Battery problem

[gbaglo]

Installed my mirror today and as usual, pressed the monitor button. I was surprised to see the battery read "fair". The Toad has been plugged into AC for a week. Fridge is cold. There is electricity at the extension cord. I checked the fuses and breakers and I don't see anything wrong there. I checked the battery fluid level and it might be a bit low ( except I don't know where it should be. There are slots in the holes and the level in most is slightly below that. Right now, I'm running my 1,000 watt Honda generator to see what happens, and you're supposed to run the generator from time to time anyway ( started first pull ).

Any thoughts?

baglo

[gbaglo]

Further. I connected my battery charger to the terminals and, if I'm reading it right, it is fully charged. I checked the monitor again a minute later and it read "Good". So, I've left it on a 2A charge and I'll check later. On our last trip I had an issue with the monitor reading "fair" at night and "good" the next morning. And, if the trailer is plugged into AC should the monitor not read "charge"?

baglo

[Paul S.]

The battery that came with our trailer lasted a year and three months!!!! It was never run down, during storage was removed and maintained on a smart charger and the fluid was checked often.
I replaced it with the largest group 27 that Costco had. Look carefully if you buy. The highest capacity battery was actually cheaper than the model rated with less capacity. They also have a manufacturing sticker on top. I removed about four of them in the shelf until I got one that was made less than one month earlier.
Marine cranking amps 875.
Item #207220
Just got back from a 5 week road trip to southern Utah. Dry camped often. Charge level never dropped.

[Jim Bennett]

Glenn, I would suspect the battery too. I have had a terrible record in the past with RV batteries, they only seem to last about 3 years even with good maintenace.

[amirie]

We had to replace our battery after our trip in June--battery was almost 2 years old.

Just bought another from Reace as we were on our way home..

[tao]

The water level should be in the range of the slot not below.

[gbaglo]

thanks, and where the heck do you get distilled water A pharmacy?

baglo

[gharms]

I know you are in Canada. Here in the US you can get distilled water in many grocery stores.

[Jim Bennett]

Glenn, you use the same distilled water you buy for the iron you press your clothes with.
Available in groceries I believe, my wife does the shopping though, not me.

[escape artist]

Hi: gbaglo...Don't you get distilled water from a "Distillery" Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[cheryls]

When I'm plugged into AC, the monitor always reads "Charge."

[gbaglo]

That's why I checked fuses and the extension cord. It should be reading charge. Not sure where to go from there. Talked to my mechanic, and in Vancouver, they just use tap water to top up batteries.

baglo

[GaryH]

Things that kill batteries are excessive vibration, cold, over-draining. Here's a good web page to read......Gary
http://bart.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/12volt/12volt.htm

[gbaglo]

Emailed Escape and Tammy suggested using a multimeter to check leads. I did and replied with the following:

I have a multimeter ( just not sure how to use it, even with the instructions ). Anyway, I disconnected the battery and couldn't get the meter to read anything at any setting when connected to the red and black from the trailer. Then I touched the leads to the poles on the battery and got a reading of about 13 on the DC.V setting so I think I found the proper setting. I've looked at the breakers and fuses and can't see a problem. Right now the battery is disconnected and I've got it on a charger.
Seems to me that the power centre isn't delivering a charge ( after all the monitor should read charge when it's connected to AC and it doesn't and I should get something on the multimeter ). I had a look at the warranty and those guys couldn't put more road blocks in front of any attempt to get them to fix it at their cost.

Back to this post: I have the multi meter set on DC.V 15. Any suggestions from people who know what they are doing

baglo

[gbaglo]

After three hours on my battery charger, the monitor in the trailer reads "good". However, I reconnected the trailer to the battery and AC and it doesn't read "charge". It appears that the power centre isn't charging the battery.
All I have to do now is box up the trailer and mail it to the people that make the power centre. And, if the box containing the trailer can be squeezed through the eye of a needle, they will fix it under warranty.
First, I guess, I'll take it down to NVRV, just down the hill and see if they can pinpoint the problem. And, I'll get the brakes checked over and the wheel bearings repacked at the same time.

baglo

[ronstew]

Putting a multimeter (or voltmeter) on a battery does not tell you much. You'll get 13 V even if the battery is nearly dead. To properly check the battery, it must be under load, and you must have some idea how much current the battery is roviding at that moment.

Can't help you with this one, Glenn.

[gbaglo]

I wasn't trying to check the battery, I was trying to figure out the multimeter. I got a reaction when I set it to 15 on DC.V, but when I connected the leads to the red and black wires from the trailer, with AC connected ( and the battery disconnected ), I got no reaction at all. That tells me ( I think ) that the power centre isn't delivering a charge to the battery. Am I correct?

baglo

[GaryH]

Pick your model & look at the troubleshooting flowchart. It may, or may not be this..........
http://www.parallaxpower.com/ESM%20tech.htm

[52 chev]

GaryH
Thanks for all the usefull info re batteries. I have marked these web pages for future reference.
Al

[gbaglo]

Reace told me to pull the 30 amp fuses and check them. Once I had them out and held them up to the sky, I could see that they were both burned out. Now I'm concerned about what caused the fuses to blow.

baglo