Dead Battery and Fuse Breaker Panel

[BogeyMan2014]

Hello all. This is my first post and I just joined the forum!

I recently purchased a 2017 Rockwood Pop Up trailer. This is our first RV so we are still learning things.

We have not taken it out yet due to the winter. I have had it plugged in to the home 120AC for charging for the last 3 months. Yesterday I went to lift the roof up with the PowerWinch and the winch was dead due to the battery being dead! Then I realized prior to driving it home from the dealership I shut off all 4 circuit breaker buttons (30amp main, 15 amp converter, fridge, and AC). So upon turning the 30amp main and 15 amp converter breaker switch on, the battery should now charge. This was my fault.

My question for the forum is while storing the RV at your home and having it plugged into the home 120AC, do I need to have the 30amp main breaker on WITH the 15 amp converter on or can I leave the 15 amp converter breaker on WITHOUT the 30 amp breaker on? Will the 15 amp converter work without the 30amp main on? Also when I have the RV plugged into the 120AC home and both 30amp main and 15amp converter on and its charging the battery I can hear a fan noise. Is this normal? Will the fan always run when the converter is charging the battery or will it turn off once the battery is charged?

Thanks everyone so much

[formerFR]

you're fine, just plug it in and leave everything on - the fan is probably the charger fan to keep it cool when charging

[BogeyMan2014]

Thank you! I am actually re-charging the battery up to par with a separate home charger then will plug back in with RV so the converter doesnt have to work so hard over the next day or so.

[Flybob]

Good choice to charge battery with an external charger. Many times if you try to charge a dead battery with the convertor, it will blow the reverse polarity fuses due to the high inrush of current. Once charged, l would leave the breakers on. There is no advantage to turning them off. Just check battery water ever few months . The fan you hear is an automatic ( temp controlled) cooling fan that will stop once the charging current goes down.

[crunchman12001]

Welcome to the forum from Chagrin Falls, Ohio. Congrats on your new rig.

[CHICKDOE]

the 30 amp main breaker is the master breaker for the distribution panel. it must be on for any of the circuits to have power. if you turn it off none of the circuits will have power. it is the limit for the total amount of power that you can use at any one time. suppose for example you have 4 15 amp circuits in the trailer and all of them are using 10 amps (total of 40 amps). none of them will trip but you will be overloading the power cord and wiring. the 30 amp main circuit breaker will trip and disconnect all of the other circuits. so it must be on as well as the circuit breaker that actually powers the converter for it to work. as mentioned earlier, the fan is a cooling fan in the converter. as it charges the battery it will work less and generate less heat and at some point the fan will go off. just like the radiator fan in you car.

[BogeyMan2014]

Thank you guys all so much. This forum has been a great source of information. Thank you all for taking the time to answer the question. I will leave the 30 amp main and 15 amp converter on. And will plug trailer back in once battery fully charged w home charger. Thanks again

[ben31]

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on obtaining your first rung on the RV ladder! Many of us started out there and somehow our popups grew and grew and somehow morphed in the process!

Good luck and enjoy your new PuP!

[camaraderie]

Welcome! Just FYI...a fully discharged battery that has been that way for a while has often taken damage to its' lifetime cycles and capacity. Doesn't mean you can't use it but be prepared to replace it sooner than you might otherwise expect.
Have fun camping!