A212hw Manual crank + other questions

[Janglin]

Hello, I’m brand new to this forum and this is our first trailer. My wife and I are long time back packers but we now have a family. . We bought a 2018 a212hw this year. So far we love it. It suites our family of 4 perfectly as our girls are only 2 and 4. We just did a 2 week trip out of it and had a blast. None of the 3 areas we camped had power. First thing I did was buy 2 optima gel cell marine deep cycle batteries. By week 2 they were both dead and I wasn’t really using them for much. The interior lights for a few minutes at a time, the exhaust fan a little bit etc. so other than the stupid radio you can’t turn off, what drains the power on these units? I had to hook my truck up with jumper cables to get the roof down at the last stop. This raised a few questions for you more experienced owners out there. Thanks in advance! Here we go

Do they make a manual crank option to raise the roof? Please tell me they do.

What is killing my batteries so fast? Could I have the wrong type for the application? What battery do you recommend?

Obviously the battery doesn’t get a charge when you are hooked to the truck and traveling. At least not much anyway. Drove 14 hours home yesterday and battery wouldn’t raise the roof when I got home. Does the battery charge when trailer is hooked to power?

How do the zamp solar setups do? What setup do you recommend?


Lastly- attached is a picture of our setup from du Bic national park in northern Quebec last week. Amazing little park. We’ll worth the trip!

[LTDunltd]

There are a few things that are powered all the time, CO/Propane detector. The radio, (you can pull the fuse if you want) The thermostat.

Was the fridge on DC or propane? Fridge on DC is ~ 8-10 amps.

Your truck will charge the battery if your truck has a hot lead going to pin #4/black wire on the plug.

The Zamp is basically a plug and play system. Though most people find it expensive.

Your batteries should do you fine, but 2 weeks is a long time to run without charging.

Getting a BMS (battery monitoring system) Will help you monitor current draw for various systems and allow you to see what the SOC (state of charge) is.
You should never let your batteries get below 50% SOC without recharging.

Hope this helps.

[rsdata]

1. battery monitor... use it to see exactly where your battery charge is...
2. get a way to recharge those batteries every couple of days... either solar or generator... you decide which is best for you and deserves some reading of prior threads as there are many
3. recharging from TV even for 14 hours is futile for completely discharged batteries

[MontyPP]

Crank? Nope. Disconnect the bolt from the roof and lay the lift out of the way. (Yes, carry a good all around toolbag with you. I have a small one for mechanical things and another small one for electrical things.) Then push it open with the backside panel and push the right panel to pop it loose and lower it. Be careful doing it the first time or two till you get the nack. Unless you want to spend a fortune that isn't worth the Zamp product cost. Amazon has some great systems. You just have to swap the positive $ negative on the plug you use to connect directly.
Good luck and welcome to the forum and Aframein

[pgandw]

Install a power switch for the stereo. It's powered all the time (I can hear the speakers pop in my new A-frame when I was connecting/disconnecting the battery). I had installed a stereo power switch in my old A-frame because it would turn itself on anytime the camper got plugged in.

Do all you can to reduce the time fridge is running on DC. In most cases, DC operation of the fridge sucks your battery down faster than your tow vehicle can replenish. Check the voltage at your camper batteries with the tow vehicle hooked up and running. If you see 13.2V, it means your batteries are being trickled charged. If you see 13.6V+, that's very good, you are actually charging 5-10 amps. If you see less than 13.1V, it means the camper batteries are NOT being charged while you drive. Then take the measurement with the fridge running on DC, and you can see what is really happening to the batteries while you are towing.

On my A122 (now sold), voltage at the batteries with the minivan hooked up and running, was 13.8V. Turning the fridge on dropped the voltage to 13.1V, and turning on running lights and fridge, dropped the voltage to 12.8. I changed all my exterior lights to LED, and the voltage from the minivan with fridge running was now 13.1V. So while towing, fridge on DC, the batteries would stay where they were. But if we stopped for lunch or similar, I would lose charge in the batteries.

On my new HW A-frame, the fridge has an auto-light, and will run on propane while being towed. The A122 would not.

I have 2 GC-2 (golf cart) batteries on both A-frames. With those 210AH batteries fully charged, I can go 4-5 nights dry camping with modest (less than 50%) run time on the heater. I can do about the same running the Fantastic Fan, no heater, most of the time. That assumes no draw from the stereo, and minimal use of lights (which are all LED). 20-25 AH/day is about as good as it gets with an A-frame unless you really don't need ventilation or heat.

I don't carry a generator or solar because we are on the move again after 3-4 days, and I don't want the weight or hassle of either.

Upon arrival at home, you need to fully charge your batteries, and then disconnect them (or install a disconnect switch) to keep them from being discharged by the parasitic draws. I normally hook up the batteries to recharge again when I turn on the fridge to pre-cool it before a trip.

hope this helps
Fred W
2014 Rockwood A122 A-frame
2019 Flagstaff T21TBHW A-frame
2008 Hyundai Entourage minivan
camping Colorado and adjacent states one weekend at a time

[Janglin]

Thanks for the quick reply’s and for dealing with total noob questions. Do you all have a battery monitor that you like? I am also installing a switch for the battery. Do you have a place you like to mount them? In the battery box or elsewhere?

I like the radio switch idea. Anybody got a pic of what they did and where You put the switch?

Is it beneficial to keep my trailer plugged in when at home? Then keep my backup battery on a tender?

Fridge was either off or running on propane briefly. Never ran on dc. We used a big cooler. This is what I’m perplexed as to why the battery drained down? I literally only used the interior lights very briefly and the exhaust fan a time or to when cooking. No water pump or anything. We haven’t even filled the water tank yet.

For the sake of pricing what zamp would I need to keep 1 12v battery going? 100w?

I do keep a good tool box with me and I’ve added a few things to it after this trip.

I also upgraded the cheesy stock stabilizers to heavier duty bAl units. The only ones I could find that are made in the USA and not China.

Bummer my pic was upside down

[MontyPP]

The 100 watt would keep both battries usable. Depends on your needs. You might go with a larger size 120 to 200 watts, since you boondock it sounds like.
There is a solar group in the FR forum.

[pgandw]

This is the disconnect I had on the A122, mounted on the battery box. I have the same model disconnect (except black) to mount on the new A-frame. Because this battery box is metal, I will mount the switch into the box.

I also have 3 switches to install on the new A-frame, one for the stereo power, an installed digital voltmeter and switch to turn it off, and a switch for the computer case fans I will install on the fridge exhaust. We don't boondock, and dry camping is generally limited to 4 days or less. A battery monitor is overkill for me, but not for others. A $7 voltmeter tells me enough.

Fred W
2014 Rockwood A122 A-frame
2019 Flagstaff T21TBHW A-frame

[devthum]

Congratulations on your A212HW.. it is a great TT.
I travel all over Colorado and 95% of our camping is dry camping.
I have 1 Group 27 wet cell battery. I remove it between trips and put on a smart charger.
When camping I have 80W Zamp solar charger connected.... have never had a battery issue. I am sold on the solar / battery connection.
I installed a bank of outlets below the radio...
Battery voltage...Dual USB ports...12v outlet
Can monitor battery condition from inside.
(Sorry can’t find pic)
Make sure your vehicle is charging to the connection to the TT... I assumed mine was... was missing the relay in the fuse block. Also chart for battery condition is great.
Nothing like working with a 12v system.
Enjoy your TT

[tlspencer]

I didn't realize they had different stereos in different models. Mine is a 2018 twinbed highwall and it has a power button, but I do have to remember to turn it off every time we plug in because it powers on automatically. Is it still ghosting power even when I have it off? I am going to just take it out completely at some point because it's not something we use.

[pgandw]

Originally Posted by tlspencer

I didn't realize they had different stereos in different models. Mine is a 2018 twinbed highwall and it has a power button, but I do have to remember to turn it off every time we plug in because it powers on automatically. Is it still ghosting power even when I have it off? I am going to just take it out completely at some point because it's not something we use.

Almost all 12V stereos, because of their use in automobiles/trucks have 2 power wires. One goes through the ignition key, and one bypasses the ignition. The ignition bypass provides keep-alive power to the memory for things like audio settings and radio station presets. The power switch on the stereo itself only partially turns off the stereo, much like smart TVs and other electronics. Power is left flowing to memory, and other parts to keep the electronics from re-booting when the power switch is turned on (your home cable/satellite box is a good example of a prolonged boot if power is totally turned off).

In the A-frames and pop-ups - could be the same in other trailerable RVs too - the two power wires are tied together since there is no ignition switch. With the ignition switch wire always "on", the stereo tends to turn itself on whenever any change in camper 12V occurs - plugging in the camper, hooking up a tow vehicle, starting/stopping a hooked up tow vehicle, connecting/disconnecting the battery.

The only way to disable this "feature" is to insert a switch in one or both positive power leads of the stereo. If you tie both power leads to the switch, you completely turn off the stereo, and you lose any memory presets. If you tie just the ignition lead into the switch, the switch functions like the ignition switch in a car. This leaves some parasitic draw to the stereo - same as your car has. That's one of the reasons why newer cars have dead batteries if not started/driven for 3 weeks or more.

Since I rarely use the stereo and don't really care about presets and settings, I run both power wires through a simple on/off switch.

To identify the power wires from the speaker wires, download a copy of the manufacturer's installation manual.

just my experiences
Fred W
2019 Flagstaff T21TBHW A-frame
2008 Hyundai Entourage minivan
camping Colorado and adjacent states one weekend at a time

[Alben]

Here is the Thornwave Labs battery monitor that communicates to my smartphone via Bluetooth: http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...or-161465.html

Here is the DC power panel I installed. I control power to the radio with the first switch. Only one power wire is needs to be hooked up to the radio to keep station presets and the clock and draws a miniscule amount of current. Read through the thread and you will see I measured the amperage draw of all the DC items in the camper. http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...el-142154.html