multiple problems with new Forest River

Campin Family of 5 wrote:


BATTERY: It only came with one battery and it does not hold a charge! I keep it plugged in at home and the first night camping the meter is down to 1/2! We FROZE in Yosemite last week because the heater would shut off. This was after running the genny for 6 hours to recharge and bringing a second battery to help. Could there be a short or draw in the system reducing the charge?


FRESH WATER TANK: Our old Wildwood had a 50 gal tank with no problems and this new one says it has 40 gal. I leave with a full tank but I think half of it goes out the overflow tube as we're driving!

Anyone else notice water coming out of the new overflow tubes? Can I put a shut off valve on it?


HEATER: With the new LED Dometic thermostat, I end up having the heater go on but also the AC is blowing too!

Not too cold of air but still it goes on. The heater vents are a joke too, not much air flow in the main area and bedroom. The small circular vent in the bathroom is the one that's working well,

Any ideas?

Hi,

I sense your frustration, getting a new camper should not be this way, but it happens too many times. I'll type on some things that might be part of the problem to help you find some resolution. I do not know your specific camper so I may be off base on the AC unit but the rest should be close.

On the battery, you did not say what size it was but I'm assuming the dealer put a single standard group 24 battery in. Yes/No?

Here are a few things that can be causing the problem.

1. Most all lead acid brand new deep cycle batteries will not reach 100% state of charge right away. You might get 90% maybe 85% from the get go. The battery needs many drain and recharge cycles before you will be able to get full capacity out of the battery when recharged. On this issue, all you can do is realize this happens until it gets broke in and deal with it accordingly. Increasing the size and amount of batteries will help but they too will be under capacity until broke in if they are new.

2. You did not say if your camper has LED lights, does it or does it still have the older 921 bulbs that draw 1.3 amps each? LED's are almost a mandate with cold weather camping and the furnace unless you have a real big battery bank.

3. Do you have a Dometic fridge and does this fridge have a "Climate control" heat strip in it for gasket condensation and is it turned on? They have a small rocker switch in the top left of the door seal area of the freezer. If you are boondocking make sure that is off.

4. Is the TV power antenna booster on? It draws power even if you are not using the TV.

5. Your 6 hours on the generator, yes that is a good amount of time, but if the battery is drawn down and the converter kicks into boost you may only get 80% to maybe 90% of charge. It take more then 6 hours at standard charge to get to 100% and then again, you have a new battery that is not going to get to 100% anyway for a while. Unless you have rewired the battery cables to be extra heavy, you can only pump so much current into the battery anyway with the standard size most RV manufactures provide

6. When you added the 2nd battery did you add it in parallel? or just change the battery? , Was the added battery a new one or an older one? When you wired it in, was the new dealer battery first on the battery cables and then you jumped to the second battery? The first new battery will shut the converter down to standard charge since it senses that new battery and the other battery that could take more charge can't get it. By changing the way you create 2 batteries in parallel with where the battery cables are, one main lead on the first battery and the other cable on the second battery and with parallel jumpers between the 2, it helps them charge and draw more equal.

7. Something does not sound right with your AC unit and the furnace. If you were boondocking, well the AC unit uses 120 VAC to run the fan motor? Well in most cases anyway they have 120 vac fan motors unless you have something different. If by chance that AC unit has some kind of fan in it that is 12 VDC, running the furnace motor and another motor in the AC unit is going to drain down that single or double group 24 battery real fast. You should sort out how to not have the AC fan run when boondocking. Just use the furnace motor blower.

Most Dometic units unless maybe there is a heat strip are normally interlocked so you cannot run the AC and furnace at the same time. There is an input on the AC control board to inhibit the furnace if the AC is on. We need more info on the make/model and options your AC has to help better.

8. When you say the meter showed 1/2 full on the battery, is that a tank gage LED light system or a real volt meter saying the exact voltage of the battery? The LED light gages are not that accurate compared to a true volt meter. If it was a volt meter, what was the voltage? And what was the resting voltage with nothing on in the camper?

The heat ducts, what BTU rating is the furnace?

The 40 gallon system, well that is what they built on that model. And notice I said, 40 gallon "system". Meaning 6 gallons is in the water heater, about 2 to 3 gallons in the piping and only 31 gallons in the tank that you can actually pump and use. That said, on our camper it has a 40 gallon system and we can go 4 days on that tank with showers and dishes once a day. I had to change some things to be able to not waste so much, like a different shower head with a single shut off and a choke/ valve setup on the bathroom sink faucet to not waste as much water. And only do dishes once a day.

The water tank loosing water, I have heard of this. You will have to look how the vent hose is routed. Some start a siphon and that will drain it quick, others splash out. If you start out at home with the with the system primed full and the tank full, and arrive at camp with 1/4 or more tank lost, well that's a problem and the tank vent is a normal suspect.

Hope this helps.

John