Travel Trailer Battery Charging

JasonE · 11-18-2013, 02:41 PM

Hello All:

I have a 2006 CR Zinger 32 QBS. Not sure why, but battery doesn't seem to be taking a charge. I have checked the water in the battery, the 50 Amp in-line fuse appears to be okay, the circuit breakers are all good, and the two 30 Amp fuses appear to be okay.

Does anyone know if this particular model has a battery cutoff switch hidden somewhere?

It is plugged into a 20 Amp outlet with a 30 Amp to 15 Amp Adapter.

Sorry for the dumb question, but would like to get the battery charged before I disconnect it for winter storage.

What am I missing...except for the potential of a bad battery?

Ideas? This one has me stumped.

**Lloyd** · 11-18-2013, 02:46 PM

You might want to pull the battery out and take it some place where they can load test it and test each cell with a hydrometer.
If it's the original battery chances are it's bad.

JasonE · 11-18-2013, 02:50 PM

Thanks Farmer.

I'll probably dig out my old voltmeter from the shed somewhere first. If it is running 13.5 I should be good. If I still can't sniff it out, it could very well be the battery cell.

I am the second owner on this TT, but it appears that this is not the original factory battery.

Stumped.

I suspect a Bud Light or two and a voltmeter might take me where I need to go.

Antares · 11-18-2013, 02:56 PM

There should be a date on the battery indicating it's age. If it is the original, I would suspect it is just too old to work anymore.

ewbldavis · 11-18-2013, 05:09 PM

We have a 2014 32QB - no kill switch I am aware of...

JasonE · 11-18-2013, 06:46 PM

Thanks guys!

cruzr4-2 · 11-18-2013, 08:16 PM

I doubt a cut out switch unless previous owner added one which is possible. Our 06 Cruiser didn't have one but does now. Trace the wires out.
Good luck
Dennis

sking · 11-18-2013, 09:21 PM

I'd feel a whole lot better knowing I started my season with a new battery. I had a battery go bad within a year with my previous TT, it's no fun.

JasonE · 11-19-2013, 07:53 AM

Thanks again for all of the help guys. New to the RV/Travel Trailer world and you guys are nothing short of wonderful.

cw3jason · 11-19-2013, 08:32 AM

I had an older Keystone TT as our first trailer and I thought I had a battery charging issue because the guage would never read above 3/4 charged. What I found was the self resetting circut breaker bolted to the frame adjacent to the battery was so corroded, it fell apart when I tried to clean it. I replaced this breaker and the battery read fully charged, I was loosing voltage due to the corrosion.

JasonE · 11-19-2013, 08:35 AM

Thanks Jason. I have the same thing going on. It reads a consistent 1/3...sometimes 2/3 charge level, but never seems to top off. You might be on to something. Going to have the battery checked today. If that isn't the problem, I will go chase the ghost you mentioned.

Thanks again!

JasonE · 03-18-2014, 10:37 AM

Hey guys...finally got back around to having my battery tested. It is bad.

The question is: If my inline fuse is okay, and my breakers are okay, shouldn't I still be able to run off of shore power? Or will a bad battery mess up the whole kit and kaboodle?

Thoughts?

OhioMark · 03-18-2014, 11:52 AM

Gotta weigh the cost of your time noodling around vs. grabbing a new battery. The end result is the same, you need to get a battery.

Shore power drives the 110 in the camper and runs a line to the 120AC->12DC volt converter that in turn runs your lights, pumps, furnace, fans. The 110 only should be to the outlets, microwave, AC, and electric element in the water heater.

I was camping a few years back and the battery ran dead while on shorepower. Turns out the line to the converter was loose. Imagine the look on my face when all the lights were slowly going dim but the AC, TV, and Microwave were screaming away!

If there is a problem with your converter, the new battery will run till its dead.

JasonE · 03-18-2014, 12:02 PM

Thanks Mark. I was going to grab a battery regardless, perhaps two in parallel to make boondocking a bit less painful.

So in laymens terms, the picture attached is correct...right? Lights will not run unless the battery is operational and per your comment...cables are snug.

Thanks Mark.

JasonE · 03-18-2014, 12:03 PM

Apparently it doesn't like my image.

Let's try this: http://rvroadtrip.us/library/12v_system.php

JasonE · 04-29-2014, 11:37 AM

At the end of the day, it was a bad converter. I should have known by the fact that the fan wasn't kicking on and the fact that when I disconnected the battery, the lights wouldn't work. If the converter was working properly, it should still have worked.

Duh.

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