maybe you can point me in the right electrical direction?

[ninjaracerchick]

hey there everyone, i tried searching (because i can usually find my answer) but didnt have any success. heres whats going on

2018 242bhs travel trailer. we used it quite regularly for the first two years, then in 2020 lived in it on our property while building a house. in 2021 i think we only used it once (because we were frankly excited to be out of it haha). this year weve used it some and had a very experienced trailer friend use it for the weekend a few times also. weve had a string of problems and im hoping you guys can point me in the right direction, maybe its something im not thinking of.

-first we thought we were having a power problem because the jack was having issues going sometimes, turns out water had entered the jack and it was off and on seizing before it bit the bullet
-right before we figured out it was a water issue we replaced the battery because it was the original and had been sitting quite a bit, all that attempted jack useage seemed to kill it
-2weeks ago while my inlaws had it it began to have some electrical issues, my fatherinlaw whos been trailer camping heavily since the 80's thought it might be the converter based on problems he had in the past, and a local shop near him confirmed that they agreed it was probably that.
-fil changed the converter made sure it had a charged battery and sent my mother in law up to camp for 10days. 8 days into her trip with water and power hookups they came back to the trailer and it was dead, well the things that seem to need battery for function (lights, thermostat, music, plugs etc). Father in law went out to asses and the battery, even though plugged in to shore power was dead. he then connected it to a charger and it seemed to charge but is being unreliable for the rest of her trip.

-could a bad converter in the past have caused the battery to **** out even though it was bought in the spring?
-if thats the case how could it have worked fine for 8 days before they died?

what am i missing, what should i check? i get the trailer back tomorrow and we are supposed to go on a trip in 2 weeks but no shop has time till september sometime so im hoping ill be able to hunt and find the problem myself. im mechanically inclined and know basic electrical stuff, but im hoping you all can help me with ideas of what to try? already going to check wires, grounds, fuses. should i just change the battery again? (guess it would be a good time to upgrade to 2).

thanks for everything!

[GTS225]

First thing.....check the water level in the battery, if possible. Second, measure the voltage at the battery terminals with a decent, trustable voltmeter. THEN, plug in to shore power and measure the voltage again, at the battery terminals. If the converter is working properly, you should see a rise in voltage to somewhere around 13.8-14.5. If not, start looking for a reason that the converter's not charging the battery, or outputting the voltage it's supposed to. (Tripped breaker, blown fuse, loose/poor/improper or missing connections, etc.?)

That's a start.....Roger

[RogerR]

If your battery is a standard flooded lead battery than take the caps off and test each cell to see if you have a bad cell. Sometimes one cell gives up due to a broken plate or something and all the rest are good. All you need is a simple plastic or glass tool that sucks up a bit of water from the cell and watch for how many balls float. If one cell has much less the battery is toast. Do this after it has been charged up.



Also, as above, one bit of corrosion on a post, wire end, front breaker/fuse, etc. or the ground will give you bad voltage. Clean and tighten every connection, it can be as simple as a loose or poor connection.

[njhappycamper]

have similar issues w jack being dead on and off..plus the radio powers off randomly but everything else works.
replaced 2 yr old battery, all fuses check out. don't know how to test for a ground issue? only saying bc we installed a new jackit rack and maybe the ground is spotty? weird.