camper battery won't charge

[bike4mee]

Hi
My camper battery will not charge by the truck alternator. I have a 2 year old FWC Kestral on a Tundra. I did work fine but not in the latest outing. I checked the inline fuses on the battery, and the IOTA power converter. breakers are fine also. The battery will take a charge from a plug-in charger. Any ideas? I'm not good with voltmeters and things so keep it simple please. thanks

 

[K7MDL]

You want to trace the path of the voltage between your truck battery, it's fuse or breaker, to the connector in your truck bed, make sure it is plugged in tight and is not corroded. Pull the plug and measure all pins inside for 12VDC. You can put the negative lead on any bare metal part of the truck, and probe each pin in the truck bed connector. Chances are if you have 12VDC on any one of them, it is probably the right one.

If it is good to that connector then focus on the next place in line in the camper. You might have a charging relay in your camper if it is not in your truck itself, and you can measure the voltage there. One side of the relay contacts go to the camper battery, the other the truck. If the truck is running and you do not have the *exact* same voltage on both side of the relay, you have your problem there. A running truck or charging battery should be close to 14VDC. A non running truck or non-charging battery should be 12.8VDC or less. If you have no voltage on one side of the relay, then trace back to the source. Be suspect of all connectors, they can come loose or break inside. The truck connector in particular.

 

[Stan@FourWheel]

Did Four Wheel Campers install your camper for you ?

Or did you do the camper wiring yourself ?

Having a little more information will help me guide you in the right direction on what to look for.

Thanks





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[Ted]

I've had that happen to me a couple of times. After checking fuses, etc. I opened the access door to tie-downs and found the plug from the camper to the truck bed had come loose. Just needed to be plugged in again. Seems obvious to check that first now but it is one of those out of sight - out of mind kind of things.

 

[bike4mee]

Hey
I did feel the plug and it seems in there. It's hard to see it. Yes Stan, 4 wheel did the install in Reno. It has been working. Is there more fuses to check?

 

[Stan@FourWheel]

1. Check the wiring that is attached to your truck battery. You should have a black wire attached to the - post, and a white wire attched to the + post. Wiggle the wires to make sure they are tight and not corroded.

2. With a simple 12v wire tester, make sure that the small thermal breaker on the firewall in your engine compartment (the small part we installed) has 12v power to both of the posts. This will have a white wire attached to one side, and a white wire attached to the other side. This is a thermal / resetable fuse.

3. Check to make sure you have 12 volt power on both terminals of the battery separator back in the camper when the truck is running.

4. Check to see if there are any in-line fuses where the camper wiring attaches to the aux. camper battery under your couch. Check fuses and replace if needed.

5. Check the wiring connections on the top of the aux. camper battery under your couch to make sure they are tight.

6. If you can, check the Marinco plug in the truck bed (camper to truck bed plug). This might be hard to get to unless the camper is off the truck.

Just guessing, but most all of the time when the aux. camper battery is not getting recharged when driving, the missing link will be located at the "truck bed to camper" plug.

It is almost better to take the plug off the camper wiring, gently unscrew the plug from the truck bed, check the connections, clean the connections, and retighten and put it all back together.

If you have any other questions please call Terry in our service department.

FWC SERVICE

1-800-242-1442

ASK FOR TERRY


Thanks so much !

 

[bike4mee]

Hi
Thanks for the info. I started checking thing and discovered I do have power to the battery. The best way to check this is while the truck is running all the monitor lights are lit indicating full charge. When I shut the truck off the lights go to 1 weak indicator. I guess this means my battery won't hold a charge. I had hoped to get more than 2 years out of my battery. It doesnt seem servicable
1. What is a good battery that is affordable and will last? does it have to be marine?
2. should the battery come inside in the winter?

 

[pods8]

1. What is a good battery that is affordable and will last? does it have to be marine?
2. should the battery come inside in the winter?


If it's mounted inside the camper and not in an enclosed/vented to the outside box then an AGM battery is most appropriate. Some folks like and find good value in the sears diehard platinum AGM battery. I like to go to a local battery supply place and see what kind of deals they have an any AGM deep cycle batteries. I got my batteries quite cheaply because they were a product line closeout at one place I visited. Ideally you want "deep cycle" rather than "marine" because "marine" is usually a compromise between a "deep cycle" and a "starting" battery. You can google the differences if you want but long story short a deep cycle battery is meant to be drawn down slowly and deeper. A starting battery is meant to deliver high amps to a starter quickly and then be promptly recharged.

Battery doesn't necessarily need to come inside (unless you're getting really cold temps) but more importantly you do need to keep it charged. It will self dissipate over time so it needs a shot of charge every so often otherwise you'll shorten it's life. I'll usually plug my camper into a shore power charger once a month if it sitting.

 

[Phird05]

Hi
My camper battery will not charge by the truck alternator. I have a 2 year old FWC Kestral on a Tundra. I did work fine but not in the latest outing. I checked the inline fuses on the battery, and the IOTA power converter. breakers are fine also. The battery will take a charge from a plug-in charger. Any ideas? I'm not good with voltmeters and things so keep it simple please. thanks


Before you spend money on a new battery set up check the point where the camper guys tied the truck bed outlet wires into the truck wiring harness. Mine became so corroded there was nothing but blue oxidized dust. All I did was put new connectors on and the batteries charged up great. It's one of those junctions that is nearly impossible to keep dry. I tried to tape it good and also used the silicon paste that you can kind of jam into the connectors in an effort to keep it dry. I am convinced the Magnesium Chloride they use in the winter out here accelerated the issue. My camper is barely 3 years old. Anyway, it was an easy fix for me.

I hope this helps.

Good Camping, Paul

 

[White Dog]

Here are a couple of tricks I've learned over the years. First, buy a brand name deep cycle battery. Deep cycle are the only commonly available batteries that will take repeated discharges and recharges. AGM makes sense for the inside of the camper. Find a good dealer with good advice. My dealer is a bit crusty but his advice is always sound and he always has time to answer my questions. Second, make sure the battery is fully charged before storing. I suggest a good charger that knows when the battery is completely charged. Cheap chargers are usually just that. A few minutes on the internet is a great place to start as is a good dealer. Finally, the battery will slowly discharge by itself over time (internal leakage) but if left connected, it can very slowly leak through the electrical circuits of the camper (external leakage). There really are no perfect insulators I've been told (okay, I know, a vacuum is a perfect insulator) and the battery will slowly discharge through the wiring. If you have a DC amp meter you can measure this. Over time, a connected battery will go completely flat - a bad thing. So, disconnect the battery when putting it into storage. My dealer recommended doing a charge top-up every 4 to 8 weeks. That seems to work for me. My batteries typically last for 6 or 7 years before I notice a significant loss of capacity. One final point. Never let your batteries completely discharge, even deep cycle ones. My trailer setup has an automatic cutout at about 10 VDC I think. If you leave something on and the battery goes completely dead flat, its days will be numbered.

 

[pods8]

My trailer setup has an automatic cutout at about 10 VDC I think.


10.5V is a completely drained battery so you're trailer would need to cutout above that for sure. A good cutout in my book would be about 12V which is about 55% battery depletion. Good practice to not really take the battery much lower than that.

 

[White Dog]

10.5V is a completely drained battery so you're trailer would need to cutout above that for sure. A good cutout in my book would be about 12V which is about 55% battery depletion. Good practice to not really take the battery much lower than that.


Very true. Typo error on my part. The factory setting for auto-cutoff on my ProSine inverter/charger is 11 VDC. That should be about 5% of charge left. In thinking about it, that may be a bit low. I should probably reset the limit to around 11.5 VDC (20%). I use 2 X 6 VDC golf cart batteries in the trailer. They can take to cycling according to my dealer. I've had 4 seasons living with them 4 months per year and they still seem strong.

 

[pods8]

Very true. Typo error on my part. The factory setting for auto-cutoff on my ProSine inverter/charger is 11 VDC. That should be about 5% of charge left. In thinking about it, that may be a bit low. I should probably reset the limit to around 11.5 VDC (20%). I use 2 X 6 VDC golf cart batteries in the trailer. They can take to cycling according to my dealer. I've had 4 seasons living with them 4 months per year and they still seem strong.


Just an FYI, you are never going to be able to or supposed to actually use 100% of your battery capacity. Most all manufacturer's recommend only discharging down to 50% and never below 80% (they often state below 80% will start doing permanent damage, aka shortening the life span of the batteries). Either you misinterpreted what the dealer meant by a "cycle" or you shouldn't take future advice from him if he's saying it's okay to completely depleted a battery, I suspect he meant more along the lines of a 50% depletion.

 

[White Dog]

Just an FYI, you are never going to be able to or supposed to actually use 100% of your battery capacity. Most all manufacturer's recommend only discharging down to 50% and never below 80% (they often state below 80% will start doing permanent damage, aka shortening the life span of the batteries). Either you misinterpreted what the dealer meant by a "cycle" or you shouldn't take future advice from him if he's saying it's okay to completely depleted a battery, I suspect he meant more along the lines of a 50% depletion.


Thanks pods8! Every once in a while its good to have someone challenge your beliefs. Its a way to pay attention and learn.

I went to the website of Trojan batteries, the brand I happen to use. Here is their information on battery maintenance:

Trojan Battery Maintenance Advice

They agree completely with pods8. I had assumed (always foolish) that the low cutoff voltage in my ProSine inverter was set to protect the batteries. The inverter manual tells how to adjust the low cutoff level but not why the function is there. I phoned Xantrec, the folks who make the inverter, and found out the low voltage cutoff is there to protect the circuitry in the inverter not the batteries (makes me wonder why its adjustable).

Anyway, take pods8's advice, not mine and check out what Trojan has to say just to be safe.

 

[White Dog]

Here's a little chart my brother sent me which now lives on the back of a cupboard beside the digital readout from my inverter. He says the voltage should be read when there is a very little load on the batteries, like a single bulb on.

 

[JohnF]

He says the voltage should be read when there is a very little load on the batteries, like a single bulb on.


Better if nothing is on the battery and it has had time to stabilize. (temp etc)

I know, that isn't necessarily practical, but science guys can be nitpicky. If you've seen the battery charge indicators that use lamps of some sort, like green-yellow-red; they basically try and follow a function similar to the chart. There is one more state - no lights - too dead to even call dead. Those batteries can be a good source of lead.