Charging Problem

[Steve Johnson]

Hi Everybody,

I went out to the bus, and even though it was plugged in, the low
battery buzzer was buzzing. I checked the voltage at the batteries,
and it was only 3.68v. I checked the connection where the chargers
tie into the battery cable and it was 12.53v. I then unplugged one
charger at a time and found one was 12.35v and the other 11.28v. I
unhooked the chargers from the battery cable and then checked the
batteries and they had dropped to 3.5v. With no load (unhooked from
the battery cables) one charger then measured 14.68v and the other
13.64v. In the charger compartment, with the chargers unplugged, the
voltage on the battery cables was only 42mv. I then hooked my home
charger from the garage up to the battery cables in the charger
compartment and it measured 10.48v. So, I hooked that charger
directly to the batteries and the voltage slowly rose from 13 to
13.95v. Viola! Charging! Back in the compartment the voltage on the
end of the battery cables was only 210mv. It seems to me I have a
connection problem between the batteries and the charger compartment.
But, last summer I took them all apart, cleaned all of them, and
replaced questionable cables. I had the charging system really up to
snuff. Bottom line is, it is cold and wet here, and I really don't
relish climbing around under the bus right now. Have I missed
something before I bite that bullet?

Thank you.

Steve Johnson
Grand Rapids, MI
'82 FC 35