Battery not holding charge

[Ravie9999]

Have a 2019 GD 385GK that the battery will not recharge when plugged into a 50 amp RV site. External battery charger was able to charge it up to 13 volts maximum but within a couple of hours it was down to 3 amps. Wondering if this is a dead battery issue or a converter issue? Please help... ew to RVing.

[Wicked ace]

Have a 2019 GD 385GK that the battery will not recharge when plugged into a 50 amp RV site. External battery charger was able to charge it up to 13 volts maximum but within a couple of hours it was down to 3 amps. Wondering if this is a dead battery issue or a converter issue? Please help... ew to RVing.

You need to check your charger. There are probably a fuse or two at the charger that GD neglects to disclose. One for the 120vac and one at the 12vdc output. A lead acid battery with nothing connected will charge to 13.7 - 14.1 vdc full charge. Connected to a load you should see about 12.7vdc across the terminals. Any auto parts store these days should be able to load-check it for you. Unless you can drive up to the lot it will need to be removed from the trailer. If the battery has been run down you might try to desulfate the plates with a high current charge if your external charger is capable of it. Check the water level in the cells to see if the charger hasn't boiled off the electrolyte and add distilled or de-ionized water to top off.

[Txfivver]

Have a 2019 GD 385GK that the battery will not recharge when plugged into a 50 amp RV site. External battery charger was able to charge it up to 13 volts maximum but within a couple of hours it was down to 3 amps. Wondering if this is a dead battery issue or a converter issue? Please help... ew to RVing.

Is the red key battery disconnect in the front storage bay turned on? If not it will not charge when plugged into the shore power pole.

[Ravie9999]

Where the heck is the converter on this thing? Is it in a black box with about 14 screws beside the battery? If we replace the battery, what would you recommend? So appreciate all your knowledge by the way... so helpful. Thanks!

[Wicked ace]

Start with your breaker / fuse panel to see if anything is tripped or turned off first. I'm not familiar with your rig so I'm not sure exactly where they put the converter/charger but I would make a guess the basement area behind the wall would be a good place to look. A good quality deep cycle battery is what you want. Interstate, Deka or Penn come to mind.

[boyscout]

Have a 2019 GD 385GK that the battery will not recharge when plugged into a 50 amp RV site. External battery charger was able to charge it up to 13 volts maximum but within a couple of hours it was down to 3 amps. Wondering if this is a dead battery issue or a converter issue? Please help... ew to RVing.

The answer to your question might be "both".

Obviously your converter should be able to do the same thing as your external charger. @Txfivver advice is first thing to check - big red plastic key switch, probably on the forward wall of the basement storage compartment. If you're lucky that'll do it, otherwise check breakers and fuses in the fuse panel. Then check resets on the converter itself.

Where the heck is the converter on this thing? Is it in a black box with about 14 screws beside the battery?

I don't think so, but I don't know your trailer. The converter itself will be an uncolored rectangular steel box with slots on the sides, and is probably mounted on the floor in the utility area behind the back wall of the basement storage area. One of the panels of that wall - probably an angled panel - is easily removed by taking out six screws in its sides. Behind it you'll find the mess of wiring and plumbing and devices that support your trailer's utilities, and I'd guess the converter is in there.

It's nearly certain that your battery is cooked beyond repair, or there's a very small chance of an electrical short somewhere. No normal load in the trailer would take your battery from 13 to 3 volts so quickly, and if a short was doing that you'd have heat and odor and maybe smoke to alert you to it. Nope, battery is toast.

If we replace the battery, what would you recommend? So appreciate all your knowledge by the way... so helpful. Thanks!

Well now, isn't THAT the question?! You'll probably get many opinions.

The hot ticket is lithium batteries. They are far lighter than alternatives, they can be discharged to almost their full capacity (whereas lead-acid batteries should only be discharged about 50% of capacity), they'll usually significantly outlast lead-acid batteries, and with a well-matched converter they can be recharged more quickly than lead-acid batteries. However they are way more expensive, and using them requires an additional ~$300 expense to replace the converter with one matched for lithium. (A very popular smart lithium is made by Battle Born.)

The warm ticket is two or more 6V golf cart batteries, connected in series to make one or more 12V batteries. The good ones (like Trojan T-105s) are tough batteries that can take a bit of abuse re: discharging, and they offer about double the capacity of lithium or the cheap deep-cycle that's in your trailer now (210 amp/hours vs 100 amp/hours). However they're heavy (a pair is about 125 lbs), they are slow to recharge with the stock converter and won't last as long with that charging (so another ~$250 or so for a new converter), and a pair of them costs about twice as much as the battery you have now. I have four of these, and after three years (being recharged with the stock converter) they still support 4-5 days of boondocking with 12V systems. That would shrink fast if we had an inverter and were using 120V loads such as microwave or coffeemaker, but we don't / we're not.

The cold ticket is to get another 100-amp deep-cycle battery. Depending on your needs that may be your ticket - cheapest, easiest to replace, and many owners don't need more, especially if most camping is plugged-in camping. I don't have a recommendation for these.

Good luck with your choices.

[meesfam]

We are having the same problem. Were you able to figure out what it was?