hours.from start to finish, if you have a hitch you will need to remove it...R

 

I'll pull out the manual and trouble shoot. The battery tender on my unit is in the compartment with the battery. The green light is on, but the battery does not seem to charge. There appears to be a second light on the Tender, a charging light. It never comes on. I have a Battery Mender charger at home I'll use to keep the battery in good shape until this is resolved. I suppose I could just install my Mender in the camper, but it is really to big for the space. The raindrop is going it CI this fall for repairs. I can likely just wait until then and have it assessed.

 

What do they say about boats again? Oh, wait. We have a trailer. At least we don't have to haul it out of the water to work on it. We are ticking off projects before the trip to the homeland. Tomorrow my dad comes over with the volt meter to test the Battery Tender. When we bought our used 08 550 Ultra last fall we think the battery was already cooked but I didn't know it because it was plugged in when I saw it for the first time and everything worked.

This pic is of the old battery when we took the wall apart and found out it was cracked open and one of the caps was popped off. It must have had some pressure to do that but at least there was no evidence of any acid leakage. The wood in the compartment is all perfect. That is except for the slight bit of water damage where the side marker light wires come through the outside wall but that has nothing to do with the battery. Another project.

The dogs and I went to pick her up alone since Kevin had to work. I don't know if he would have known any better. On the way home I was attached to the truck or plugged in at the campgrounds. I didn't boondock except for a few hours in the free camping at the city park in Campo Colorado. It was hot and I couldn't sleep good so I left in the middle of the night and drove to Laramie where I could plug in.

I wondered why the galley had a sulfer smell. Note to self: Sulfer smell is bad. I knew nothing about batteries before last fall. When we put her in her storage unit we tried to turn on a light and nothing. We somehow found out where the battery was, took apart the wall in the under counter storage where the battery lives and saw that it was cracked open! I bet it was like that already when I picked her up. I am just glad nothing happened when I was sleeping in her.

When we plugged her in to shore power while the battery was still in there the Battery Tender was flashing red green. No wonder. In our trailer the Battery Tender is in the same compartment with the battery. I am not looking forward to replacing it if we have to. There are a lot of wires in there and it is on the outside wall. I think a monkey might be flexible enough to get the job done but I don't know where I can find a trained repair monkey.

We took the battery home and have been camping without it and pick campgrounds with power. I went to town this spring and traded in the old core and bought a new battery. We just installed it recently because the one we bought had a bigger post for the positive wire so I had to get a bigger ring end thingy and cut off the old one to replace that. There is always something. It seems like every project I do at home or on the trailer is custom and takes at least two trips to town to complete.

We got an Interstate AGM battery that fits perfectly. It was not cheap but it has two year nationwide full replacement which gives me some peace of mind not being an electrical person or a mechanic. I only know a little about electrical from helping my dad build his house and replacing old outlets and wiring old lamps. I am learning a lot from little Mercury. Everyone has their own favorite battery manufacturer from what I hear. I asked my best friends husband which ones he likes. He is a diesel mechanic and works on buses down in the city for Metro. He has seen a lot of batteries. He likes Interstate so that is what I went for.

The manager at the Interstate store told me to be sure to check out the battery charging system because of what happened to the old battery. She said it could have been heat or a bad charger. There was definitely heat where the trailer lived in Austin Texas before we bought her. I am hoping the charger is ok but resigned to the fact that it may be malfunctioning after reading everything on the forum. We find out tomorrow.
Cindy and Kevin

 

I suspect Craig or Cary can give you a workaround for installing the battery tender under the floor, between the water tanks (assuming there is room to do so on your model). We had to replace our battery tender, and when it was installed the fuse was pinned under the freshwater tank. They felt it was better to reroute route the wiring than to try to drop the tank and fish the fuse out.

Your battery tender likely cooked itself trying to charge a battery that couldn't hold a full charge. That is a common occurrence and a good reason to have your battery checked at the beginning of each season - never wait until it is about to die. It is a design flaw in the battery tender, which is why they moved it under the galley floor.