Help...

Sandals 123 · 04-19-2019, 07:50 AM

Good morning, we are out for the first time in our 29RKS. We are in a provincial site with no service. When we disconnected the truck last night we got a warning message that Battery One was low... We turned on the fridge and furnace but did not use the lights to try to save the power.

About 4am this morning we had no power at all. Hooked up the power cable to the truck to power up and charge the battery but still not holding a charge...

Any ideas?

Thanks
Alan

Sandals 123 · 04-19-2019, 08:18 AM

The truck is running to charge. My concern is how the battery charge drops immediately when I turn off the truck.

My understanding was that the batteries would power the trailer more several days without charging.

KSH · 04-19-2019, 08:25 AM

I don't think the truck will really put much charge into the battery. Are these old batteries? Check the water level in the battery, any disconnect switch?

Sandals 123 · 04-19-2019, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KSH

I don't think the truck will really put much charge into the battery. Are these old batteries? Check the water level in the battery, any disconnect switch?

Trailer is brand new, there are two 6volt batteries. There is a Battery disconnect switch.

If the truck won't "charge" the battery, how does one recharge?

MattHelm21 · 04-19-2019, 08:39 AM

The cable in the trailer connector is usually not of sufficient gauge to carry much of a charge rate. In a pinch, if you have jumper cables you can use them to carry the trucks charge to the trailer battery but you must be careful sparking near the battery where gases may be present.

Most people use a generator which provides AC voltage that connects to the trailer park connector. In this configuration the trailer’s on board AC/DC converter charges the batteries for you.

Canonman · 04-19-2019, 08:52 AM

Your truck likely is not equipped with an alternator capable of recharging fully depleted batteries let alone the large 6v type that you have. In your new trailer, the LED lights are probably the least power use items. The furnace and fridge (if electric) are the largest draw.
My suggestion, if you haven't done this already, is to find another camper who might borrow you their generator. It will take "shore" power provided by a generator to charge your batteries via the onboard converter.
If your batteries are new and there are no other issues (I'm guessing that everything worked for at least some period of time) charging with a generator should take care of the problem. Charge time could take as long as 4 or more hours so be patient and offer to repay the new camping friend for fuel and maybe a a batch of cookies

Sandals 123 · 04-19-2019, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Canonman

Your truck likely is not equipped with an alternator capable of recharging fully depleted batteries let alone the large 6v type that you have. In your new trailer, the LED lights are probably the least power use items. The furnace and fridge (if electric) are the largest draw.
My suggestion, if you haven't done this already, is to find another camper who might borrow you their generator. It will take "shore" power provided by a generator to charge your batteries via the onboard converter.
If your batteries are new and there are no other issues (I'm guessing that everything worked for at least some period of time) charging with a generator should take care of the problem. Charge time could take as long as 4 or more hours so be patient and offer to repay the new camping friend for fuel and maybe a a batch of cookies

Thanks for the great reply! I had no idea that the truck would not charge the battery. The problem started because I left the master switch on and the batteries were totally dead. I thought the 2 hour drive would solve the problem.

I will wander around the site and see if I can use a generator to solve the problem.

Sandals 123 · 04-19-2019, 11:43 AM

Ok. I got my truck turned around, found my jumper cables... Now, how do I connect to the 2 6v batteries?

HitFactor · 04-19-2019, 12:04 PM

The batteries are wired in series to make the output voltage 12v.

Between the two batteries there is a short cable. Pretend that ( terminals and cable) doesn't exist.

Connect the negative on the 6v trailer battery to the negative on the truck. Connect the positive on the 6v trailer battery to the positive on the truck.

When you connect the positive to the truck, there will be a little sparking.

If you don't understand what I wrote, wait for another description on how to do it.

daveinaz · 04-19-2019, 12:05 PM

question: When I'm connected to shore power, the battery disconnect switch must be turned on in order for elec from the converter/charger to get to the batteries. I don't know if that 's true when the charge is coming from the tow vehicle or not.

HitFactor · 04-19-2019, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveinaz

question: When I'm connected to shore power, the battery disconnect switch must be turned on in order for elec from the converter/charger to get to the batteries. I don't know if that 's true when the charge is coming from the tow vehicle or not.

Probably not, we should be connecting directly to batteries, bypassing the disconnect switch.

Steveo57 · 04-19-2019, 12:34 PM

The batteries will take hours and hours to charge. With two six volt batteries you have about 200ah of capacity. Since they are completely discharged you have a lot of charging to do. Even if you were plugged in and using the converter to recharge the battery it will take 3-4 hours to recharge them to a useable level. The furnace is a big draw on the battery so If you can get by without it your battery will last a lot longer.

HitFactor · 04-19-2019, 12:38 PM

His truck should have far more charging capacity than the on board charger/converter.

Shore power is not an option at this time

**chuckster57** · 04-19-2019, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HitFactor

His truck should have far more charging capacity than the on board charger/converter.

Shore power is not an option at this time

Depends on the gauge of wire used in the TV. Typically it isn’t very heavy and the trailer charger/converter will produce more amps.

HitFactor · 04-19-2019, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chuckster57

Depends on the gauge of wire used in the TV. Typically it isn’t very heavy and the trailer charger/converter will produce more amps.

He is using jumper cables right now.

Steveo57 · 04-19-2019, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HitFactor

His truck should have far more charging capacity than the on board charger/converter.

Shore power is not an option at this time

Best option would be to borrow a generator and plug the trailer into use the onboard converter.

Even using jumper cables the truck alternator can't put out the voltage needed to do a bulk charge. So the charging rate will be relatively slow. He'd probably have to run the truck all day long to get a good charge.

HitFactor · 04-19-2019, 03:39 PM

Geez guys read the thread.

The alternator on his truck probably makes 150 amps or more. Borrowing a generator to make 10 amps of charging is not going to be faster.

Charging rate is not determined by cable gauge. Small gauge will just melt if you try to put too many amps through it.

The truck will most certainly output the correct voltage for charging.

Steveo57 · 04-19-2019, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HitFactor

Geez guys read the thread.

The alternator on his truck probably makes 150 ramps or more. Borrowing a generator to make 10 amps of charging is not going to be faster.

Charging rate is not determined by cable gauge. Small gauge will just melt if you try to put to many amps through it.

The truth will most certainly output the correct voltage for charging.

Charging rate is not determined by the capability of the alternator/charger. It needs the voltage differential to get the higher rates. The onboard converter is capable of putting out 14.4 volts steady to push the higher bulk charge rates.

So it all depends on what the voltage is on the charging vehicle. If the alternator in the charging vehicle is maintaing a high enough voltage at idle then yes it can be as effective as the onboard converter. And at any rate you'd still need to run the truck for 4-6 hours to get the charge back up to a decent state.

HitFactor · 04-19-2019, 04:10 PM

The truck will detect the lower voltage. The voltage regulator will increase voltage. I agree it won't make full voltage, but it will have far more amps. Of course, the truck battery is probably fully charged, since it's in parallel with TT batts the voltage regulator won't detect all the work it could really be performing.

The OP is stuck with dead batteries at a provincial park. He looked for generator opportunities and the jumper cables with his truck is the only option. No shore power either.

If he needed a fast charge disconnecting the truck battery and just connecting to the TT batteries would do it.

We have similar Nuke backgrounds, I'm just not lucky enough to have retired yet.

Steveo57 · 04-19-2019, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HitFactor

The truck will detect the lower voltage. The voltage regulator will increase voltage. I agree it won't make full voltage, but it will have far more amps. Of course, the truck battery is probably fully charged, since it's in parallel with TT batts the voltage regulator won't detect all the work it could really be performing.

The OP is stuck with dead batteries at a provincial park. He looked for generator opportunities and the jumper cables with his truck is the only option. No shore power either.

If he needed a fast charge disconnecting the truck battery and just connecting to the TT batteries would do it.

We have similar Nuke backgrounds, I'm just not lucky enough to have retired yet.

[emoji106] I'm glad we nuked it out! [emoji16]

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