Bad battery?

[Armi96r]

Hi,
Just tried to use the trailer tongue jack on the whitehawk and it wouldn't work. A led light briefly worked. Initial thought was blown 30 amp fuse between camper and battery but fuse was fine. Hooked up to truck via the towing cable and all systems worked. Let the battery charge off running truck for 10 minutes then disconnected. The battery panel in the camper showed 3/4 charge when truck was disconnected at this point. Prior to charging it slipped on for a fraction of a second and then everything was dead. My question is do I have a battery that won't hold a charge? Went to the smokes to weeks ago and returned. Upon returning I did not disconnect the battery. It didn't appear like I left anything on on the trailer but I am surprised the battery would be dead after two weeks of only running a carbon monoxide detector and a digital clock. I did raise and lower the tongue jack without charging twice when I needed to move the trailer out of the drive briefly. But I definitely didn't think it would drain the battery. Could it be an old battery or a bad ono? Or some other problem entirely?

[jimp]

There are numerous threads on dead batteries, two weeks of drain by the CO2/propane sensors will kill a battery. Easy solution is to install a battery maintainer, I use Battery Minder brand, had bad luck with battery tender brand, but lots like 'em. Make sure you have good clean connections on the battery, check the water levels, and try a different fuse

[RoyBraddy]

Originally Posted by Armi96r

Hi,
Hooked up to truck via the towing cable and all systems worked. Let the battery charge off running truck for 10 minutes then disconnected. The battery panel in the camper showed 3/4 charge when truck was disconnected at this point. Prior to charging it slipped on for a fraction of a second and then everything was dead.

Keep in mind it takes ALOT longer than 10 minutes of charge to return a dead battery back to life...

My Progressive PD9260 Converter/charger using it's smart mode charging will start out with 14.4VDC when my batteries are only discharged to their 50% charge state (Around 12.0vdc) and it will take a good three hours of charging using 14.4VDC Boost Charge mode to get from the 50% charge state to the 90% charge state. It will take a good 12-14 hours of charging to get to a full 100% charge state.

I suspect you were just seeing a surface charge with your Percent Reading meter reading the 3/4 percent charging indication... Since it all went away almost immediately when you connected a real load to the battery tells me you have a completely dead battery at this point.

I would do a good 'SMART MODE CHARGING' for 24 hours and see how you make out... My experience workings with the batteries when a battery has been discharged below its 50% charge state it is very hard to EVER return this battery back to normal performance... Since your batteries did show a good start to charge indication maybe you can return them back to almost normal working condition after 24 hours of smart mode charging.

In my battery bank setup I have a complete BATTERY DISCONNECT from the DC OUTPUT of the Main BATTERY Disconnect switch feeding the 12VDc Distribution Panel. The only things that are directly connected to my batteries is my ROOF RAISE connection and my BREAK-AWAY Trailer switch connections which both have positive switch ON actions. My master homemade Battery Monitor Panel inside my trailer is direct connected to the battery terminals via my master switch connections which can be switched OFF as well by alternate switch setting but is normally left ON where my remoted master meter panel is generally showing the battery DC Voltage readings...

Everything fed in my trailer from the 12V Distribution Panel where all of the fuses are located is disconnected from my battery source when my installed master battery switch is turned to its OFF position.

The ultimate way to disconnect the batteries if course is to just pull the NEGATIVE Terminal connections from all of the batteries.

Sure hope your DC system returns ok - Not a good feeling to start off by losing your battery right away hehe...

Roy Ken

[Armi96r]

@Roy Brady. You said that you doubt that my battery will return to 100%. Does this mean I should replace it. I plan on doing an overnighter in a walmart parking lot in 2 months and need it to run my refridgerator w/ the propane. I don't want it dying? Also what is a "Smart mode chargine?" I have a battery charger in the basement that I hooked the battery charger up to all winter. Should I hook up to it and see if I can get the charge back up to 100%?

[Armi96r]

When you mean kill a battery do you mean drain? Or ruin? Since the battery is dead and its a deep cycle battery should I replace it since it was drained all the way? Also, What is a battery maintainer and how and where would I install it on my rig? Thanks.

[Jagiven]

Those parasite draws are very unfriendly. At home, I just leave my TT plugged in, to a 15 amp outlet in the garage. If I have to leave the tt unplugged, I pull the 30 amp fuse at the battery. Many people have a red battery disconnect switch.

[jimp]

You should hook the battery in question up to the charger you have, check the water in each cell before hooking up the charger. Replace the caps that cover the cells. Let it charge for at least 24hrs, and if the charger you have is a smart charger it should go into "maintainance" mode at the end of 24hrs, possibly a light will flash slowly to indicate this.

Check the voltage at the terminals, you should see ~13.x on the meter with the charger still hooked up. Now disconnect the charger from the battery terminals, and let the battery "sit" for 24 hrs, and check the voltage at the terminals again with the meter. You should see 12.7 or more. If you see less, you may have a dead cell in that battery. You could hook the charger back up and see if the battery recovers or not by following the same routine above.