c3saving
East Coast
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We stored our new camper for about two weeks. We are out for a second time close to home to figure out things again. The lights are all dim as if we are sitting in candle light. We are plugged into electrical, however the control panel shows this brand new battery as drained. Is there a way to run the lights off of the electrical plug in or do they always run off the battery??
And how can we recharge the battery or is this marine battery a disposal one that is replaced every single time we go out.
Any help would be appreciated. In a new camper and can't see a damn thing! So frustrating not knowing what the hell we are doing.
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jyh818
Chino, CA
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Typically when you store your trailer, you want to disconnect the battery. There is a constant drain of power on your CO alarm and such.
If you plug it into an outlet overnight, it should charge your battery.
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sch911
Rochester Hills, MI
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When plugged into shore power the power converter should provide power for your lights and charge your battery. So to me it sounds like you have a problem with your power converter. You need to check for blown fuses at the converter and or for a tripped 120V breaker for the converter feed in your distribution panel...
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Bowhunter2819
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Check the breaker on your power pole and make sure you have power coming in. A lot of park come around and turn them off when no one is attached to them.
Hey I could be wrong, but grab a chair and a cold one and we'll talk about it for a spell
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SteveAE
Bend, Oregon
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c3saving,
Souldn't be too hard to figure out what is going on...assuming you can read this without power.
This is how it "should" work. When you plug your RV into a 120 VAC outlet, your converter (think "battery charger") charges your battery AND provides power for your 12 DC items (i.e.; lights). As long as the battery isn't too old and hasn't been abused...too much, it will eventually recharge.
So here is what I suggest you do:
- Verify that there is 120 VAC power at the campground pedistal. Plug in some sort of household electrical device (hair dryer, power tool, light, volt meter, etc) to check this. If no power, reset circuit breaker on the pedistal and recheck. Still no power? Move.
- Make sure that the power cord from your trailer is securly plugged into the pedistal.
- Verify that you have 120 VAC power comming into your trailer by plugging in one of the items mentioned above OR just check that your microwave or Air Conditoner is working. If so, then you are good. If not, then check all circuit breakers. Don't forget that circuit breakers often look like they are on when they are really off. Turn them OFF then back ON to verify.
- Once all circuit breakers are on and there is power you should be getting enough power to run the lights....unless the converter is bad OR there is a partial short somewhere.
- Assuming that you now have your lights working, you need to make sure your battery is being charged.
First make sure that you didn't forget to turn the 12 Volt battery disconnect switch back to ON.
Next, if you have (or can borrow) a volt meter, measure the voltage right across the battery. It should be around 13 volts ..... or more. If you don't have this voltage at the battery and you know your converter is working (because you have lights now), then you have a open connection between your converter and battery. Some rigs have a circuit breaker (mine is buried under the floor) in this line that need to be reset. Otherwise it will take some further slouthing to figure it out.
I hope this has helped some or maybe by now you have figured it out anyway.
Steve
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c3saving
East Coast
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Thank you for all the help!! It appears that one of our circuit breakers inside had popped. Based on some of the suggestions above, we need to install a shut off to the battery when it goes into storage.
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BarneyS
S.E. Lower Michigan
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Be aware also that the panel indicators for battery will always show full charge when hooked up to the park power. The only time the indicator is even remotely accurate is when you are running on battery power alone.
The fact that your indicator showed the battery was low when you were plugged in to shore power told me that your converter was not working, the fuse/breaker was blown, or there was no power coming from the parks power pedestal.
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shadows4
Kansas City, Mo
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c3saving wrote:Thank you for all the help!! It appears that one of our circuit breakers inside had popped. Based on some of the suggestions above, we need to install a shut off to the battery when it goes into storage.
Another option is if you have a fuse like I do located close to the battery, just disconnect the fuse when in storage.
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c3saving
East Coast
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Thanks Barney. I'll have to take notes of the flow chart of questions if the problem happens again. Shadows4 - I'll be checking for some thing to disconnect. Definitely will look for the fuse.
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c3saving
East Coast
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Found a fuse to the battery. Pulled it out when we placed TT in storage. The battery indicator showed the battery was fully charged after we pulled the shore power. Hopefully, we will be in good shape in a couple of weeks for the next trip. However, I am seeing a pattern. We popped a circuit several times on this trip. Once while running the microwave and A/C. Once while using the hair dryer and A/C running. I'm sure on both accounts my son had his computer plugged in. It happened again when the A/C was running and we were cleaning out items from TT. This time I couldn't figure out what else was being used. I have seen something that you could plug in to see voltage being pulled with red area. Here's a link. http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/ac-voltage-meter/29375 Any advise on this?
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