1st Trip ever in Pop Up

[Heymirth]

Drove to a local campsite and have a first time camping experience.
After an hour my lights and fan do not work. I had a 3 week old, Fully charged new battery.
Now the battery is dead. All other electrical works, fuses are good. Note-- the battery's had wing nuts on them, tight, I just wanted to show the way the wires were hooked up.

I took a photo of how the battery is hooked up.
What would cause the battery to be dead that quickly ? The converter???
What can I check or do

[510Rick]

Originally Posted by Heymirth

Drove to a local campsite and have a first time camping experience.
After an hour my lights and fan do not work. I had a 3 week old, Fully charged new battery.
Now the battery is dead. All other electrical works, fuses are good.

I took a photo of how the battery is hooked up.
What would cause the battery to be dead that quickly ? The converter???
What can I check or do

Attachment 139952

This is a joke right ?

[Heymirth]

No. Not a joke. But the battery cables were tightened down- not loose.
The black and white are from the winch and Camper and the reds from the winch and Camper

[510Rick]

Originally Posted by Heymirth

No. Not a joke. But the battery cables were tightened down- not loose.
The black and white are from the winch and Camper and the reds from the winch and Camper

Im no electrical engineer but Id say either somethings on that shouldnt be or maybe somethings running on battery power that should be on propane or you just got a bad battery . Someone else will chime in soon enough to let you know if you got the right color wires going to the right terminals . Follow those two wires hooked to the negative battery post and see if 1 is grounded and 1 is not .

[510Rick]

check this out

battery cables: is black positive? - CrossRoads RV Family Forum

[Heymirth]

Thanks for helping. Here is more info

Coming out of the winch is a Red and Black and coming out of the Camper is a Red and White.

So there are 2 reds hooked to positive and a black and white hooked up to negatives

[f5moab]

What is the actual amp hour of the battery; I cannot read it from the photo (looks like 80)?
What were you powering with the battery? Fridge (on DC), lights only, heater, etc.?

[rockfordroo]

You mentioned the converter. If you are hooked up to shore power (110VAC), then your converter should be running your lights and fan and charging the battery.

[Heymirth]

Originally Posted by f5moab

What is the actual amp hour of the battery; I cannot read it from the photo (looks like 80)?
What were you powering with the battery? Fridge (on DC), lights only, heater, etc.?

I am hooked up to Shore power and since the battery went dead I googled and read something about the converter?

Should the fuse panel in the pop up have the fan constantly working--- it's not working at all

[Heymirth]

Originally Posted by f5moab

What is the actual amp hour of the battery; I cannot read it from the photo (looks like 80)?
What were you powering with the battery? Fridge (on DC), lights only, heater, etc.?

It says marine cranking amps 675 and 90 reserve

[rockfordroo]

Check all your breakers and fuses. You probably have at least one 110VAC outlet; is that working? If you were hooked up to shore power, your battery would/should NOT have been doing anything except being charged, so it can't "have gone dead." It should have been just another load on your converter, like the lights and fan.

Suggest you download The 12 Volt Side of Life and read it.

Forest River Forums - Downloads - 12 volt side of Life

I've attached a somewhat better version of his pic on page 2:

[Heymirth]

The lights and fan don't work. All the plugs and fridge ( set to 120) work

[rockfordroo]

Originally Posted by Heymirth

The lights and fan don't work. All the plugs and fridge ( set to 120) work

Three possible issues:
1. The breaker that feeds the converter has tripped
2. The fuse(s) from the converter have blown
3. The converter itself is dead.

Is this a new popup or a used one? If new, I wouldn't expect the converter to have died (but it's still possible), but on a used one, you never know.

UPDATE: #4: My old Coleman didn't, but I understand some newer PUPs have a switch that de-energizes the 12 volt stuff when the top is put down. If you have one, the switch may need adjusting, since it WAS working initially. I can't tell you where the switch would be, but I'd guess near one of the roof supports.

If you post the make/model/year of your PUP, someone with the same/similar model might be able to help.

[f5moab]

Switch for ceiling 12 volt circuits can be under the galley for non HW trailers, and there might also be another switch for water pump control. My popup has two, both are used to prevent power to the overhead lights to prevent the lights from burning the canvas if left on when the roof is closed and to make sure the water pump is off when roof closed.

For HW trailers not sure where the switch is located.

[kraftengr]

In our first popup, (a 206 LTD) we constantly had a problem with the wire to the safety switch under the flip-over galley disconnecting. I finally had to secure it more aggressively. In any case, if your 120 volt receptacles are working, the problem may be that or something related to the switch instead of a dead battery.

[Big Vic]

If the battery is actually dead (less than 11 volts), either the converter is not working (to charge the battery), or the converter is not connected to the battery (battery cut off switch may be off, a fuse/breaker off or a loose wire somewhere), or the battery is bad and not capable of holding a charge, or there is something draining the battery via a bad connection.

[Dan n Gerda]

We owned an Apache pop up for several years and camped across the USA with our 2, then young daughters, and often included my fantastic German Father In Law and Mother In Law (headed for new military assignments)! Slept 6 adults! We donated it to a homeless family just after Hurricane Andrew! The Army had me in school in Ft Lauderdale at the time! We loved that pop up as an integral part of the family! Now we hit the road in our 2016 Forester MBS!

Here's a thought for you! My wife and I restored a 1991 VW Vanagon and camped up and down the West Coast off and on for 5 years, then sold it two years ago and bought the Forester! We were tired of draining our back up battery! So, we went solar for $45.00 (window panel). And never had the problem again! We have one for a car! We also have a new one that sits on the dash of the Forester or suction cupped to a side window when sitting and connected to batteries! No problems for the past two years! Everything cranks right up when we pick it up at our outdoor storage facility as well!

First you need to ensure all of your electrics are working and your battery cables are not corroded and are tightened properly!
V/r,
Dan, Gerda, & Sprinkles

[Bluepill]

1. Your wiring is correct.

2. When you say the battery was fully charged, when did you charge it, how did you charge it, and how did you confirm that it was, indeed, fully charged?

3. If you have electric brakes, confirm that the Break Away Switch plunger is fully inserted in the switch. Otherwise the brakes can stay on all the time.

4. Do you have a digital voltmeter that you can use to troubleshoot?

[Grumpy7159]

+1 on the break away switch. Did you measure battery voltage across the battery terminals or did you use the battery monitor lights. The battery monitor lights may be taped into the circuit after your problem. On shore power their should be 13-14 volts DC on the battery if it has a charger on it. Something I would try is to disconnect the battery and connect a 12 volt battery charger on the cables. with everything off you should draw "0" amps.
If you have an amp draw start pulling fuses and turning off breakers. When the draw disappears you have found your problem circuit. Slowly turn on your breakers on the good circuits and watch for an amperage increase. This will check for another problem in case you had two bad circuits.

[OLDNAVY]

Be sure your galley is in operational position. (Switch underneath galley will shut off all DC unless engaged)