newbie battery charge question

bayleightucker · 03-24-2012, 09:20 PM

getting ready for first trip, battery level reads 1/3. 20 miles to our destination. will battery charge on the trip or can i charge it with trickle charger before we leave? sorry for what is probably a basic question but we are newbies.thanks for your help

nylyon · 03-24-2012, 09:26 PM

If you're boondocking, I would certainly want to charge the battery before you leave. If you're going to a campground where you will be plugged in, it really doesn't matter since you'll be charging your battery while plugged in.

dddire · 03-24-2012, 11:13 PM

Newbie here as well..

I'm pretty sure it will charge while plugged into your tow vehicle. Not sure how long it takes so you might want to consider home charging if planing on boon docking.

This is my plan with out new TT at this time till I get used to how long it takes the on-board charger to top it up once plugged in at a CC or if relying on the TV to charge.

nylyon · 03-25-2012, 07:27 AM

Yes, the battery will charge while connected to your tow vehicle BUT keep in mind a couple things when doing that. First, the battery is used for the emergency trailer brake disconnect. If your vehicle becomes disconnected the battery on the camper will power the brakes on the trailer. Next, most critical items on the trailer are run by 12V. If your battery is not charged, and you are connected to your tow vehicle, it is possible that the load through the charge line will blow the fuse in the tow vehicle (done that). And finally, most electrical items do not like to operate on low power conditions. Operating motors, electronics etc on low power can cause damage to the devices.

Plug the camper in and charge the battery(s) or remove the battery and put it on a charger and you'll be better off in the end.

RoyBraddy · 03-25-2012, 08:14 AM

Some trucks do and some dont... My 2010 F150 didnt charge the trailer battery so i got to looking into it. I found an open fuse slot that was labeled Trailer Tow or something like that. So kept digging around in the manual and finally read to look in glove box and you will find a relay and a fuse. Sure enough I had an unmarked brown envelope in the glove box witha fuse and relay in it. I installed those two items where the manual said to do so and now J have trailer battery charge from my truck. It is however only on when I have the truck key on...

Sure would be nice if the dealer guys wouild have said something about that haha...

This is a trickle charge thing as the charging wire is pretty small but it will definately help going down the road to keep the trailer battery topped off. i have no idea how the other truck folks do it... 2009 and UP newer style F150 Ford you have to install a fuse and relay...

Unless you have smart-mode charging capability it will take several hours to charge your battery. Note what Progressive Dynamics says about this...

Progressive Dynamics ran this test on the amount of time it took a PD9155 (55-amp) converter/charger set to three different output voltages to recharge a 125 AH (Amp Hour) battery after it was fully discharged to 10.5-volts.

14.4-VOLTS (Boost Mode) – Returned the battery to 90% of full charge in approximately 3-hours. The battery reached full charge in approximately 11 hours.

13.6-VOLTS (Normal Mode) – Required 40-hours to return the battery to 90% of full charge and 78-hours to reach full charge.

13.2-VOLTS (Storage Mode) – Required 60-hours to return the battery to 90% of full charge and 100-hours to reach full charge."

It didnt say how long a 12.6 - VOLTS take to charge a battery up. It will be a LONG TIME.

I would imagine your truck alternator will normally be putting out 13.2VDC-13.6 VDC going down the road. According to the above test that would take at best 40 hours to return the battery to 90% charge state starting at 0% charge state (10.5VDC).

The trick is to hit the batteries with 14.4VDC at 30AMPS or so to get a quick 2-3 hour 90% charge state going.

Bozemanite · 03-25-2012, 11:29 AM

Great explanation and info. Roy. Does anyone know if the fuse and relay come installed on a 2011 F350? I have just been assuming that my batteries were recharging on the road.

RoyBraddy · 03-25-2012, 11:39 AM

Hmmmm - Don't know if the F350 is the same basic layout as the F150 fuse panel wise...

Both the RELAY and the FUSE went into the FUSE PANEL above the radiator.

Pull out your owners manual and find the pictorial for the fuse panels in the index. What you are looking for is a FUSE and REALY that has something to do with "TRAILER TOW" or something like that. I'd have to go dig up my owners manual to get the exact locations of the fuse and relay.

Did you look in the glove box haha... Mine had a small brown envelope with these two items in it. No infomation at for what they were for but all the info about it is in the owners manaul.

If you dont have your owners manual i will go out to the truck and get the outside fuse panel location for the fuse and realy...

Quahog · 03-25-2012, 02:35 PM

Go here and download your owner's manual for the 2011 Ford F350.

http://owner.ford.com/servlet/Conten...rd&model=F-350

Jim_in_WA · 03-30-2012, 07:39 AM

Same here on my 2011 F150. Was wondering why the heck the lights, other than markers and turn, didn't come on. Called my dealer and they told me to look in the glove box and there it was. I asked him why the Ford dealer didn't tell me about this and he made a good point. "They sell trucks not Jaycos". Well he was right. Worked perfect from that point forward.

Wyotraveler · 03-30-2012, 08:08 AM

The post that mentioned what the Ford dealer said was right on. They don't sell Jaycos. That is exactly why I never take the salesman's advise on a tow vehicle when I am in the market for a new tow vehicle. They don't have a clue.

A quick way to check the charging on your TT battery is check the voltage of the TT battery at the battery terminals before you plug into the tow vehicle. Then plug it in with the TV motor running, the voltage should increase. If not check the fuse.

If you don't have a digital volt ohm meter, buy one at Walmart for $13 that works great. If you can afford a TT you can certainly afford a volt ohm meter and it will help solve a lot of problems quickly.

dddire · 04-01-2012, 11:58 PM

Well answered my own question kinda this weekend.

TT at my mom's place for storage, battery here at home, changed and ready to go.

So the wife,kids and I head down to Mom's friday night for some driveway camping lol

Plugged into mom's shore power and things are fine, furnace and fridge working well. No water as it's still dipping below freezing here and not really big on frozen pipes.

Anyway....

Latter that night our first issue came to light... the furnace was cycling on/off... like we're out of gas. Can't be.. new 30lb'er that was full from the dealer... or was it?

Anyway, no other propane tanks around to try.. and not wanting to wake up mom, we just turned on a portable electric heater and off we went.. chilly, but ok...

Next morning, tested the stove and it lit... then went out.. again, like no gas.
Unbolted the tank (please tell me there is a better way than nut and bolts to hold the tank on like a quick release clamp or some sort???)

So the take feels full... I connect the hose and the furnace and stove work correctly. Took the tank in and had it filled... it was full, only took 3L to fill it.

Any idea why the gas stopped? Worked fine for the next 24 hours.... Opinion?

Then the next issue hits...

On the evening of day two.. we arrive back a mom's place. I notice the outside lite is not on, pretty sure I left it on as I knew we'd be getting back after dark. Open the door and turn on the lights... no lights and it's **** cold in the trailer. We left the heat on as we have kids and when kids are cold they're cranky...

SO I checked shore power... it's live, power to the microwave is there, the electric space heater fired up...

so now thinking it's go not battery power...

check the batter with a muliti meter and it's down under 8 volts.. so I know the battery is likely ruined. But why was it not taking a charge from the inverter? Dead inverter? Checked fuses.. all good (tested)

So it has to be a dead inverter right?

and if so.. the stock batter will last about 48 hrs of lights/furnace and fridge.
and thinking lights were supplied by shore power.. we were not frugal at all with saving battery.

So off to the dealer tomorrow and have them replace the inverter

thoughts anyone?

3'senough · 04-02-2012, 06:44 AM

The converter has it's own breaker and if not on will not charge or convert 120V to 12V for power. I would check that first since your battery was working properly before that. Put a meter across the battery to confirm charge.

On the propane, sometimes you can get airlock which needs to be purged in order for things to work right. The fastest way is the cooktop since it will just flow until you turn it off. It should only take about 30 seconds max to light. The furnace and fridge will quit after several unsuccessul cycles.

Since you took of the connections you could have also had a bad connection at the tank which you resolved once you reconnected also.

dddire · 04-02-2012, 06:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3'senough

The converter has it's own breaker and if not on will not charge or convert 120V to 12V for power. I would check that first since your battery was working properly before that. Put a meter across the battery to confirm charge.

On the propane, sometimes you can get airlock which needs to be purged in order for things to work right. The fastest way is the cooktop since it will just flow until you turn it off. It should only take about 30 seconds max to light. The furnace and fridge will quit after several unsuccessul cycles.

Since you took of the connections you could have also had a bad connection at the tank which you resolved once you reconnected also.

I flipped each break that was in the inverter inclosure, no help, might there be another break I missed? I suppose could be a bad breaker.

The inverter fan turns on briefly when turning on one of the breakers.
There is ac flowing to the ac outlets so at least part of the panel is working.

I've had meter across the posts... should be reading 14.4 if on a flat battery, less voltage drop from front to rear of course. Measured voltage at the battery with inverter connected and shore power live.. was 7.4 volts.

I've been to the dealer this morning, there is a house call in place for the morning.

edatlanta · 04-02-2012, 07:11 AM

Another way to check and see if your TV is set up for providing 12v to the trailer is to check pin #4 on your truck connector. If you have voltage, the fuse/relay are installed. If you voltage they might not be. Some trucks require the key to be on and others this pin is hot all the time (mine is).
Do a google search for the pin outs for RV 7 pin connectors.

dddire · 04-02-2012, 07:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by edatlanta

Another way to check and see if your TV is set up for providing 12v to the trailer is to check pin #4 on your truck connector. If you have voltage, the fuse/relay are installed. If you voltage they might not be. Some trucks require the key to be on and others this pin is hot all the time (mine is).
Do a google search for the pin outs for RV 7 pin connectors.

Due to no power in the TT, we connected the TV and had power, with key off.

Chakara · 04-02-2012, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dddire

Due to no power in the TT, we connected the TV and had power, with key off.

Be careful in this configuration - It would not be hard to drain the TV batteries.

I think I read that you tested the voltage at the batteries with the AC hooked up and got 8 or so volts DC. If that is right, I would likely disconnect the batteries and test the wires that go to the batteries, with the trailer plugged in. Should give you best case charging voltage. Be careful, easy to short stuff out when doing things like this.

My thought it perhaps you have a badly shorted battery and it is killing the voltage. Another way to test this is measuring amps, but that requires a DC ammeter - and one that could take a pretty large amounts of amps. Mine can only take 10A and in this case I would not use it!

Partial shorts somewhere in the system could also be to blame....they can be a bear to track down.

All this said, I think the likely cause if a bad converter - that by now has either killed or severely maimed you battery(s).

-Chak

WARNING: The guy writing above has no idea what he is talking about - if you follow his advice and damage something, well, you can't say you weren't warned

dddire · 04-03-2012, 03:20 AM

Dealer tech should be crawling around the TT in the next couple hours, I'll post an update once we find out what's wrong..

Agreed, the battery is now pooched lol

Bozemanite · 04-03-2012, 12:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim_in_WA

Same here on my 2011 F150. Was wondering why the heck the lights, other than markers and turn, didn't come on. Called my dealer and they told me to look in the glove box and there it was. I asked him why the Ford dealer didn't tell me about this and he made a good point. "They sell trucks not Jaycos". Well he was right. Worked perfect from that point forward.

I am guessing that since all of my running lights work that either the fuse and relay were factory installed or were installed when my RV dealer prepped my truck. This has been a really useful thread. Thanks everyone.

dddire · 04-03-2012, 04:56 PM

Well... appears there was a 40 amp fuse missing from the panel. I seen the empty spot but figured it must have just been a common inverter layout for different models and the missing fuse was likely for another model.

So much for dealer prep.

Battery replaced and all is well.

rodro123 · 04-03-2012, 05:18 PM

[QUOTE=RoyBraddy;67960]Some trucks do and some dont... My 2010 F150 didnt charge the trailer battery so i got to looking into it. I found an open fuse slot that was labeled Trailer Tow or something like that. So kept digging around in the manual and finally read to look in glove box and you will find a relay and a fuse. Sure enough I had an unmarked brown envelope in the glove box witha fuse and relay in it. I installed those two items where the manual said to do so and now J have trailer battery charge from my truck. It is however only on when I have the truck key on...

I would take the truck in and ask sales why I wasn't told about that.... Then I would ask for a free oil change for the trouble you went throu.

Ram's are ready for towing from the time you pick them up....
Remember f o r d is short for fix or repair daily

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