Storage Compartment Won't Unlock!

[TheBird]

I just arrived home late last night after a 6 hour drive to get my Jayco Hummingbird 17RK. Went out this morning to put the leveling jacks down & wanted to hook-up power supply. Those supplies (power cord & jack) are in my compartment under-storage that won't unlock! They had trouble locking it at the dealership! Any suggestions? Or problems like this?

[tech411]

Your using the entry door key and not the outside shower key correct?

[01tundra]

I sometimes have to push the door inward a little to get our to lock. May try that or does it feel like the key isn't trying to rotate the lock at all?

How cold is it there? I had to spray silicone in my lock because it was frozen up a few weeks back when it was colder here.

*Edit - Just saw that you're in FL, so I guess a frozen lock is ruled out

[Woodworker]

Did you push in hard while turning lock. Mine is hard to until I figured out I had to really push in hard on the lock to release some of the pressure so it would turn

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[jloco]

My locks were terrible last year when my trailer was new until I sprinkled a little graphite lock powder on the key and got it worked into the lock cylinders. It was like night and day.
I suspect I'll be repeated the process this season when I start using it again.

[bansai]

Our locks bind up a bit sometimes... the pins in these locks sometimes hang up or bind.

I've found that spraying some liquid wrench, dry lubricant into the locks has eliminated the issue. We've replaced all of the factory locks, and the new ones work a lot better, the factory locks are pretty cheesy.

[bankr63]

If all else fails from outside, does the bed platform lift on that unit? You might get access to the inside of the door from inside your unit.

[TheBird]

Thanks for all the input & suggestions! My neighbor came over with machine oil & we got it to turn finally with a lot of re-trying & pressure. Not sure I want to lock it again!
Also, as a first time RV owner, I must have left the light in the electric jack on all night as I arrived after dark & was using it when I was unhitching. My battery is dead! Ugh. Am charging it with a borrowed battery charger. How long do u think it will take to charge? And how many amps do you pick on the charging system to charge it?
I think I need to invest in a charger from Home Depot.

[MizInIA]

Originally Posted by TheBird

Thanks for all the input & suggestions! My neighbor came over with machine oil & we got it to turn finally with a lot of re-trying & pressure. Not sure I want to lock it again!
Also, as a first time RV owner, I must have left the light in the electric jack on all night as I arrived after dark & was using it when I was unhitching. My battery is dead! Ugh. Am charging it with a borrowed battery charger. How long do u think it will take to charge? And how many amps do you pick on the charging system to charge it?
I think I need to invest in a charger from Home Depot.

I would charge it on the low deepcycle setting if the charger has the option and leave it for 24 hrs as long as it is an automatic charger/maintainer. Also Hooking your camper up to power should charge your battery.

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[bansai]

Originally Posted by TheBird

Thanks for all the input & suggestions! My neighbor came over with machine oil & we got it to turn finally with a lot of re-trying & pressure. Not sure I want to lock it again!
Also, as a first time RV owner, I must have left the light in the electric jack on all night as I arrived after dark & was using it when I was unhitching. My battery is dead! Ugh. Am charging it with a borrowed battery charger. How long do u think it will take to charge? And how many amps do you pick on the charging system to charge it?
I think I need to invest in a charger from Home Depot.

Do you know if it's a 'smart charger' (has 3 different charge cycles) or a dumb one that just keeps charging at a constant rate forever?

I usually bulk charge at 0.5 C. (C is the amp hour rating of your battery). In other words if your battery has a capacity of 75 amps, 1C would be charging your battery with 75amps. 0.5C is half that. With these larger batteries, it's hard to find a charger that is powerful enough to charge them at 1C... so this really boils down to the ratings on that charger you are using. If it can only supply 10 amps and your battery was dead, you're looking at all day to get to 90%.

Most batteries can handle a 1.0 C charge rate. The closer to 1C you get, the faster it will bulk charge, which gets you about 90% full. This might only take a few hours at a 1C charge rate.

If you are using a 'smart charger' it will switch to Absorption Charge or float mode (depending on the charger you are using, it will do both) after the battery gets to that 90% area, and getting it closer to 100% can easily take 2 days.

Saved my first question for last - Can you just plug your camper into shore power? I have a dedicated charger for my camper, but I really only use it when my battery is hibernating in my basement. You have a converter in your camper right? 9 times out of 10, that's all you should need.

Use a multi meter to confirm your level of charge (after unplugging the charger for several hours). 12.7 volts is a good target to see when your battery is at rest.

[oldmanAZ]

(I see bansai said it first, but here's mine...)

I'm not familiar with Hummingbird 17RK. Does it have an converter/charger? If so, just plug in your trailer 30amp plug to a standard outlet (using an adapter) and turn on the breakers. That should fully charge your battery in 18 to 24hrs.

[01tundra]

Originally Posted by oldmanAZ

(I see bansai said it first, but here's mine...)

I'm not familiar with Hummingbird 17RK. Does it have an converter/charger? If so, just plug in your trailer 30amp plug to a standard outlet (using an adapter) and turn on the breakers. That should fully charge your battery in 18 to 24hrs.

Yes it does have the convertor, plug it in and the battery will charge.

[bansai]

Only thing I would add is if I had a totally dead battery, I'd much rather use a dedicated smart charger that can provide at least a .5C (edit - as close to .5C as reasonable) charging rate than rely on the converter. The converters supply nowhere near that charging capacity.

The converters have come a long way in the last 10 years, but they still don't compare to a dedicated, high amp battery charger for certain tasks. Bringing a completely dead battery back to life is one of them. I'd keep the charger on it that you are currently using as long as it's a good one.

[NVGun40]

Someone can correct me if I am wrong, however, it has been my experience that once the battery has been drained; even though it will recharge back to full, its service life is altered. Example: If it's a 75 amp hour battery, once drained and recharged it will no longer last quite as long as it would have if it had never been drained.

[bansai]

Originally Posted by NVGun40

Someone can correct me if I am wrong, however, it has been my experience that once the battery has been drained; even though it will recharge back to full, its service life is altered. Example: If it's a 75 amp hour battery, once drained and recharged it will no longer last quite as long as it would have if it had never been drained.

Yep, that's all true. Even though these are generally deep cycle batteries, taking them below 50% capacity even just one time will start shaving time off the service life. A battery allowed to drain to completely dead state, will likely never show a 100% charge again. The batteries that come with these campers are not true, deep cycle batteries either.

On the bright side, it's a lot less painful to kill the battery that came with your camper while learning these things, than to roast a 400 dollar Trojan battery bank. First mod I did was a master battery disconnect. I was dissapointed that this wasn't a standard feature, but for 10 bucks or less, you'll never have an excuse to kill your battery.

[TheBird]

So if the fuse was blown that was located behind the battery attached to the frame, does that mean that maybe the battery wasn't drained? I replaced the fuse after reading all your wonderful expertise & input & had power! Thank you ALL so much for your input!

[bansai]

Originally Posted by TheBird

So if the fuse was blown that was located behind the battery attached to the frame, does that mean that maybe the battery wasn't drained? I replaced the fuse after reading all your wonderful expertise & input & had power! Thank you ALL so much for your input!

Yep, maybe... but weren't you charging the battery pretty much all day too? There are too many variables to say for sure what's going on lol.

I would recommend that you get a multimeter and see how many volts your battery shows, directly on the terminals. You can get an ok one for about 10 bucks. Takes out almost all of your guess work, especially down the road when new electrical issues come up.

[rkresge]

Originally Posted by TheBird

So if the fuse was blown that was located behind the battery attached to the frame, does that mean that maybe the battery wasn't drained? I replaced the fuse after reading all your wonderful expertise & input & had power! Thank you ALL so much for your input!

Do you have a power jack on the front of that trailer? Here's a BIG known issue: If you run the jack all the way up or all the way down, you run the risk of blowing that fuse pretty fast when it hits the end of its travel. Suggest you get some spares and keep 'em on hand!

Hopefully the battery wasn't drained, that it was just the fuse.



Roger

[TheBird]

Thank you, Roger! Will do!!

[TheBird]

bansai~My neighbor gave me a voltage meter & it read 12.7 after 4 hours of charging. Is it supposed to read 12 for 12 volts? Kinda clueless about what it is supposed to read fully charged.