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Old 06-29-2015, 01:40 PM   #1
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(Hopefully) simple question

I am still a newbie when it comes to my 2010 Rockwood Roo. I purchased it last year and my trips with it involved electric hookups, or short 2-night trips.

Last week, my wife and I camped out for a 9 day stay. We didn't have any problems until around day 5 when suddenly the refrigerator "check" light came on; the setting had been on "auto".

After perusing the manual, I changed the setting to LP only, but the light was still on. I then removed the access panel and looked at the burner. When turning the switch from off to on, I could see/hear the ignition and a small blue flame would appear, but again, the check light was still on.

I then fired up the generator and all seemed to be well. Long story short, I fought this problem the remainder of the trip and noticed that the problem seemed to surface when my two external batteries dropped below 9 volts.

I also developed a similar problem with the furnace that disappeared once the generator was on, so my question is actually two-fold.

Do the refrigerator and furnace require a certain amount of electricity even though both are running on propane?

Thank you!
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Old 06-29-2015, 01:48 PM   #2
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Yes. On my fridge it quits under 10 volts.
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Old 06-30-2015, 12:56 PM   #3
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the fridge may be on propane but the fridge needs 12 volts to control the propane, older fridges didn't need the 12 volt but went through alot more propane because the amount of cold produced was a direct result of the amount of propane fed to the fridge
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Old 06-30-2015, 01:01 PM   #4
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Both the fridge and the furnace require a min voltage to operate properly. Safety feature shuts them down when voltage drops below threshold.
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Old 06-30-2015, 01:33 PM   #5
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When your frig is on propane, it also needs 12 volts for the control board. What you seen was the control board giving up because the voltage was to low.

Your furnace is the same way, But usually what happens with the furnace, when the voltage goes down, the blower runs slower, and may not activate the safety switch (sail switch) to tell the controller the blower has purged the combustion chamber.

The furnace will not light and on some models, the blower keeps running, and running, and running, and further runs your battery down.

How long does it take you to re-charge the house battery when you run the genny?
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Old 06-30-2015, 01:56 PM   #6
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You should not be allowing your battery to drop to 9V either. Deep cycle battery's don't like , there life is shorted, to be discharged below 50%. That is around 12V. 10.5V is considered 0%. See graph here The 12volt Side of Life (Part 1)
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Old 07-01-2015, 08:45 AM   #7
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Thank you all for the information! From what I gather, it sounds like my fridge and furnace are working as designed and the issue lies with the batteries. They were purchased new last year and were stored in the garage during the winter. Before putting them back on the trailer this year, I tested the voltage, found them to be 12v, so assumed they were good to go. We operated the lights and water pump very little, so were surprised to see the batteries drop like that. When I run the generator, they seem to go back up to 12v fairly quickly.

I'm not really sure where to go from here. Suggestions?

Thank you!
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Old 07-01-2015, 08:55 AM   #8
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You need to pull the batteries out, take them to a shop that can put a load/stress test on them. This will tell you if they are serviceable or not!
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Old 07-01-2015, 08:57 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wyocampers View Post
Thank you all for the information! From what I gather, it sounds like my fridge and furnace are working as designed and the issue lies with the batteries. They were purchased new last year and were stored in the garage during the winter. Before putting them back on the trailer this year, I tested the voltage, found them to be 12v, so assumed they were good to go. We operated the lights and water pump very little, so were surprised to see the batteries drop like that. When I run the generator, they seem to go back up to 12v fairly quickly.

I'm not really sure where to go from here. Suggestions?

Thank you!
At 12 volts the batteries are only half charged, you need to bring them up above 13 volts and after charging let them set a while then test while not charging at this point you should have 12.6v or slightly higher to consider having a full charge. I suggest adding solar, a portable solar battery charger at minimum.

By the way Welcome to the forum.
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Old 07-01-2015, 08:59 AM   #10
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Yes to low a battery voltage for sure. Just use your genny to charge you battery back up. If the voltage got to 9 volts your battery life has been shortened a lot.
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Old 07-01-2015, 08:59 AM   #11
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The propane leak detector, stereo back lights, water pump, in and outside lights, fridge and furnace all use 12v.

During the 9/5 day stay were you plugged in or did you run the generator(before you started it on day 5) any?
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Old 07-01-2015, 08:59 AM   #12
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Old 07-01-2015, 09:09 AM   #13
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Look at your power consumption to see where you stand on what your asking the battery to deliver.

There isn't a lot you can do about the frig or furnace, but look at operation s like fans (kitchen exhaust, fantastic, etc) TVs, Radios (

Look at Phantom loads (things that consume power, even when they ar not turned on. Radios, TVs, alarms,

Look at your lights, particularly if you have not upgraded to LEDs, each of your lights draws about 1.3 amps, BIG consumers.

Look at your converter, if its a single stage unit, you may want to consider upgrading it to a 3 (or 4) stage unit. These will allow a much higher charge voltage (quicker charging) This means a much faster re-charge of your battery from the generator or shore power.
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Old 07-01-2015, 12:10 PM   #14
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You should hook up a volt meter so you can monitor your battery voltage.
When it gets down to around 12.0 volts, you should run the generator a few hours to charge your battery back up.

If you do not monitor your battery you will kill it in a short timeframe and will be buying new batteries frequently.

SEE ABOVE CHART
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Old 07-02-2015, 08:59 AM   #15
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Thank you all for the information, particularly the link for The 12volt Side of Life (Part 1)


Great forum! Appreciate the help!
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Old 07-02-2015, 02:30 PM   #16
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Wow - we don't do a lot of boondocking, so I guess I never needed to know that much about batteries, but great info here even for those of us who camp "plugged in".

I need to re-think how I store/maintain mine (especially during the off-season) as I really don't want to buy a new one every 12-24 months. . .

Thanks as always forum members for sharing your wisdom.
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