2007 Tent Trailer battery issues

[Bluepearl]

Okay so I just bought "The Blue Pearl" and love it completely. (Especially the heated beds.)

This weekend we were in a slo-pitch tournament. We had no power sites at the ball diamonds, but since I just installed a new battery I thought I was in great shape. Well to my surprise I wasn't.

I had power to my winch to lift it, but that was it. I had no lights, no fridge and no furnace. Nothing would work off the battery. Neither plug in receptacle or the fan would work either. Made for a rather chilly crappy night's sleep.

Had power to put the trailer down on Sunday so the battery had life. There is talk of needing an inverter but that seems strange to me.

I checked the fuses, and everything works when the trailer is plugged in. Am I just missing something or is there something I need to get repaired so that this doesn't happen again.

Any help would be greatly appreciated .

Vernus Maximus
(A.K.A. Vern Jerome)
Proud captain of the Blue Pearl

[jimh]

i don't know if u have one on there or not. my travel trailer has a battery disconnect (mine is located near the fuze panel). the disconnect disconnects the battery from the inside (used loosly) of the trailer. when disconnected, the battery is still connected to the cord to the toe viehicle, the gas dector, landing gear, and slideouts. in reality, it separates the converter output from the battery. ie if u plugged into 110, the inside would still work.
in ur case, the winch probably comes straight off the battery.
the disconnect is a red key. if u don't have such an animal, i would try and trace the wire from the battery (to the inside) and see if there is a hidden fuse along the way. there probably is...possibly on, under, or in the tung.
some use the term converter and inverter interchangeably. the converter changes the AC to DC. just abt everything inside the trailer runs on DC. the inverter changes DC to AC. if u have an air conditioner, it would require AC. if u did put a large enough inverter in to run the air conditioner, it wouldn't run it very long.
u more than likely have a converter usually located on the other end of the AC power cord.

[bean]

You are expecting too much from the battery.

You can probably get a small (800W) generator and use it to charge the batteries a couple times a day. Or a significant (300W or more) solar panel.

On my 625D the AC outlets don't work without AC power. As jimh mentioned even if they did, they won't work very long.

Just a tip, I changed all my interior light bulb to LED. They use about 1/6 the power.

P.S. You could also charge the battery using jumper cables to the tow vehicle, but that is a pain.

Bean

[Triguy]

Originally Posted by jimh

i would try and trace the wire from the battery (to the inside) and see if there is a hidden fuse along the way. there probably is...possibly on, under, or in the tung.

That's also the first thing I would check.

To address some of your other points ...

The lights, fridge, and furnace fan will all work off of DC (battery).

The 110 receptacles will only work when on shore power.

You don't need an inverter except if you plan to run an AC appliance - Coffee maker, microwave, hair drier, etc.

[bikendan]

first, your 110v outlets don't work with a 12v battery.
you have to have shore power or a generator.

second, did you have propane?

third, is your fridge a 3-way one?

[Bluepearl]

Full propane tank, brand new battery.

Checked under for a hidden fuse. All I found that was remotely close was two small plastic casing the wires fed into. They say very little on them besides they are made by 3M. They don't appear to open anywhere either, but am going to look again.

The power converter doesn't seem to be getting power at all.

[Triguy]

Check for any loose wires and bad connections next.

Are your connections at the battery good and tight and connected appropriately?

Is there any current detected (with your multimeter) where the wires from the battery come into the converter?

[ittle dew]

Not knowing what model trailer you have, we are just guessing here. In mine I have a dead man switch under the swing up galley. ( silver button switch ) If the switch is not activated (by the weight of the galley) the lights etc. will not work, but the lift will. I think it kills the power to the converter because nothing 12 volt will work. Perhaps you have a faulty switch. Just a guess.

Hope something helps

[jimh]

the battery should feed a fuse panel. the converter is going stay off sense there is no AC to it.
not sure if ur fuse panel is inside the converter or near it. ie my first trailer, u swung open a door on the front of the converter and there were the fuses. on my current trailer, the wires go from the converter to a fuse panel.
u should read voltage at the fuse panel. (these fuses would be similar to those found in ur car).
if u don't measure voltage at that point, it has to be between there and the battery. they usually locate a fuse near the battery to protect the wire.
i would tell u to check ur ground but if the jack works, that ground is ok.
the fuse near the battery may also be a breaker. some have a little button on them to reset them. may want to feel around on that plastic piece and see if u feel a small button. if u have a way to check the voltage on each side of that plastic item, check it to ground. make sure the connections are tight as well. wiggle the ones near the fuse panel and on the battery. i have had a spade connection corrode that appeared good but in reality was not.
i'm reluctant to tell u to try running a temp wire from the pos terminal of the battery to the fuse panel because i would want to know that u were connecting to the correct place.

[jimh]

in rereading ur original post, they were telling u right that u would need an inverter to run the AC outlets. actually u don't want one, it would run ur bat down fast.
sense we are having 105 deg days and 80 deg nights, i read ur furnace as air conditioner.
everything u have, that u need, will run on what u have (DC and propane). the battery will be ur weak link.
the rest of the post should be ok.

[jimh]

the converter on my old trailer also had a relay inside that selected between the battery and converter. didn't want to mention that because i don't think they do it that way anymore.
if u are familiar with what a home air conditioner contacter looks like, that is what the relay looks like. (in air conditioning, they call them contactors; in electronics they r relays).

anyway, if the contacts on that didn't make good contact then it wouldn't switch in the battery. if u have such an animal, u may try cleaning the contacts that are closed.
sense u aren't running slide outs or other heavy current items, ur converter may be like that.

i'm still betting on a fuse between the bat and fuse panel.

on my 1984 trailer, when u plugged in to AC, the converter supplied all the power and disconnected the battery from the trailer (relay would select). it had a trickle charger built in that kept the battery maintained.
when u unplugged, the relay would drop and select battery for the trailer.

[jeeplj8]

somehow no power is getting from the battery to the panel. Blown fuse sounds correct. Note that is yours is wired like imne, there is a seperate wire to the power winch. In other words, winch will work even if the main fuse is blown to the camper itself.