Forum Discussion
RoyB
Aug 10, 2016Explorer II
With everything 'ON' like you indicated it may have tripped the house breaker feeding the trailer.
We got very use to using a multimeter when we first got our RV. It tells all once you figure out what and where to measure things...
You mentioned you never used a battery on your old RV - Guess you didn't make any trips in it as a battery is required by US DOT if you are pulling your trailer over public roads. This is what engages the electric brakes in the event the trailer becomes disconnected from the truck.
We are always conscious of our battery state of charge. If the battery is fully charged it should read 12.6-7VDC across the battery terminals just sitting there without being plugged into shore power or generator. When you plug into shore power or generator then the DC VOLTAGE at the battery terminals should jump up to 13.6VDC or whatever mode your smart mode converter/charger is doing at the time. This tells you your battery is being charged by being plugged into shore power or on the generator.
If you don't see the increase in DC VOLTAGE at the battery terminals then you have to start looking where it stops starting with the DC OUTPUT of the converter/charger unit.
Since this is all new I suspect the possibility the battery cables may have got installed in REVERSE. That is another possibility that may have blown some DC fuses. My trick there is to find the word NEG or the symbol - on the battery case and make sure this is the battery cable that goes directly to frame ground real close to the battery.
New trailers area always fun until you figure out where everything is how it all works haha...
The worse thing is when you totally discharge a battery like this it starts the internal self destruction of the battery which results in not getting full performance again from it. Hopefully yours will return with full performance when you get it recharged again. Ods are against it however...
Roy Ken
We got very use to using a multimeter when we first got our RV. It tells all once you figure out what and where to measure things...
You mentioned you never used a battery on your old RV - Guess you didn't make any trips in it as a battery is required by US DOT if you are pulling your trailer over public roads. This is what engages the electric brakes in the event the trailer becomes disconnected from the truck.
We are always conscious of our battery state of charge. If the battery is fully charged it should read 12.6-7VDC across the battery terminals just sitting there without being plugged into shore power or generator. When you plug into shore power or generator then the DC VOLTAGE at the battery terminals should jump up to 13.6VDC or whatever mode your smart mode converter/charger is doing at the time. This tells you your battery is being charged by being plugged into shore power or on the generator.
If you don't see the increase in DC VOLTAGE at the battery terminals then you have to start looking where it stops starting with the DC OUTPUT of the converter/charger unit.
Since this is all new I suspect the possibility the battery cables may have got installed in REVERSE. That is another possibility that may have blown some DC fuses. My trick there is to find the word NEG or the symbol - on the battery case and make sure this is the battery cable that goes directly to frame ground real close to the battery.
New trailers area always fun until you figure out where everything is how it all works haha...
The worse thing is when you totally discharge a battery like this it starts the internal self destruction of the battery which results in not getting full performance again from it. Hopefully yours will return with full performance when you get it recharged again. Ods are against it however...
Roy Ken
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