We have had an ongoing battery problem with our 8-year-old Trail-Lite Bantam B21B. We're on our third battery (new again last year). We leave the trailer plugged in most of the time, as we use it for office space and an extra bedroom. When we unplugged to hook it up, there wasn't enough battery power to use the power tongue jack, so we plugged it into the TV to use it. Same story when we got there after driving (and, I'm assuming, charging)for an hour. We had to hook up to shore power in order for the jack to work. Incidentally, we've never attempted to dry camp, because we've never really trusted the battery. Our questions: If we keep the trailer plugged in all the time, does this affect the battery? Are we charging at all, or not keeping a charge? How do we tell? Thanks for any input you can give.
David & Lori
1991 Son
1992 Son
2003 Dachsund "Oscar"
1999 Suburban 1500 4x4
2000 Trail-Lite Bantam B21B
How often do you check the water?
How does water level stay in battery?
If uses lots of water, you are overcharging.
What does voltage look like when new battery installed? You need to figure if charger is working. If you turn on lites in TT when shore power unhooked, then hook up shore power, do lites get brighter as they should? If not, you need to check converter charger.
I would be annoyed at any battery that didn't last at least 7 years, unless used for dry camping a lot.
Chuck
Wonderful Wife
Lovely German Shepherd.
1999 Mercedes ML320 TV
2003 Wanderer 187TB Toybox (3620# UVW, 4800# loaded) Not yet camped in Hawaii, 2 Canada Provinces, & 2 Territories. I can't be lost because I don't care where this lovely road is going
Sounds like your converter is not charging the battery, with the trailer pluged into shore power you need to cehck the voltage at/to the battery, if it's about 14v it's attempting to charge, if not then the converter needs help. Maybe as simple as a blown fuse, maybe not.
Do you check the battery fluid at all?
Bob & Deb
W Ma.
04 GMC 1500 4X4, 5.3L
06 Starcraft 18SB
It's time for some real diagnostic work. Either your Converter/Charger is overcharging the battery and ruining it or it is not charging it at all. A volt meter and a simple specific gravity tester are all you need to test both the charge system and the battery.
Another factor in early battery demise is discharging them too far. Those "deepcycle/marine" batteries are not very good. A true deepcycle battery holds up better under those circumstances.
A simple observation and indication of overcharging is loss of fluid in the battery. Overcharging boils it and it evaporates.
A small amount of education and some simple tools will go a long way. Take the time to read this: 12V side of life It will help you understand and properly maintain.
Dick B,
If it is one of our batteries and within the warranty period we will replace it for free. I would love to know why you answered his post this way.
Alan, Brenda, Kyle
Queen Creek, AZ
2007 F-250 XLT Supercrew V-10,w/tow command,4.30,Equalizer hitch, WD bars
2008 Jayco 26BHS
You might be able to solve your problem with a better understanding of the way the batteries discharge and recharge. I am trying to solve our recent dead battery adventure myself. We have a battery that was new last fall, used it for two weekends of camping with no shore power for lights and running the water pump as little as possible. All seemed fine until our third trip and the battery never charged while driving 70 miles to our location.
I think our problem was my lack of knowledge of proper battery maintenance. Here are some key points I recently learned:
-The water level in the cells need to be checked often and filled with distilled water. (I failed to do this).
-The batteries should be charged once a month over the winter months ( I did not do this).
-The batteries should not be discharged more than 70% of their full charge (I'm pretty sure I discharged almost fully).
-The batteries should be charged with a low charge, maximum of 10 amp, until fully charged. (I was relying on the trailer's converter to charge while driving, which I have recently read does not deliver a low enough amp charge to fully charges the plates).
So now my "dead" battery is fully charged after filling the cells with distilled water and charging on a trickle charger. I am hoping I can now avoid the dead battery syndrome in the future. I'm sure I have few more details to learn but I hope this helps.
Brian
Battery "should" be recharged with it's down to 70% charge for best service life but doing this will get you such little use you'll need to tow a separate trailer full of 'em to go camping. The best way, as far as the battery is concerned, is to never discharge it and recharge periodically. An obviously non-useable idea. Note that the LP detector and radio will siphon a Group 24 battery literally dry in two weeks if left connected to the trailer. That deep discharge is very hard on the battery. If disconnected the battery won't drop to the 70% charge point in several months of self-discharge.
The point to keep in mind is to recharge ASAP after discharge.
Efficient charging is done at an amp rate of 10% (or so) of the batteries rated amphour output. A 10 amp charger for a Group 24 is appropriate. Slow charge will work, it just takes forever. Battery needs to be equalized periodically with a high voltage overcharge. Good charger will do this all automatically. The WFCO converter is a good, smart charger.
-- Chuck
'06 Roo 23SS behind '07 Expedition out of Cleveland Our Photo pages
Online
Offline
Note that the LP detector and radio will siphon a Group 24 battery literally dry in two weeks if left connected to the trailer. That deep discharge is very hard on the battery. If disconnected the battery won't drop to the 70% charge point in several months of self-discharge.
