Help with electrical please

[zulu52]

Hello,
I have a 2008 Northstar Arrow 8.5.
The last time I had it out was for a 6200 mile trip in 42 days.
Everything worked fine.
That was 10 months ago.

I was just checking things out today and am having trouble. I consider myself a pretty good do it your selfer.

Except for anything electrical. My downfall.

I am plugged into shore power full time at home. I check the battery for water often.
Today I had no power and a very weak battery.
Finally figured out it was the socket. Plugged into a different socket with a 100' #10 extension cord. I know 100' is pretty long.

Now the A/C comes on and is running well.
Refrigerator flashes on and shuts off.
Happijacks won't work at all.
Microwave works.

Every time there is a voltage change, like turning on a light, the gas alarm sounds, then goes off. Propane has been shut off for 10 months.

I don't have any idea how to even trouble shoot this.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Zulu

[ticki2]

zulu52 wrote:
Update!

I pulled the battery and put it on a charger. It totally fried it in about3 hours. Smoke was coming out of it!

Bought a new battery and installed it today.
Now everything works!

It certainly was the battery.
Thanks for all the input.

Zulu

Now that everything is working I would check the output of the converter to make sure it is not over charging the battery being plugged in all the time . As far as the old battery , cells can and do just fail .

[zulu52]

TxGearhead wrote:

zulu52 wrote:
Update!

I pulled the battery and put it on a charger. It totally fried it in about3 hours. Smoke was coming out of it!

Bought a new battery and installed it today.
Now everything works!

It certainly was the battery.
Thanks for all the input.

Zulu

I just smoked 2 trolling motor batteries on my bay boat. They were 5+ years old and about due to die.
Congrats on being the one who is building the Alamo cannon carriage. The now ex-Alamo public relations lady spoke to our Liberty County Historical Commission last year. I read about the cannons getting restored. It's all a bit controversial but probably best.

TxGearhead,
PM sent.
Zulu

[TxGearhead]

zulu52 wrote:
Update!

I pulled the battery and put it on a charger. It totally fried it in about3 hours. Smoke was coming out of it!

Bought a new battery and installed it today.
Now everything works!

It certainly was the battery.
Thanks for all the input.

Zulu

I just smoked 2 trolling motor batteries on my bay boat. They were 5+ years old and about due to die.
Congrats on being the one who is building the Alamo cannon carriage. The now ex-Alamo public relations lady spoke to our Liberty County Historical Commission last year. I read about the cannons getting restored. It's all a bit controversial but probably best.

[zulu52]

2chiefsRus wrote:

zulu52 wrote:
My first suspicion is the age of the battery. It is 3 years 8 months old.
It has been hooked to shore power it's entire life while at home.

Is it a bad thing to leave the trickle charger on all the time?

Zulu

I thought you said that the outlet you were plugged into wasn't working? If that is true, depending upon how long that was, it could definitely cause a totally dead battery with a premature death. 3 years 8 months isn't really old for a battery depending upon the type of battery.

I thought the outlet wasn't working because nothing was working in the TC.
I ran a 100' extension cord to a different outlet and got the A/C to turn on but some other things wouldn't work.

Now I'm plugged back in to the original plug and everything is working.

I still bought a new plug but haven't installed it yet.
Zulu

[2chiefsRus]

zulu52 wrote:
My first suspicion is the age of the battery. It is 3 years 8 months old.
It has been hooked to shore power it's entire life while at home.

Is it a bad thing to leave the trickle charger on all the time?

Zulu

I thought you said that the outlet you were plugged into wasn't working? If that is true, depending upon how long that was, it could definitely cause a totally dead battery with a premature death. 3 years 8 months isn't really old for a battery depending upon the type of battery.

[zulu52]

My first suspicion is the age of the battery. It is 3 years 8 months old.
It has been hooked to shore power it's entire life while at home.

Is it a bad thing to leave the trickle charger on all the time?

Zulu

[2chiefsRus]

zulu52 wrote:
Update!

I pulled the battery and put it on a charger. It totally fried it in about3 hours. Smoke was coming out of it!

Bought a new battery and installed it today.
Now everything works!

It certainly was the battery.
Thanks for all the input.

Zulu

make sure you monitor your new battery until you know for sure why your old battery died. Unless you have been checking the battery as it charges with a tester, you still don't know WHY your old battery went bad - it could have been the bad outlet, or your converter/charger didn't charge the battery or maybe your battery just got old and used up.

[zulu52]

Update!

I pulled the battery and put it on a charger. It totally fried it in about3 hours. Smoke was coming out of it!

Bought a new battery and installed it today.
Now everything works!

It certainly was the battery.
Thanks for all the input.

Zulu

[Eric_Lisa]

Keep in mind the converter does NOT put out enough power to run high load devices like the jacks. It charges the battery, and the battery has the amp storage to handle the high load devices.

You might get by running one jack at a time off just the converter, if you are in a desperate pinch. But it is known to be hard on the converter - putting that kind of load on it - so get a good battery in place. You don't want this to do a bad-to-worse on you and have the converter go out too.

HTH,
-Eric

[work2much]

^ What he said

Put a meter on the output side of the converter charger while plugged in and see if it's working. If it's not check the 120v circuit that it is plugged into..If the 120 is working and the converter charger isn't you have your problem.

[theoldwizard1]

zulu52 wrote:

Every time there is a voltage change, like turning on a light, the gas alarm sounds, then goes off. Propane has been shut off for 10 months.

I don't have any idea how to even trouble shoot this.

They alarm is going off because the voltage is momentarily dropping below its minimum voltage.

Start by buying a decent digital multimeter (DMM). A decent one will run you about $30-$40. For a few dollars more you can get one with a built-in "amp clamp", like a UNI-T UT210E. You won't need that feature now, but some day you will.

Start by unpluging the AC power. Also disconnect the power from the truck. If the battery voltage in the camper is below 12.8V, it is time for a new battery !

With a fully charged battery (above 12.8V), plug in the shore power. Your converter should be supplying above 13.2V to the battery. If not, check to be sure all connections are clean and tight. If you are still low, it is time for a new converter.

[Harvey51]

A single 100 watt solar panel and a battery monitor that displays per cent of full charge all the time solved all our battery problems.

[d3500ram]

CA Traveler wrote:

2chiefsRus wrote:
check for bad battery - everything that works is 110 volt, everything that doesn't work, works off of 12 volt. Maybe your battery went completely dead while it was plugged into the bad outlet.

take the battery to have it load tested at any auto store.

X2

And don't run the A/C on a 100' extension cord.

^^ X3

When I bought my 2010 Arrow it had 2 year old batteries (not too old, huh?) but I could not go a single night before experiencing similar symptoms.

I would, as suggested, get the batteries load tested, my guess is you might perhaps need new ones. I went with group 27 NAPA RV/ Marine. I got about 6 years on the first set (mostly boon docking) and was 2 years into the next when I sold the camper.

[zulu52]

When I first went in the camper, the lights were very dim.

I just now pulled the battery out and will put it on a charger tomorrow.
The positive connection was very corroded even though I cleaned it about 4 or 5 months ago.

I won't use the 100' #10 extension cord again.

Thanks for the input.

I am very good at what I do.
I build cannon carriages for historical artillery.
I am currently building a very large field carriage for the Alamo for a cannon barrel that actually fought in the famous battle.

But if I plug something in and it doesn't work, I can only scratch my head.:h

I appreciate the help.
I will follow up after I see if this works.

Zulu