Hi, I have a factory installed battery gauge in the trailer. It has 4 lights indicating the status via quarter increments. I was wondering how accurate are the guages? Is there a better way of checking the battery status?
This last weekend was the first time we boondocked and used a generator. The generator was on for around 8 hours and the battery went from the 1/4 light to 3/4 light. Is it normal to take that long to charge? Would it be quicker to hook up a battery charger directly to battery than via the trailers own charger? We have 1 12 volt deep cycle battery and a 2400 Yamaha genny.
Thanks
Spiff
01 F150 Super Crew
06 Zeppelin 303
Reese Dual Cam Sway System w/ Prodigy
No one can tell you w/o knowing your conv/chargers capability.
Spaceman Spiff wrote: Hi, I have a factory installed battery gauge in the trailer. It has 4 lights indicating the status via quarter increments. I was wondering how accurate are the guages? Is there a better way of checking the battery status?
This last weekend was the first time we boondocked and used a generator. The generator was on for around 8 hours and the battery went from the 1/4 light to 3/4 light. Is it normal to take that long to charge? Would it be quicker to hook up a battery charger directly to battery than via the trailers own charger? We have 1 12 volt deep cycle battery and a 2400 Yamaha genny.
Thanks
Spiff
Rich
'98 Flair, 454, Onan Microlite 4k, Intel PD 9155 w/ wizard, Sta-power 1500 watt Inv, 2 6v batts, ammeters, KingDome/sat, Oly Catalytic Heat, hauling 2 Bent Bikes and sometimes towing a Tracker F&S boat.
The light indicator seems to work just fine on mine. Only trouble is knowing the set points. Some time with two lights is a good time to charge and down to one light is time to charge right now immediately. If you bring along a digital volt meter you can figure out where those lights come on and go off.
Now for recharge time you will need to tell us what exactly was doing the recharge. I am guessing either the 12 volt generator output (very slow) or the converter (extremely slow to fairly good).
Post the make and model of what is doing the charging and we can see what to do to improve it. Should get up pretty good in 2 to 3 hours.
2001 F150 SuperCrew 5.4 Lariat Offroad 4x4 Tow Package 4.10 Truetrac
2006 Keystone Springdale 249FWBHLS
12K SuperGlide, KGE3000Ti 2.3kw rated 2.6kw max
Frank's voltage booster, Prosine 1800 powered by 4 GC2 batteries
the factory battery meter is junk. get a digital battery meter. i would say your converter is not putting alot of amps into the battery, which is usually the case with some low end converters. however, if you are refering to the trailer in your sig, it is new enough that it should be doing better than that. with one battery you should have no problem being able to get to 80% within a couple hours from being dead as a doornail. i would look at upgrading the converter, and adding another battery.
1999 F-250 Extra Cab SD 4X4 V-10
2000 Wildwood 28RKSS2S 31' 5ver
Derrick, Michelle, Michaela, Riona and "Bones" (K-9 companion) We Are Currently Here my website
I have the same so-called meters for my batteries. While I accept the readings for my fresh, gray, and black tanks, for batteries I look at them as strictly decorative, kinda like the solar 'chargers'on the roof. You really need a fairly good DVM to keep track of battery condition.
Joe
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