Electrical Problem with 05 Safari Cheetah

[rasmithsr1@aol.com]

It all started when I had the 4 House batteries replaced in Mitchell,South Dakota. They installed 4 new 12 volt batteries instead of 6 volt. After the batteries were changed my chasis batteries were over charging and my house batteries were showing an error on my panel. When I had my generator running with the engine running I was not over charging. The Good year store sent me to a Truck repair facility and the ended up changing the way the cables were hooked up to reduce it down to 6 volts so I was getting the 24 volt instead of the 48 volts that I was getting at the Good year store. After all this we decided to stay at a campground across the street from the truck repair facility. Thats when are troubles began again. I was able to extend my living room slide but not my bedroom slide. I then tried to retract my living room slide but it would not move. I had to manually move it back in with a friends help and two wrenches to crank it back in. My bedroom ceiling lights are not working also. This all happened after the new batteries were installed. We were going to head to Rapid City S.D but decided to stay here and try to get it fixed so we can argue with the Good Year dealer to pay for there mistake.

We are currently in Mitchell, South Dakota and waiting for an Rv dealer to open Monday to see if we can get this corrected. If there is anyone out there that has any knowledge on this your help would be appreciated.

My phone Number is 586-718-6074.

[tbutler]

Four 12V household batteries hooked up in the series/parallel manner as the 6V batteries would give you 24 V and fry lots of stuff. The 6V batteries that should have been installed would be hooked up in series 2x2 to give 12 volts and then in parallel to give additional amp hours. Had the 12V batteries been all hooked up in parallel the voltage would have been 12V which is what the system is intended to work with. Check fuses to see if/which are blown and then rewire batteries to a 12 V status.

I don't know how you rewire four 12V batteries to get 6V but if they did, that is 1/2 the voltage you should have. That would also explain the failure of anything to operate. Your household batteries should provide power at 12V. This is done by hooking up 2 6V batteries one behind the other + to - to + to - and then doing the same with the other two 6V batteries. Then these pairs are hooked up in parallel, + to + and - to - . This adds "depth" to the 12V power (doubling the amp hours of storage).

Finally, if the 12V batteries are "starting" batteries, not deep cycle batteries, they are completely the wrong kind of batteries and should be returned to the shop where originally sold and exchanged for 6V deep cycle batteries (commonly referred to as golf cart batteries).

As I have never heard of using four 12V batteries, the shop you had install the batteries must have been completely unfamiliar with RV systems. They owe you a big apology and a full refund.

[wolfe10]

Your coach house AND chassis electrical systems are 12 VDC, not 6,24,48, etc-- same 99% of all coaches out there .

You can achieve that 12 VDC by wiring any number of 12 VDC batteries in PARALLEL, or by wiring PAIRS of 6 VDC wired in SERIES in PARALLEL. To make it easier to visualize, consider a "pair of 6 VDC batteries wired in seires" to be a "12 VDC battery"-- that is what they are.

Tom is correct, you want DEEP CYCLE batteries. There ARE 12 VDC deep cycle batteries, but they are rare compared with 6 VDC/golf cart batteries.

Go to the battery manufacturer's website and CONFIRM that the 12 VDC batteries you got are indeed deep cycle and not starting or marine batteries.

And you could have done a LOT of damage to your 12 VDC system running it on 24 volts, which is what you would have if the wires were attached on the 12 VDC batteries as they were on your old 6 VDC batteries-- light bulbs, PC boards in refrigerator, furnaces, water heater, etc.

This is something that anyone working on batteries/RV's (including all RV owners) should KNOW.

TURN EVERYTHING OFF/DISCONNECT THE BATTERIES/TURN OFF CHARGER IMMEDIATELY.

After re-wiring to 12 VDC, have a qualified RV tech check out ALL 12 VDC items-- I mean ALL.

Brett Wolfe