Battery ReCharge

I bought the digital multimeter, which, as you suggested, is much easier to read. It came up with 12.9 not hooked to AC and 12.95 to 13.05 hooked to AC.
But then, for a reason I don't understand, the TT worked just on the battery. I am not feeling this is a solved problem because I did not really do anything. When I took the battery off yesterday, I needed a wrench so I don't think it was a loose connection. I was looking for a fuse yesterday and therefore moved some wires. Perhaps that was it? Either way, I am going to keep an eye on it.
Thanks for the help with the multimeter. I appreciate your time.

Oops,double post.

RoyB wrote:
The easiest way to tell is use your multimeter set to DC VOLTS and measure across the battery terminals with the battery hooked up


Let us know how you make out - will walk you thru the things to do to test it again...

Roy Ken

Excellent post! Very well written and informative.

Thanks Roy for the confirmation on the setup. I will get a digital as you suggest. I found this one when I was cleaning out my father's garage, so I have no idea how old it is.
I did notice the reading was the same under load without the tt plugged in as it was with the tt plugged in. I will look for the blown fuses or some other type of disconnect. Thanks again.

rcosta wrote:
Photo of my multi meter

Thanks for the help with the mulit meter. I get what you are saying for the most part. If you could though take a look at the meter I have. There are 4 places to put the wires. Have I chosen the correct 2? Also, there does not seem to be a place for 20 amps, so I put it at 25.

This is an old meter, so maybe it is obsolete.

Thanks again.

Like I said you need to find an electrical person who can show you how to use a meter and how to test for things. There are many around.

Don't be fooling around with that meter if you don't know what you are doing. You might get hurt or burn up your meter.

Jerry

Yes, your meter is set up properly, but you really should use a digital meter. A digital meter will show you the slight difference between 12.3V and 12.6 volts.

They are usually free at Harbor Freight. I have over a dozen of them, most still in the package. Seems every time I go into Harbor Freight they give me a meter! (Last night I went to buy another hitch hauler and they gave me a nice set of screw drivers)

Photo of my multi meter

Thanks for the help with the mulit meter. I get what you are saying for the most part. If you could though take a look at the meter I have. There are 4 places to put the wires. Have I chosen the correct 2? Also, there does not seem to be a place for 20 amps, so I put it at 25.

This is an old meter, so maybe it is obsolete.

Thanks again.

The easiest way to tell is use your multimeter set to DC VOLTS and measure across the battery terminals with the battery hooked up normal. If the battery is fully charged it will read 12.6-7VDC.

Then go plug-in the shore power cable to 120VAC. Then read the battery terminals again using your multimeter and it should read 13.6VDC telling you the converter/charger in your trailer is charging your battery..

Your inexpensive multimeter ($7-$20 from WALMART/LOWES) will look similar to this with two probe leads...


Rotate the center knob from OFF to the DC area to a voltage setting of 20VDC or more.


Touch the probe on the two battery terminals and it will read the DC battery voltage on the scale..
Will look something like this on the digital readout...


This will be reading 12.6VDC if you have the DC VOLTS selected on the lever switch. If your battery reading is below 10.5VDC then the battery is at zero percent charge state. When most batteries get below 12.0VDC and are not immediately re-charged back to their 90% charge state (12.5-6VDC) they will go bad on you pretty quick.

Be sure to go back to OFF on your multimeter when done reading as some multimeter do not have auto shut down and will drain the internal battery if you don't turn it off when not in use.

If you do not see the increase of DC VOLTAGE goto 13.6VDC then there is a disconnect between the Power Distribution Panel in the trailer and the battery terminals. This can be a blown fuse near the battery or two blown fuses on the power distribution panel labeled REV POLARITY or a bad connection at the battery terminal.

Learning to use your multimeter will pay you back many times over. It takes the guessing out of things...

Let us know how you make out - will walk you thru the things to do to test it again...

Roy Ken

Might also get an electrical person to help you.

It's best to have your battery tested under load. Autozone or similar will test it free. They can also tell you if you have a cell bad in the tested battery.