Going to try to explain this....LOL...Need help

[Shwthomas1975]

Morning.....First camping trip was last weekend in our hybrid trailer.
No power so used battery and generator.
Last year the battery would last quite a while. This time it lasted til about midnight both nights (woken by the blaring carbon monoxide detector LOL). Was running the heat, but that didnt matter in the past.
Did a little poking (I am no electrical guy). Noticed that when the generator was plugged in the 4 electrical charge gauge lights were only 2 high. Last year they were 4. When I plug it in, it's only 3.
I also noticed that when I turn off the breaker for the fridge, the lights dim and then go out. Took ff the cover and the fridge breaker also has the wire to the inverter. So when I turn off that breaker, the battery isn't charging anymore. But, why would the lights dim?
Any way to check for a bad breaker?
Any help would be greatly appreciated....

[mena661]

BFL13 wrote:
IMO you are not in the clear yet. The converter in a 2001 rig is likely one that should be doing 13.6 or so. Outside chance it is a 9100 and can do 13.2 but not until it has sat for a while at 13.6.

Find the battery lugs on the DC fuse panel inside the rig and take the converter voltage there. Should be 13.6. Then at the battery should be almost 13.6 with a full battery.

If still 13.1 suspect corrosion at connections--especially that battery neg ground wire at the frame.

You might want a better converter to look after your new battery, but IMO first get the wiring etc for this one cleaned up and working right. On that, be sure your new fuse/circuit breaker can handle say 60amps for any new converter you might get in future. That original corroded one may be too low in amps for that.

X2 BFL is most correct.

[Shwthomas1975]

You know this gets me thinking. While camping our little outside portable radio also dies at the same time as the microwave. I'll check on things in the morning and see how they look.

[AllegroD]

Unyalli wrote:

Kiwi_too wrote:
Sorry, but I would not get the above for this diagnosis. It is good at showing what is going through that socket. There is value to that. To run down a problem, you want a 120/12v volt meter with probes, so you can test all lines and components. You cannot test the relay with the above.

Disagree, for a few bucks it's far better the 4 leds.

Yes. We do agree that it has that utility. That is the value I referred to. What it does not do is move with you and measure current or power through the various parts of the 120/12v system.

[bikendan]

just be aware that the new battery you just got, is NOT a true deep cycle battery.
no true deep cycle battery has cold cranking amp ratings.
those numbers are for starting an engine and have nothing to do with how the battery works on a trailer.

[BFL13]

IMO you are not in the clear yet. The converter in a 2001 rig is likely one that should be doing 13.6 or so. Outside chance it is a 9100 and can do 13.2 but not until it has sat for a while at 13.6.

Find the battery lugs on the DC fuse panel inside the rig and take the converter voltage there. Should be 13.6. Then at the battery should be almost 13.6 with a full battery.

If still 13.1 suspect corrosion at connections--especially that battery neg ground wire at the frame.

You might want a better converter to look after your new battery, but IMO first get the wiring etc for this one cleaned up and working right. On that, be sure your new fuse/circuit breaker can handle say 60amps for any new converter you might get in future. That original corroded one may be too low in amps for that.

[Unyalli]

Very basically a 12 volt lead acid battery at rest fully charged is 12.7 volts. At rest means disconnected for 12 or so hours. Anything greater than 12.7 is charging.

[Shwthomas1975]

Was the battery..... Brought it to walmart as it said 2 year replacement on it and they swapped it. Didnt have the one I had so I got 15 bucks back too. Got a 29dc 122 amp hours and 845 cranking power or something. Ordered that book and I'll leartn how to take better care of this one.
It's at 13.12 not when all is connected anmd to shbore power. Not 13.4 like I thought.
Is that OK?

[Shwthomas1975]

So, this is what I found in short. No pun intended.... 🙂
If I disaconnect the negative cable from the battery and plug into shore power I get 13.4 if I from the positive to the disconnected negative wire. As soon as I connect the negative to the battery it drops to around 12.6 from post to post. This holds the same for the funny little 4 light gauge. 4 ights if negative is disconnected and 3 if connected. I just have no idea what that means lol

[Shwthomas1975]

13.4 is with shore power. Thats the only way I get 13.4. And I only get that with the positive pole and the negative wire disconnected or the frame. When I connect the negative wire back to battery and test again with shore power it drops to under 13.

[BFL13]

You can't get 13.4 with no shore power unless you have solar and then it would be a fluke if its voltage were same as converter's usual voltage.

You still need to clean up the battery neg ground wire to frame connection to eliminate that connection at the frame as a suspect.

[Shwthomas1975]

Same with connected or not no shore power. It's weird. 13.4 from positive to not connected negative and much less as soon as I connect the negative wire...

[BFL13]

No, to check for a draw on the battery, unplug shore power and with that neg wire off the battery, take battery voltage (you got about 12v before, so battery is low) Now attach neg cable and take voltage across battery posts. Any big draw will make that voltage lower than before.

To find out how much draw that is in amps, you need an ammeter, but a muilti-meter usually has a 10a limit and over that will fry it. so with an unknown draw you don't want to find out the hard way it is over 10a 🙂

[Shwthomas1975]

How to I check if there is a draw? I get .34 when I check the positive terminal to the negative wire disconnected with no shore power. Is that the draw? Is that a lot?

[Unyalli]

I've been thinking your battery is toast for some time now.