Are my batteries dead or what?

[chracatoa]

So an odd thing happened this weekend. Our campground had a power outage in the middle of the night, and we noticed because our fan stopped working. The power was still not back in the morning and we heard it would take a long time for it to be fixed, so we bailed out. The campground would soon have sewer problems and their bathrooms were already closed since the pumps couldn't work.

We managed to have everything done with lights on but the power was gone midway through closing the slide. I connected the TV and finished the job.

The two batteries and the trailer are 4 1/2 years old.

At that moment I'm thinking it's time to change them - I'm not sure how long they're supposed to last anyway. The trailer was connected to power for two days when we had the power outage, and the batteries didn't last 8 hours of almost no use (except fridge and maybe heater).

When I got home the fridge turned off as soon as I turned off the TV engine. At this moment I'm already planning to use my electric tongue jack with the TV running and plugged in. However, after we unloaded the trailer and everything I completely forgot about that and I unhitched with the power plug disconnected. Once I realized that I immediately tried to use the jack and it worked fine - in fact, I had just used it to unhitch. What the heck?

Inside the trailer everything is dead - lights, fridge, slide. I press the battery button inside to see how much is left and the lights flash for a second but they quickly turn off, indicating a dead battery. Still, the jack works like there's no tomorrow - I double checked after that.

Any idea what's going on here? Is it really time to change my batteries?

[westend]

I'd suggest to replace the fuse holder and fuse with a self-resetting circuit breaker. That will allow more than one large draw event. Also, get a decent disconnect switch. I have Cooper-Bussman disconnects but this Blue Sea disconnect is cheaper: Blue Sea Master Disconnect

[RedRocket204]

chracatoa wrote:

SoundGuy wrote:
And the batteries are fine ... right? :W

They are. I always take them home during the winter and keep them charged. I wonder when they're going to die down.

Incidentally, I had a battery disconnect once and for some reason or another it stopped conducting electricity and I had to remove it.

Now that you found your open which was the real issue, go and get the batteries load tested. You asked about Interstate batteries earlier in the thread... your local Costco should have them IIRC. You do have a Costco around Seattle don't you? 😉

[Lynnmor]

chracatoa wrote:


Incidentally, I had a battery disconnect once and for some reason or another it stopped conducting electricity and I had to remove it.

The kind with the big red key are pure junk, I've had them fail in one season. The problem is corrosion, they hold rain water inside.

[chracatoa]

SoundGuy wrote:
And the batteries are fine ... right? :W

They are. I always take them home during the winter and keep them charged. I wonder when they're going to die down.

Incidentally, I had a battery disconnect once and for some reason or another it stopped conducting electricity and I had to remove it.

[SoundGuy]

chracatoa wrote:
Found the problem. The inline fuse blew and I actually have to replace its casing.

And the batteries are fine ... right? :W

[chracatoa]

Would this be a good replacement?

[chracatoa]

Found the problem. The inline fuse blew and I actually have to replace its casing. It had a 30 amp fuse. Is this a 12 or 16 gauge wire?

[avoidcrowds]

Might it also be a faulty ground between the battery and the trailer (since jack is wired directly to battery and works great)? Or, corrosion or loose connection in the positive between the battery and the trailer? Loose connections could be causing that behavior, I believe.

[SoundGuy]

2012Coleman wrote:
Take a chill pill soundGuy. When does it ever hurt to check the water level in a battery :S - your favorite emoticon...

No chill pill needed here :R ... my comments have nothing to do with checking water level but rather your comment about the battery case being bowed out. The OP has given no indication at all that this is the case and in fact has indicated just the opposite - his batteries power his tongue jack just fine and only the interior 12 vdc system isn't working. That doesn't describe dead batteries with a bowed out case but batteries that are still able to maintain a charge and a resettable circuit breaker that has opened. :S:S:S:S

[2012Coleman]

SoundGuy wrote:

2012Coleman wrote:
Did you think to check the water level in the batteries? If low and the battery sides are bowed out, then it's toasted.

OK, one more time ... the OP said clearly in his original post ...

"Inside the trailer everything is dead - lights, fridge, slide. I press the battery button inside to see how much is left and the lights flash for a second but they quickly turn off, indicating a dead battery. Still, the jack works like there's no tomorrow - I double checked after that."

WHY are so many of you so quick to conclude the OP's batteries are toast and need to be replaced?!! :h Dead batteries don't power a tongue jack "like there's no tomorrow"! :S The circuit breaker wired into the cable running to the battery positive feed is the likely culprit because with it open the batteries cannot only not feed power to the inside of the trailer but they can't likewise receive a charge from the converter's charging circuit. However, the tongue jack which is wired directly to the batteries will still work if the batteries themselves still have an adequate reserve. Good grief! :R

Take a chill pill soundGuy. When does it ever hurt to check the water level in a battery :S - your favorite emoticon...

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

OP, please take SoundGuys's advice.

You have an open in the main trailer's 12V circuit somewhere. After you fix the open, then if you want you can have your batteries load tested to see how good they are. Good luck.

[SoundGuy]

2012Coleman wrote:
Did you think to check the water level in the batteries? If low and the battery sides are bowed out, then it's toasted.

OK, one more time ... the OP said clearly in his original post ...

"Inside the trailer everything is dead - lights, fridge, slide. I press the battery button inside to see how much is left and the lights flash for a second but they quickly turn off, indicating a dead battery. Still, the jack works like there's no tomorrow - I double checked after that."

WHY are so many of you so quick to conclude the OP's batteries are toast and need to be replaced?!! :h Dead batteries don't power a tongue jack "like there's no tomorrow"! :S The circuit breaker wired into the cable running to the battery positive feed is the likely culprit because with it open the batteries cannot only not feed power to the inside of the trailer but they can't likewise receive a charge from the converter's charging circuit. However, the tongue jack which is wired directly to the batteries will still work if the batteries themselves still have an adequate reserve. Good grief! :R

[2012Coleman]

Did you think to check the water level in the batteries? If low and the battery sides are bowed out, then it's toasted.

[chracatoa]

My next question is... where can I find those interstate RV marine batteries? I was looking online and it seems I have to go to a dealer. Dealers are at least an hour away from where I live. I'm guessing we don't find those at O'Reilly's or something?