Battery.... first time dry run

[delb2917]

Just pulled pop up in driveway and put the inline fuse in and tried to use electric lift and battery is dead. Have pop up plugged into truck and have battery on trickle charger. How long do I have to wait till I can get juice to battery to put up the roof???

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[Herk7769]

You have the battery out of the pop-up and on a dedicated charger?

If so, it would depend on the Amp Hour Rating of the battery.

Dedicated chargers have "stages" of charge (based on the battery's ability to take and store the incoming electrons). Initially, the battery has lots of room on the surface and the voltage builds up quickly. However as the plates fill, electrons on the surface must be "pushed" into the lead. This takes more energy and time. The charger will detect this increase in voltage and step up the charging voltage and reduce the rate that electrons are introduced to avoid "boiling" the electrolyte.

You should be able to use the battery within an hour or so, but to be fully charged, you would need to keep it on the charger for many hours (like 16 to 24 hours).

I also attached an article on why automobile alternators make terrible deep cycle battery chargers.

[delb2917]

Well I have it plugged into a little trickle charger now. Not plunge in to the truck anymore. So probably an hour or so to be able to lift my roof?

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[Herk7769]

Yes, unless you were very unlucky and the battery froze while discharged. In this case it is very possible a plate cracked and shorted out inside.

Here is a table of freezing points of partially discharged batteries.

As you can see a "mostly" discharged (less than 20% remaining) battery will freeze at 19 degrees Fahrenheit.

[delb2917]

Unfunny. Well this would be the third battery. The one that was on the camper when I bought it was dead. And then when he was showing how the auto lifts work it didnt work so he changed the battery out with a new one. Now if this one is done then there might be something else wrong with this pop up.

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[delb2917]

Okay I took battery out because I checked my trickle charger and the trickle charger said to check battery so I'm going to take it up to autozone and have them check the battery to see if it's dead if it's not then I guess I have to manually lift the roof up and check my fuses inside my pop up maybe there is something that's blowing inside the popup. Any other suggestions for me would be very very helpful. Thank you very much.

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[bikendan]

after 3 batteries, why haven't you installed a battery disconnect switch, so the battery doesn't get depleted by the parasitic power drains?
i installed one in my hybrid TT and after 4 months of storage, the batteries were still nearly fully charged.

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by delb2917

Okay I took battery out because I checked my trickle charger and the trickle charger said to check battery so I'm going to take it up to autozone and have them check the battery to see if it's dead if it's not then I guess I have to manually lift the roof up and check my fuses inside my pop up maybe there is something that's blowing inside the popup. Any other suggestions for me would be very very helpful. Thank you very much.

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I don't own a pop-up, but you should be able to plug in the camper to shore power and the converter should operate the lift motor.

With a shorted battery installed, the converter will NOT power up.
Without it installed; it should.

Ditto on the disconnect.

[delb2917]

Well guys I had to buy a 100.00 battery. Will be calling dealership fist thing in the morning. Will look into quick connect for battery. Now one last question. Lol I want to use my heater. Were the hell is the thermostat at? I really feel like a idiot. I have a 2012 forest river mac pop up.

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[delb2917]

Found it. Sorry

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[f5moab]

With my Flagstaff popup, the powerlift wiring is connected directly to the battery's posts with a auto reset breaker on the positive cable, right at the battery. You can leave the TV connected and that will supply enough to lift the roof, you do not need to connect to AC via a supply circuit or a generator.
Last year a friend of mine had to do that with his Flagstaff when he left the 12V fridge running on battery power over night in a hotel parking lot. (I told him to switch to propane.) (And leave the TV running while the lift is operating.)

And I've always just pulled the two fuses (one for each B+ circuit of each battery) if the trailer is going to sit for a few weeks before use, and if over a month, I just pull out the batteries and run them home. Never bothered with a switch and never had a problem. But switch or no switch, the power to the converter has to be shut off if not camping.

[delb2917]

I will p rolly just take battery out and store it till next use.

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