Battery not charging

[Ernie_Fergler]

Noticed yesterday that my battery doesn't charge when plugged into TV. Am I wrong in assuming that it should? If not, where do I start to troubleshoot? I had been dry camping and wore the battery down, drove 550 miles and battery was still down. I assumed it would charge in transit. Thanks in advance , Ernie

[enblethen]

Have you checked the trailer power fuse in fuse block under the hood driver's side fender well?
Check for circuit breaker around where the umbilical cord and trailer wiring comes together under the tongue.

[Ernie_Fergler]

Sorry for not responding sooner. The output from the TV seems to be good,. The problem seems to be in the trailer wiring. There is no change in battery voltage when plugged in or unplugged, motor running or not. I do get a slight increase when plugged into shore power. Don't have a digital meter so it's hard to tell exactly,but meter reads just under 13 v when not on SP, and around14 when on SP. Unplugging from SP yields no change when plugged into TV motor on or off; just under 13. Did have one cell that was a little low, but still covering the plates. Thx again for all the great ideas.

[Allworth]

Nomad,

Did you not read the post where he says that it charges fine on shore power????

[samandtheduck]

I had an inline fuse just before my fuse panel in the trailer that was for the TV charge line. Replaced the fuse and all was good.
Brian

[nomad2013]

What type of battery do you have?
Have you checked to see if it has any water in the cells?

[avvidclif1]

Golden_HVAC wrote:
Normally the factory wiring is either #12 or #14 wire from the fuse panel to the trailer connection. This is good for only a few amps. . It might carry 10 amp at best. Still a 10 hour drive should have recharged the battery from 20% to about 80% full.

You can install a larger wire to the trailer connection, or even change from the standard connection to a 50 amp connector for just the battery charging.

#8 wire will recharge the battery much faster.

An alternative is to install a pair of solar panels on the roof. It will keep the battery full all the time. SunElec.com has some 12 volt solar panels - look for something in the 100 - 150 watt range, that are small enough to fit in several locations, and still have space to walk around them to the forward sections of the RV for maintenance.

Have fun camping!

Fred.

12ga is rated for 20A and 14ga for 15A.

[Golden_HVAC]

Normally the factory wiring is either #12 or #14 wire from the fuse panel to the trailer connection. This is good for only a few amps. . It might carry 10 amp at best. Still a 10 hour drive should have recharged the battery from 20% to about 80% full.

You can install a larger wire to the trailer connection, or even change from the standard connection to a 50 amp connector for just the battery charging.

#8 wire will recharge the battery much faster.

An alternative is to install a pair of solar panels on the roof. It will keep the battery full all the time. SunElec.com has some 12 volt solar panels - look for something in the 100 - 150 watt range, that are small enough to fit in several locations, and still have space to walk around them to the forward sections of the RV for maintenance.

Have fun camping!

Fred.

[Ernie_Fergler]

ddschuman wrote:
Bad battery?

Charges fine on shore power and seems to be holding.

[enblethen]

Have you checked the fuse in the fuse relay panel under the hood?
Did you check for alternator voltage at battery when plugged into TV with motor running?

[ddschuman]

Bad battery?

[Old-Biscuit]

Takes a LONG time for the truck to recharge a low trailer battery due to small gauge charge wire.......charge line is more for maintaining a charge vs recharging

Check that the trucks charge line has 12V power
1 O'clock position on truck receptacle is charge
7 O'clock position is ground

Fuse(s)---relay in fuse panel under hood drivers side