Battery charging with Champion 20001 question

bad-breaker

Thank you all again for the input. I'm going to try to spell this out as much as I can. There are so many factors its tough.
My TT is a '99 Startcracft 17ck hybrid 17 footer. I have a deep cell battery, a 30a converter/charger with fuses and breakers. My hot water heater is propane, my fridge is propane or elec, air conditioner is never on, a water pump we only turn on when needed.
Here is what I see happening. Sometimes if I plug in the genny to charge the battery it overloads, when this happens I turn off one breaker and it works. Other times, all breakers can be on and it doesn't overload the genny. When one of the breakers is off and it's charging the highest the battery meter will go is 3 out of 4. When its charging with all breakers on it goes to 4 lights out of 4.
We also noticed today that while charging the genney will idle up about every 5 minutes minutes for about 5 seconds and back down when we haven't touched anything. There are times the battery will hold a charge for days and others it will drain in hours. We know because the carbon monoxide tester will beep when the battery is dead.
I'm thinking someone that knows what there doing has to take a look, but if there is anything anyone can think of, please please let mew know.
The battery is almost brand new.
Thnx

Does your unit have a Air Conditioner? If I'm reading your posts right it seems like your one mystery breaker only trips the gen occasionally - not every time. If you have a AC make sure that its turned off or at least that you set the thermostat so that it will not try to start up while you are on the gen. Pay no attention to that label on the breaker unless you have manually verified every load connected to it. Just because it says "Micro" does not mean that something else (like an air conditioner) might not also be on that same circuit.

I'm a noob too - but my understanding is that there are enough "ghost" loads on your 12v system that many newer TT can drain a fully charged battery in just a few days. You might also have a battery that is reaching the end of its life. How old is it?

(On edit:) have you tried this test or something similar?
1) Charge the battery fully
2) Disconnect the battery cables at the battery - at least the negative side.
3) Let it set for a day or two, or test it periodically with a Volt meter to see if its holding charge with no load.

Just some thoughts. Best of luck.

The hot water is propane that I manually light the pilot and that's it. Does that use electricity too? Like battery?

I am at a loss.... Something occasionally is draining the battery. The bottom fuse marked front/micro is the culprit. Sometimes it will charger without overloading the genny with it on sometimes it won't. But sometimes the lights work with the breaker off and sometimes they don't. The fridge is on propane. The water heater is propane only. And the heat isn't on. Nothing should be draining or. If I toggle the breaker it spmetimes overloads the genny and sometimes it doesn't.. Any thoughts on what could be going on?

Thank you. And yes, both breakers and fuses.....
Now I am kicking myself for draining the battery last night....LOL
Well, I won't do that again. I'll look to install a switch on the battery.
Thnx again

Shwthomas1975 wrote:

Also, do you guys and gals turn off the breakers when not in use? Only reason I ask, is I mustve left something on and the battery is now dead. If I turned them off religously that wouldn't have happened. I still have to do some research on what the breakers go to. One says micro, but I dont have a microwave. And thats the one that caused the genny to overload when started on economy.
Then there are 2 breakers on one for the main.

I'll get it all someday lol

On my first camper I had to manually disconnect the negative lead from the battery, because there are parasitic draws on your battery like LP detectors, and built in clock radios etc. My new camper has a Battery disconnect switch right in my master control panel. I emphasize this because, I believe your breakers are for your AC needs and there are fuses for the 12 volts items. So unless you pull fuses too you will still have the draws I mentioned which will drain your battery.

As far as draining a deep cycle battery...from what I've read is that the farther down you drain it the shorter the battery's life will be. I can't point you to exactly where I read that, hopefully someone will reaffirm that info or correct me if I'm wrong.

One more question. I think I've said that about 4 times now lol
Is it OK to drain the deep cell battery all the way down before charging? I'd like to test to see how long it takes to charge it with the genny, but I just charged it with my house plug......
Thnx again

Thanks again for all the replies. Sorry I was away for a bit.
Seems that if I plug in with all breakers on with the genny running on normal, not econ it's fine. I never thought of that. Thanks. I can then switch it to economy after it stabalizes then it goes right back down to idle and doesn't overload. Weird.......
Here is the info on the panel:
Todd Engineering LC30 120VLC/12VDC load center
PC30 Power source inverter

Also, do you guys and gals turn off the breakers when not in use? Only reason I ask, is I mustve left something on and the battery is now dead. If I turned them off religously that wouldn't have happened. I still have to do some research on what the breakers go to. One says micro, but I dont have a microwave. And thats the one that caused the genny to overload when started on economy.
Then there are 2 breakers on one for the main.

I'll get it all someday lol

IMHO I would say forget the fridge. I run mine on my Champion 2000 all the time and it barely bumps the RPM's. It's just not my experience that the fridge draws that many amps/watts. The reason many keep saying "Water Heater" is that is one of the biggest draws in a RV, probably 3rd in line to Microwave & Air conditioners. Some RV newbies don't know they have a dual type water heater that runs on either propane, or electric. If you open your access panel on your water heater and see a little rocker switch, it has electric, and is probably on.

Also just an FYI, when you first plug your trailer into your generator you should have your generator in normal run mode NOT Economy mode- that way you aren't spiking or surging it right off the bat. Plug it in and let it stabilize before you turn your economy mode on.