Gulfstream Vista Cruiser battery won't charge

[UCF_Citronaut]

Just purchased a nice used 2020 Vista Cruiser 19csk single axle. I am brand new to RV life. I bought this particular RV due to the previous owners meticulous, documented maintenance that had been performed. Came with a new 100ah EverStart RV battery.

First day out- hooked up to 30 amp shore power.
Overnight the battery drained to E.
120 volt appliances are working fine, but lights were very dim and furnace would run briefly and shut off.
It appears that the furnace fan, radio and some lights fully drained the battery overnight. The battery had started at 2/3 full.

Thankfully Walmart replaced the 100AH battery with no questions, I also purchased a battery tester with a separate charge voltage indicator.

I determined that the inverter is not charging the battery on shore power. I tested at the battery terminals and it shows no charge voltage present. The battery also won't charge from the 7pin towing harness hookup.

Other things:
There is no battery disconnect.
All fuses in fuse panel test good.
All breakers reset.
The 30amp shore power and cable is known good and tested.

My questions:
Where is the inverter/charger- I assume the blank panel under the fuse panel?
Are there any other fuses to look for- I read somewhere the inverter may have a fuse.
Am I correct in that the inverter "should" route shore power to certain 12v items?
I understand that some 12 volt systems stay on battery even with shore power, like the slide and tongue jack.
Should the inverter immediately start charging the battery with good shore power?
Am I missing something obvious as a new RV owner that requires extra steps to get the battery charging?

I checked under the tongue and under the front of camper for broken/frayed wires.
I found two terminals covered in red plastic and a junction box with a metal cover plate with two screws. These appear to be OEM and not some kind of hack.

No frayed wires though.

 

[proost]

My guess is that your converter is having an issue and not your inverter if you have one. That converts the 110V coming from the grid to 12V which charges your batteries vs the the inverter/charger that inverts 12V to 110V. If your converter is out, you will drain your batteries and your furnace won't work since it's on.

- Find your converter and make sure it's plugged in. It's probably near your 110V distribution panel and many I've seen plug in right there. It can also be anywhere you have a 110V plug.
- Once you find it, test the output voltage. For a dead battery, it'll be right up there at 14.3+ volts and once your batteries charge towards full, it will step down to an ultimate 13.6V float or thereabouts.
- If you have zero output voltage but you know it is getting 110V, it's likely bad. IF that's the case, upgrade your converter to something that has a Lithium option as well should you decide to upgrade to LiFePO4.
- If you do indeed have an inverter meaning you have 110V to your rig when boondocking on battery power, let me know but my guess is you only have one battery so no inverter.

Good luck and again, welcome to the board!

 

[UCF_Citronaut]

Thanks for your quick reply and advice.
Yes I had my terminology mixed up- I should have said "converter" not "inverter"..

I just need to pull the old converter out and get the replacement part numbers. The WF-8955 converter seems pretty common and going by the pictures it looks like a drop-in replacement right under the fuse panel.
Great idea to get a switchable unit for either lead acid or lithium. I found lots of Amazon RV converter units on Cyber sale. I was thinking a 55 amp converter unit or better. The battery is 100 amp hours so it seems to be a good match.

Amazon.com

Quick shout out to Walmart for replacing my discharged Everstart battery. They had an identical unit charged and swapped it out for no charge - no questions.

 

[proost]

Thanks for your quick reply and advice.
Yes I had my terminology mixed up- I should have said "converter" not "inverter"..

I just need to pull the old converter out and get the replacement part numbers. The WF-8955 converter seems pretty common and going by the pictures it looks like a drop-in replacement right under the fuse panel.
Great idea to get a switchable unit for either lead acid or lithium. I found lots of Amazon RV converter units on Cyber sale. I was thinking a 55 amp converter unit or better. The battery is 100 amp hours so it seems to be a good match.

Amazon.com

Quick shout out to Walmart for replacing my discharged Everstart battery. They had an identical unit charged and swapped it out for no charge - no questions.

Just to clarify, did you verify if the converter was still putting out voltage?

 

[THenne1713]

With meter, check voltage both side of both REV POL FUSES in power panel to verify proper converter output? Momentary Reverse Polarity will blow these. If not 13.2 or greater, then switch meter to 200vac and check breaker 120vac output going into converter? If power in, but not out, converter or wiring in/ out is bad. Rodents can cause issuesw/ chewed wires. If 13.2vdc good, then crawl back under front by tongue and recheck 12vdc breakers/ wiring there? Good luck