Last night I went to the trailer to turn on the fridge for this weekends trip. I connected the battery (12v new this year) and went inside to turn on the fridge and quickly found out there was no power in the trailer. Nothing worked.So I went back and check the connections and fuses in the battery box and everything was good. Then I went to the breaker panel and flipped the breakers but nothing happened.A few minutes later the power came on in the trailer. It flickered a bit but eventually stayed on solid. After getting the fridge running, I ran the water pump and a couple lights and the power stayed on; good.I haven't checked the trailer yet this morning, but could my converter be going bad? If the converter (or power center is starting to go bad, will it make it through the weekend? We have a generator for waking hours use but the CG we are staying at has quiet hours after 11:00 and it's supposed to get cold at night.I'll be bringing extra blankets but momma won't be happy if we don't have heat at night.Thanks.

Two separate issues here. You have a 12V system that operates certain devices like lights, fans, water pump, fridge in propane mode. If none of that is operating, regardless of shore power connection, you have a battery problem or connection/circuit breaker/fuse issue.If no 120V is present when connected to 120V service and you don't have an EMS with delay, you probably have a failing shore power cord or bad connection to source of 120V.

The 120v power worked fine the other week when the trailer was dewinterized.The issue last night was with 12v power. As noted, the 12v power did not work at first but slowly came on. Never had the 12v power come on like that before.

Im betting the battery was dead, and it took the converter a few minutes to bring it up to a usable voltage. The rig was plugged in to 120v AC right?

Are you connected to shore power? Here is why I ask.You have done a fine job of describing a dead, very very dead, battery.. When you connectd it it sucked all the power the converter could convert.. After a few minutes it started feeling a bit fuller so it slowed down its eating rate and there was power left over for other stuff.

The battery is brand new. It was replaced 3 weeks ago. The negative wire was not connected until yesterday. Once the converter kicked in, the battery registered 3/4 full on the wall meter.No shore power yesterday.

Converter\Power Center Concern\Question | Good Sam Community

Bend
Explorer
May 23, 2015
ugeesta wrote:
^^^^^. Not sure where that quote came from, perhaps whoever wrote it deleted the message.
...

Handybob is a legendary curmudgeon in the solar and battery powered RV boondocking world. You might enjoy reading about his trials, tribulations and lessons learned.

https://handybobsolar.wordpress.com/the-rv-battery-charging-puzzle-2/
westend
Explorer
May 22, 2015
A handheld multimeter is a good tool to have for checking battery state of charge and diagnosing electrical issues. They are inexpensive.

If your battery is fully charged and when shore power is first disconnected, you shouldn't have lights dimming. If that has been an ongoing refrain, you might have some bad connections to the battery or a partly discharged battery. Depending on how a new battery has been handled (initial state of charge, time on dealer shelf, etc,) it will probably not be fully charged when you buy it.

You really need to get a meter and measure the voltage at the battery terminals when at rest and when the converter is operating. Everything else is guess work.
ugeesta
Explorer
May 22, 2015
^^^^^. Not sure where that quote came from, perhaps whoever wrote it deleted the message. Guess I need to carry a battery tester with my as the 'Idiot Light' I'd my only method of checking the batteries now.

We ran the generator last night for about 3 hours. When I shut it off the lights that we had on in the bunk area of trailer got real dim. The one above the sink dimmed a little but typical for battery power.

I checked the idiot light and only two lights lit up, not the expected 3. Guess it is time to by an electrical tester to see if the converter is charging the battery.
Bend
Explorer
May 22, 2015
First of all, you can’t believe the little “idiot light” panel that came in your rig. That thing is very optimistic and tells you the batteries are full at 13.4 volts, when they are actually nowhere near it (14.4 volts). It works by looking at the voltage present on the wiring, which will be much higher than the battery voltage while charging & much lower than the battery voltage when running loads. If it says your batteries are “full” while you are charging, you could be anywhere from 40% to fully charged. People that run their generator until the idiot light says “full” are only getting their batteries up to about 40 or 50%.
-Handybob

Charge for another 2-6 hours after the light indicates full and you will be almost there.
ugeesta
Explorer
May 22, 2015
Yes, that thing and no the wall unit reads full when on shore power or when the generater is running.
TInmania
Explorer
May 21, 2015
ugeesta wrote:
The battery is brand new. It was replaced 3 weeks ago. The negative wire was not connected until yesterday. Once the converter kicked in, the battery registered 3/4 full on the wall meter.

No shore power yesterday.

What kind of battery meter on the wall? The small white combination tanks and battery meters, with four red LEDs always seem to show a full battery when on shore power as it is sensing the voltage from the converter. Does it usually show true battery levels when on shore power?

Mike
ugeesta
Explorer
May 21, 2015
Okay, so far so good. Everything is operating as it should. We'll see how the weekend goes.
nineoaks2004
Explorer
May 21, 2015
sch911 wrote:
Im betting the battery was dead, and it took the converter a few minutes to bring it up to a usable voltage. The rig was plugged in to 120v AC right?

X 2 batteries will run down even when everything seems to be off, but you do have alarms etc. still run and these will drain the battery, then when run down it will take a bit of time for the battery to get enough charge to start to energize things. Also check the battery terminals and battery ground for loose lugs and /or corrosion
ugeesta
Explorer
May 21, 2015
The battery is brand new. It was replaced 3 weeks ago. The negative wire was not connected until yesterday. Once the converter kicked in, the battery registered 3/4 full on the wall meter.

No shore power yesterday.
wa8yxm
Explorer III
May 21, 2015
Are you connected to shore power? Here is why I ask.

You have done a fine job of describing a dead, very very dead, battery.. When you connectd it it sucked all the power the converter could convert.. After a few minutes it started feeling a bit fuller so it slowed down its eating rate and there was power left over for other stuff.

Forum Discussion

Converter\Power Center Concern\Question

About Technical Issues

Related Content

Power converter question

Power converter

Power Converter

Power Converter HELP

Power Converter Issue/Questions