Battery Shutoff Question

[rburns4147]

My new Rockwood 8285IKWS has a battery disconnect switch. My old TT did not so I am trying to figure it out. The Rockwood has a single battery and a push-pull switch to disconnect the battery. The switch kills everything on the trailer except for a couple of cargo compartment lights which no doubt bypass the switch. My question is would the converter charging circuit also bypass the switch and charge the battery even if the switch is off? My converter has a trickle charge function and it would be nice if it did maintain the battery even if the disconnect switch is off. Is there a way I could check with a volt meter?

[raspivey]

Mine disconnects everything at the converter. The only thing I can run is the tongue jack when it's off (and maybe the stabilizers..can't remember ). If yours is like mine, it probably won't charge when disconnected.

[BigTJohn]

Plug in the trailer, use the cutoff sw then check where you have (or do not have ) power. I believe the cutoff sw will kill all battery power less the couple cargo lights you mentioned. All trailers seem to be different in this regard. On my Columbus 320 the cutoff sw kills all 12 vdc power except to the leveling system. A very small draw always there. I put in a 40 watt solar charger and leave everything on - not all the lights but do not use the cutoff sw.

[KMP44]

Originally Posted by rburns4147

My new Rockwood 8285IKWS has a battery disconnect switch. My old TT did not so I am trying to figure it out. The Rockwood has a single battery and a push-pull switch to disconnect the battery. The switch kills everything on the trailer except for a couple of cargo compartment lights which no doubt bypass the switch. My question is would the converter charging circuit also bypass the switch and charge the battery even if the switch is off? My converter has a trickle charge function and it would be nice if it did maintain the battery even if the disconnect switch is off. Is there a way I could check with a volt meter?

On our Roo, the converter is not affected by the disconnect. If the trailer is plugged in all of 110V and all of the 12V systems function normally. What I don't know is if the converter is still able to send a charge to the battery.

I would think the easiest way to check is to let the trailer sit without shore power for a little while, and check the voltage across the battery. It should be between 12 and 13 volts. Then plug it in and check the voltage across the battery. When the converter first starts charging you should see a high charge rate - something around 14 volts. Then hit the disconnect. If it stays up there, you are still charging. If it drops back to the original reading, the converter isn't charging.

[rburns4147]

In my first post, I made an error concerning my battery disconnect switch that I just discovered this morning. What I originally did was turn off the switch and test the cargo light. It came on so I ASSUMED that it was the only light that worked. But I didn't check the rest of the trailer. This morning I discovered that everything else worked too. What I did not do was kill the main breaker to the converter. Once I shut that off and then turned off the disconnect switch, everything that was 12 volts was shut off, including the cargo light.

Whether or not it charges while disconnected I will have to test, but I am thinking that probably it will not since it shuts everything else off too.

Sorry for the error, but I wanted to straighten it out.