Is my water pump going bad?
Howdy, I bought a 1989 18' Terry Resort TT a little over a year ago. Most of our camping so far has been with full hookups, but there's been a night or two of dry camping here and there. On our...
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If your 12v battery is a dual-purpose it probably can't handle the draw you are putting on it over two nights dry. If you have access to a multi-meter it will let you see exactly what shape you battery is in (someone nearby may be willing to lend you theirs, or at least check the batter for you.) A single 12v D.P. battery can last a two-night trip (ours does without issue) but you must be careful about how much you draw off it. For example, we simply use a Coleman lantern rather than even LED lighting, open windows instead of using the vent fan, and only really draw power from the battery for the furnace (if needed), the LP detector, and whatever other vampire draws there are. Always remember that the amp-hours of any battery (or battery bank) are limited, so use them as sparingly as you can until you have a solid idea of how much capacity you have, and that as a battery ages it will slowly lose capacity (especially if you regularly draw it way down between charges.)
When you get back home charge your battery fully, overnight at least. Once it's fully charged put a multi-meter on it and look at the charge (there will be some surface change reflected here, but for right now don't worry about that.) Use the camper in your driveway the way you would in camp without being connected to shore power (i.e. run on battery only), and then every 30 minutes to one hour put the multi-meter back on the battery and take a reading of the remaining charge - you should begin to see how much capacity you are using up as you go, running your equipment. That should give you a better idea of how fast you use the capacity of your battery while doing your normal camping routine and from that you should be able to estimate how long you can expect that battery to last at that level of use.
- R
When you get back home charge your battery fully, overnight at least. Once it's fully charged put a multi-meter on it and look at the charge (there will be some surface change reflected here, but for right now don't worry about that.) Use the camper in your driveway the way you would in camp without being connected to shore power (i.e. run on battery only), and then every 30 minutes to one hour put the multi-meter back on the battery and take a reading of the remaining charge - you should begin to see how much capacity you are using up as you go, running your equipment. That should give you a better idea of how fast you use the capacity of your battery while doing your normal camping routine and from that you should be able to estimate how long you can expect that battery to last at that level of use.
- R
