Any electrical experts here?

[squaredave]

There is a 2006 Keystone Springdale that came with some property I purchased. In general it seem to be in pretty good condition except for some strange, never-before-experienced (at least for me) in the electrical system.

1. Battery operated lights trip the breaker after just a few minutes. The cooling fan on the electric panel starts up and acts as a signal that the breaker is about to trip. It matters not which particular lights are in operation.

2. Propane detector starts screaming after the water heater (electric) is turned on for about 15 minutes. At this time, there is no propane at the trailer. The piercing alarm continues until I turn off the w/h switch. This action results in an immediate cessation of the alarm sound.


The unit has a 30 amp system which is plugged in through an adapter to a 50 amp power source.

I could probably use this travel trailer if the bugs can be worked out. Has anyone else experienced such bizarre things from their electrical system?


Dave

[Ron]

Sounds like a dead battery, probably sulfated and will not take a charge, converter is powering up the lights direct, not going through the battery...also low voltage making the detector go off...

[pjhansman]

I'm gonna go with your trailer being haunted......

but Ron's explanation may appear more conventionally acceptable

[Bean]

Yep, He is right. Replace the battery.

Bean

[Bob Landry]

Originally Posted by Ron

Sounds like a dead battery, probably sulfated and will not take a charge, converter is powering up the lights direct, not going through the battery...also low voltage making the detector go off...

It's possible that the battery has one or more bad cells that is putting too much of a load when being charged. Disconnect the battery and see if the problem goes away. When plugged into shore power, the battery is not used and only affects the 12V system to the extent that the converter is charging it. If you still have the same problem with the battery disconnected, then you have a bad converter. That's all it can be. The detectors will also go off if the 12V supply is low, again probably a bad converter.

[squaredave]

The battery problem makes sense. Thanks, folks.

[Bob Landry]

Again, the easy check is to disconnect the battery. All of the 12V stuff should work. If not, the converter is defective.

[squaredave]

After finally getting back to the trailer's electrical problems, I took a look at the battery. What I found was an example of a miracle of sorts. The cover on three of the cells was off and there was debris in those cells. The other three cells were still covered, but there had to have been very little solution in them.

Of course, the miraculous part was that it was producing any juice at all which, according to the sticker by the slideout switch, is required for the slide to operate. The slideout did work (barely), but it was necessary to wait for what was left of the battery to recover to get it to work again.

The new battery is in and all the "haints" seem have be exorcised. You folks were spot on with solving the problem. Thanks again for your help.