Battery - Learned something new
The battery in our TT was 5 years old and I noticed the last couple of trips, the tongue jack seemed to be struggling a bit. I had a trip coming up and for weeks kept procrastinating on getting a new battery.
Fast forward to the Thursday before the July 4th weekend. I had 3 nights planned in the TT and we were to leave early the following Saturday morning. Went to the storage lot Thursday after work to turn on the fridge. Get home from work Friday afternoon and pack up a cooler with food for our trip. Run over to the trailer and open the fridge. Not cold! Was upset and was thinking about canceling the trip or at worst having to go out early Saturday morning and see if I could purchase some dry ice. I went back home, started unpacking the food and thought of the battery again. I assumed (my first mistake) that since the TT was plugged into 30 amp power, that the fridge would work. Ended up running out to the auto parts store and got there right before they closed Friday night. $137 later, I had a deep cycle battery and went to the storage lot and installed the battery. Went back early Saturday morning and guess what? Nice cold fridge!
The trip before last I needed some hot water and I turned on the water heater on propane. I usually just use it on electric mode but it heats up faster on propane. I could not get the hot water heater to work on propane. On this trip, I tried the hot water tank on propane and it worked just fine.
So, I am gathering that the fridge and propane mode on the water tank use the battery whether you are hooked up to power or not. Are there any other appliances that are dependent on the battery? I had always assumed that if I was hooked up to AC power, that the battery wasn't used. I thought that the battery was used when power wasn't available (IE: boondocking). At least this will teach me to not procrastinate on replacing the battery in the future!
Burch
Fast forward to the Thursday before the July 4th weekend. I had 3 nights planned in the TT and we were to leave early the following Saturday morning. Went to the storage lot Thursday after work to turn on the fridge. Get home from work Friday afternoon and pack up a cooler with food for our trip. Run over to the trailer and open the fridge. Not cold! Was upset and was thinking about canceling the trip or at worst having to go out early Saturday morning and see if I could purchase some dry ice. I went back home, started unpacking the food and thought of the battery again. I assumed (my first mistake) that since the TT was plugged into 30 amp power, that the fridge would work. Ended up running out to the auto parts store and got there right before they closed Friday night. $137 later, I had a deep cycle battery and went to the storage lot and installed the battery. Went back early Saturday morning and guess what? Nice cold fridge!
The trip before last I needed some hot water and I turned on the water heater on propane. I usually just use it on electric mode but it heats up faster on propane. I could not get the hot water heater to work on propane. On this trip, I tried the hot water tank on propane and it worked just fine.
So, I am gathering that the fridge and propane mode on the water tank use the battery whether you are hooked up to power or not. Are there any other appliances that are dependent on the battery? I had always assumed that if I was hooked up to AC power, that the battery wasn't used. I thought that the battery was used when power wasn't available (IE: boondocking). At least this will teach me to not procrastinate on replacing the battery in the future!
Burch
