Battery/Charger Issue?

[Crabman]

If you store your trailer or do not have it plugged in more then a few days make sure you disconnect a terminal or install a battery disconnect switch. There are parasitic drains on the battery from the LP gas/Carbon Monoxide alarm and radio that can kill a battery stone dead in two weeks or less. Once again been there done that on my first trailer. I have learned through the school of hard knocks, before I found these forums!

[jdomke1]

Gotcha... I was thinking I would either just unscrew one of the terminals or unplug the fuse at the battery.

[David472]

Regarding storage, today I brought home the TT from its winter storage. While in storage, I bring the battery home with me for keeping on a tender. Then take it back with me when it's time to come out of storage again. You might consider something like that.

[jdomke1]

That's a great idea David... I'm thinking I might keep the propane tanks home as well to prevent theft... you never know. I know when I was looking at TT's at the local dealers they all had their batteries and tanks pulled.

[jdomke1]

New battery in place... now looking for an IQ-3

[Edcamp]

I just traded my 04 Gulf Stream 21mb in on a 2012 Jay Flight 24bfs. Our Gulf Stream did this as well and it was diagnosed that the converter was defective. The part was $415 and labor $25 it fixed the problem. The lights on 12 volt would get real bright then real dim at random sometimes it would not do it but mostly it would. As I said the converter fixed our problem. We are adjusting to our new Jayco, impressed so far.

[tlhdoc]

Half a gallon is a lot of water. Your battery must have been dry. My thoughts. If the battery had been left in a discharged state for a long time it will not be in good condition and charging it when dry, it is probably dead. I doubt that a Kiwi would have a smart charger, but it may. I would get a portable smart charger that had a desulficatin??? (sorry bad spelling) cycle. That may revive the battery, but I think you will need a new battery.

A few notes. When you fill a battery add water until the water in the cell looks like a cat's eye. Disconnect the battery when your not going to use the trailer there are drains on the electrical system even when you are not using the trailer.

[RoyBraddy]

If you truly have a smart-mode converter/charger on your new trailer I think I see two COSCO GC2 6V Golf Cart Batteries in your future. I believe your present battery is now officially history with all the cells purged of their water fluids. Not many will return from this.

These will cost around $70 each and will give you up to around 220AHs of battery capacity. This is perfect for the occasional camping off the power grid and low cost to you since I think you already have the smart-mode converter/charger. Post the trailer installed converter/charger unit part number so we can tell for sure what you have.

If you couple the new GC2 batteries with a 2KW Honda or equiv generator then you can camp in style (almost everything except air conditioning) for an one day/night camping experience and then be able to re-charge the two 6V batteries back up to a good 90% charge state so you can do this all over again for the next day/night camping.

I did my battery system beef-up about four years ago on my OFF-ROAD POPUP when it was pretty new and did it in spurts to be able to afford it. It is very successful now camping off the power grid...

Works good for us here... We are able to run just about everything we have including the home entertainment center with our beefed-up battery system except air conditioning and high powered microwave use. This includes both 120VAC items using INVERTERS and the 12VDC items off the batteries.

food for thought...