Hi all,
I'm Dave. I am 71 and English. Been in the States for 32 years now and happily married for almost 30 years to my American wife.
I live in Essex, MD, and I am a newbee trailer owner. I recently bought a 2021 Rockwood Mini Lite 2506S. ('bout 6 months ago)
My wife and I are setting off on our 5 w/e trip to Ocean City. As a newbee, each trip is a learning experience, for instance Last trip I learned just about everything I count want to know about Water Pumps and how they work. A couple of days ago I started preparing for this coming trip, and discovered that the Slideout and Awning weren't working, which lead to a quick course on the Battery Shutoff, and when it should and should not be used.
This lead to me noticing that the Battery indicator lights on the Control Panel, labelled L, F, G and C, all come on, everytime I press the battery button. Is that how it should be ?? Yesterday, when I had a completely flat battery (external power plugged in and Batt Shutoff set to ON) all 4 indicators were ON. After replacing the battery, all 4 indicators are still on.
I am curious what the letters stand for, and what they are telling me.
Low, fair, good and charge. When connected to shore power the charge light will light. Without shore power the other lights are used. They sort of tell you how your battery is doing.
The L, F, G, C lights stand for Low, Fair, Good, and Charged. If your battery was very weak, only the "L" would light up. If it was a bit less discharged, both the "L" and "F" would light. If just slightly discharged, "L", "F" and "G" would all light. And if the battery was fully charged, all four lights will light.
CAMPING(n. CAM-ping) - When you walk the dog in your pajamas with a cup of coffee in one hand and a bag of dog poop in the other while striking up a conversation with total strangers.
Close but... All this does is indicate the voltage of the battery which is not an indication of the state of charge unless the battery has been a rest -- neither discharging nor charging for at least 12 hours.
They'll all light on shore power, of course, since the charging voltage is typically at least 13.7 volts and significantly higher than the battery fully charged voltage of 12.7v.
To keep the battery healthy between camper usage the battery should be completely disconnected (electrically). The factory provided battery "disconnect" will often leave the LP detector connected directly to the battery (RVIA code) as well as the radio memory. These can kill the typical little Group 24 battery in a couple of weeks. Removing or switching the wire from the battery Negative pole to the frame will totally isolate the battery. There should only be one (1) wire there and it leads to the frame which acts as a ground for everything else. With this switch off and the battery isolated the battery won't charge either so switch it on to charge and run.
-- Chuck
-- Chuck
__________________
2006 Roo 23SS behind a 2017 Ford Expedition
Ok, I understand that when you are on shore power, all 4 indicators should be on.
This morning I disconnected from shore power, and now none of the indicators light when the button is pressed. In addition, the slideout and awnings no longer function. Does this mean that I cant open slideouts unless I am connected to shore power ??
Ok, I understand that when you are on shore power, all 4 indicators should be on.
This morning I disconnected from shore power, and now none of the indicators light when the button is pressed. In addition, the slideout and awnings no longer function. Does this mean that I cant open slideouts unless I am connected to shore power ??
Doesn't seem right to me.
Dave.
Does any thing 12 volt work when not on shore power?
Is your battery dead? Check voltage while not on shore power.
Check your battery cutoff switch.
Also you may have a resettable fuse under the tongue. It looks like a small metal box with a very small button on the side. Trace the wires from the battery.
__________________ Craig & Cath
2018 2902WS Rockwood Ultra Lite (with tons of Mods)
2022 F250 Lariat Super Cab, 7.3 gas w/10 Spd Xmsn
Equalizer Hitch w/4-Point Sway Control
Days camped since 2015 (retirement): 1733
Ok, I understand that when you are on shore power, all 4 indicators should be on.
This morning I disconnected from shore power, and now none of the indicators light when the button is pressed. In addition, the slideout and awnings no longer function. Does this mean that I cant open slideouts unless I am connected to shore power ??
Doesn't seem right to me.
Dave.
If your rig has a battery disconnect switch, make sure it is in the ON or USE position.
You should definitely be able to operate the slides and awning on battery power alone.
CAMPING(n. CAM-ping) - When you walk the dog in your pajamas with a cup of coffee in one hand and a bag of dog poop in the other while striking up a conversation with total strangers.
I recently installed a battery monitor which tells me % charge of my battery. It's really nice to have that info. It was pretty cheap, you can buy the 200 dollar Victron instead if you want to. Sounds like your battery is dead or the battery switch is off. I've killed a couple deep cycle batteries by deeply discharged them a couple times. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088RG27LS...roduct_details
__________________
2020 Rockwood 2104s towed by 2018 Nissan Armada. Curt WDH with sway, portable 150 watt solar, Home made window evaporative cooler
That device looks functionally the same as my Trimetric with, perhaps, a few less options.
Using something like this requires setting the battery's capacity. Recommend setting it to the battery's "Useful Amphours" for a conservative system and avoid over drawing from the battery. UAh = RC/2.4 so is easy to compute. It it NOT the "rated" battery amphours which is very optimistic and included power at voltages too low to power much.
-- Chuck
__________________
2006 Roo 23SS behind a 2017 Ford Expedition
Yesterday while heading out for a w/e break, the trailer started fishtailing and eventually got out of control, rolling the trailer and my truck onto their sides.
Fortunately, my wife and I were unhurt. Right now my Trailer is in a towing yard waiting for a visit from the Insurance adjuster. Looking inside, there is just chaos.
This is probably the end of my Trailer adventures, so, I'll let you know.
CAMPING(n. CAM-ping) - When you walk the dog in your pajamas with a cup of coffee in one hand and a bag of dog poop in the other while striking up a conversation with total strangers.
Fishtailing -- euphemistically called "sway" so as to not scare anyone -- is almost always the result of too little weight on the ball. Sway control hitches, typically built into WDHs, can dampen it somewhat as can vehicle systems like on my Ford, but the root cause remains.
We've all seen this before but some didn't pay attention. A minimum of 10% of the trailer's weight needs to be on the ball. A tongue scale can be made with a bathroom scale, a 4x4, and a couple of PVC pipes.
This lead to me noticing that the Battery indicator lights on the Control Panel, labelled L, F, G and C, all come on, everytime I press the battery button. Is that how it should be ?? Yesterday, when I had a completely flat battery (external power plugged in and Batt Shutoff set to ON) all 4 indicators were ON. After replacing the battery, all 4 indicators are still on.
I am curious what the letters stand for, and what they are telling me.
Any advice, appreciated.
Dave.
As indicated previously, Low - Fair - Good - Charging
What they relate as to battery condition is indicated in the charts below. The voltages are when the associated LED goes OUT.
As you can see, once you are off shore power it is possible to still have the "C" light illuminated due to something called "surface charge". ANY significant draw will remove that surface charge and drop the voltage below the "Charging" voltage indicator.
NOTE: The "GOOD" light will remain on until the voltage (and thus capacity) reaches approximately 50% capacity; then it will go out.
To keep your battery healthy, you should recharge anytime you see the "Good" light not illuminated.
Waiting for the Low light is really bad as you can see it will keep the led lit until there is not enough voltage left to even light the LED.
A Lead acid battery is considered DEAD at about 10.6 volts.
A DEAD battery may not even charge when the converter is connected to shore power. You may need to remove it from the camper and use a dedicated charger with a de-sulphation stage (sometimes called a 4 stage recovery charger).
The converter will see the dead battery as a dead short and disconnect from it to save itself from destruction.
__________________
Lou & Freya the wonder dog
2008 GMC Sierra 3000HD Allison Duramax
2019 Flagstaff 8529FL
Battery indicators on the Control Panel.
All this does is indicate the voltage of the battery which is not an indication of the state of charge unless the battery has been a rest -- neither discharging nor charging for at least 12 hours. 
Linear Mode
