snowycreek
Whitney Point, NY
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Joined: 06/27/2005
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Hi all, (been off forum a long time since being landbound). We haven't turned a wheel since parking our rig shortly after bringing it home. We sold our truck and are living in the 5er full time. We've always been plugged into shoreline so have never worried about the batteries in the 5er. Suddenly, tonite, all the 5er battery operated lights went dim, the frig dc/lo light keeps flashing and won't work on ac or lp. We have no clue what is happening. Our manual doesn't really help tho it vaguely mentions fuses.
The converter/charger's little green light was flashing. We turned it off and back on and the light stopped. But nothing inside the camper changed.
Are there fuses? Should they need replacing this soon?
Has anyone had this problem?
We can't haul to a dealer without our truck so if anyone can help it'll be much appreciated. Thanks! -BJ
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Cox89XJ
Tennessee
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Joined: 07/27/2006
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Check fuses for loose connection or blown. I say loose connection because I had a similar thing happen. Probing around in the fuse panel the lights got brighter. One of the 30 amp fuses had a loose connection. Squeezed it with needle nose pliers just a bit and all is well.
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bldrbuck
Boulder, Colorado
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Joined: 02/11/2001
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Check the battery and the output from the converter. Check the fluid in the battery. I agree a bad connection from the battery to the fuse block could be the problem. Some converters will not function without a battery.
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ryoung
Indiana
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First check the battery connections for tightness. Then unplug or turn off the converter from it's 115v supply. If the lights are still dim the battery is low. In this case the battery is bad and will not take a charge or the converter is bad and not charging the battery.
Fuses will usually not cause dim lights unless they are loose in their socket.
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snowycreek
Whitney Point, NY
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Thank you so much for the replies. When hubby gets home from work at noon we'll try all the suggestions. In the meantime, what do you think about the following:
To conserve electric we are running our water heater on LP.....however, it now won't stay on so we are assuming from what the manual says, it's because we are at 'low battery'. Does this sound correct?
Same with the refrigerator...it's running, but the inside light is very dim and the outside controls keep going back to the flashing 'lo/dc'. Same reason?
We've only been on 3 very short trips, 2yrs ago, so we didn't think that amount of over-the-road bouncing would cause any of this...???? We've been permanently 'parked' and the only time the rig moves is when the washing machine goes into spin cycle and the load is a bit heavy...it'll move and sometimes small things will fall off a shelf. Over time, could this loosen fuses, etc?
One other question....does anyone have any idea what the life of a converter is, that's been used 24/7, 365 days a year??? How about batteries?
Thanks so much. I still love this forum as much as I did when I first joined!!! :-)
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sirdrakejr
Las Vegas, Nevada
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Moved from 5th wheels to tech issues.
Frank
RV.net blog
For those of you looking for expert advice, here ya go!
Frank
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SWMO
Southwest Missouri
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If you have the means, disconnect the battery (s) and check the voltage, they should read about 14 volts. Also check the water in them if possible.
I would go on line as see if you can trouble shoot the converter online at the manufacturers site. You may be able to interpret something from the actions of the light.
Your hot water heater doesn't matter.
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wolfe10
Texas
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Short term "fix".
Use a car/truck to charge the RV battery. Use battery cables to connect car battery with RV batteries (positive to positive, negative to negative). Start and run engine at high idle (like 1500 RPM).
You now have a voltage regulated source of charging-- probably over 50 amps!
This will allow you to get enough charge to keep refrigerator, etc going.
Brett Wolfe
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MudChucker
Winnipeg Manitoba
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sounds like a bad connection, or a bad inverter/charger... with your laundry comment it could be something simple like loose screws...
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riddellr
Belleville, IL, USA
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I'm thinking that the battery, which has been on charge from the converter and possibly has not been checked for water lately, has dried out and shorted. I would also speculate that the converter is either overheating or shutting down due to the battery problem. If it were me, I would start with the battery based on the fact that you mentioned always being plugged into shoreline. Good Luck.
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