Inverter or battery or something else

[MakinSmoke]

My battery is was installed at purchase in April 2007. We have been living in the Excel almost fulltime for these 16 months.

Recently, the battery has not been charged when we got to a new location. Should I suspect the battery or the inverter or something else?

[MakinSmoke]

My battery is was installed at purchase in April 2007. We have been living in the Excel almost fulltime for these 16 months.

Recently, the battery has not been charged when we got to a new location. Should I suspect the battery or the inverter or something else?

[rockintom]

Virg,

You say battery as if you just have one. You also say inverter and I think you mean converter/charger. Have you check the water in the battery? Check and clean battery connections? When your battery is dead and you plug into shore power does the battery charge up after a while? I know your unit set on the lot for a very long time before you bought it. Check the date on the battery and see if it one that was a 2005 date or the 2007 date when you bought the unit. (I know you said it was installed in '07) If you have a '05 replace it without going any further. Other wise take the battery out and take to a auto parts store and have it checked. Also check your voltage with the disconnect switch in the "on" position. At the battery, you should see a voltage of 13.2- 13.9 depending on the state of charge in the battery. This, of course, is with your shore power connected. This is just a quick check. I personally wouldn't be caught without 2 - 27 group batteries in my unit. They fit perfectly. HTHs rock

Also one other question, does your converter run the everything in the rig when the battery disconnect switch is in the "off" position? If so than, it's unlikely that the converter is the culprit.

[MakinSmoke]

OK one at a time...
We have ONLY one battery because we don't camp much.
You are right, I do mean converter'charger.
Battery did not "come up" when plugged into my generator, I'll tell you on Wednesday or Thursday if it goes down again after our next trip.

Battery is a deep cycle marine/RV Group 27 battery, has water in every cell and has not had any of the date "plugs" removed from the top but I saw it installed new in 4/07.

I'll take the battery to an auto parts store tomorrow and check it but I think it is good.

""Also one other question, does your converter run the everything in the rig when the battery disconnect switch is in the "off" position? If so than, it's unlikely that the converter is the culprit.""
I have no idea about this but I'll check it in the morning.

Thanks

[Still Working "NOT"]

Virgil,

The converter will run everything with the battery disconnect in the off position. You should have a light that is on when switch is on. You may have bumped it off without knowing it. There are also two little fuses in the solinoid behing it Look real close and you will see them behind the panel that the switch is mounted on. One or bothj of them may be bad also.

[MakinSmoke]

OK, this morning I put the battery in the off position and turned on several DC lights in the trailer...they all worked. I even heard the converter kick on briefly when I turned on more lights.

I found one "inline" bus fuse around the battery switch and it is good.

I'm beginning to think we must have left something "on" while driving and just simply run the battery down.

Maybe we should just see IF the battery goes down again. There is no danger since we have the generator to get us back in business if we need DC power.

[Workshop]

Would agree with others that it does sound like the converter is operating properly. Checking the battery water and connectors is always a good thing to do, even when everything is going good.

Your comment: must have left something "on" while driving and just ran the battery down....If the wiring is correct from the TV, it should charge and maintain the battery in the 5'er while you drive. Will on mine. Without a meter to check voltages at different locations and at different times it could take longer to figure it out. Taking the battery to have charged and tested is another option.

[D and J]

Virgil,

all RV repair shops will have a little gizmo that you can plug into Overkill to make sure that your 7 pin plug is working properly.

I carry a Fluke digital meter, and we can look it over at the HDT ralley, but my meter cant do a load test on the battery. Run the battery over to any car parts store for that test.

We were having similar issues with our batteries (water good, connections good) I thought maybe the balance was off on our batteries (we don't have a battery tender)

[MakinSmoke]

Well, the battery tested good. I agree that Overkill should be recharging during trip and has done a great job of doing so up until now. Trailer tail, signal and brake lights work but one of the wires from the alternater could have been broken. I have made an appointment with an RV dealer on I-80 just north of Akron to have it checked out on Thursday.
Doug, I will have them check the plug on Overkill while we are there.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I think this one if over my head. (Doesn't have to be too high)

[rockintom]

Virg,

What the lastest on the dead battery deal? Inquiring minds wants to know!

[MakinSmoke]

We dropped it at this Route 66 service center in Streetsboro, OH on Thursday and they could not look at it until today. The kitchen slide was scraping the wooden floor on the in and out and needed adjustment. We also have a another water leak (although minor) in the basement. We're staying at Jo's brother's for a few days anyway so it is no inconvenience, yet . We stopped one night on the way here from Gettysburg and the battery was FINE??? I am baffled but you know that doesn't take much.

[WldKargo]

I have blown the fuse that provides charging current from my tow vehicle. This may be one more thing to check. I have a Ford Super Duty and the fuse was located in the main fuse panel and labeled, so it was easy to find. Your truck my have a different set up.

[rockintom]

One of my electrician consultants inform me that Virg has "B+" on both sides!!!! And I said ya, but what about his rig!

[MakinSmoke]

From Workhorse
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">If the wiring is correct from the TV, it should charge and maintain the battery in the 5'er while you drive </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

From Doug
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all RV repair shops will have a little gizmo that you can plug into Overkill to make sure that your 7 pin plug is working properly.
------------------------------------------
Well you two have to share FIRST PRIZE.

The problem... Overkill was wired at the machine shop where they built the hauler body and installed the TrailerSaver TSLB 35K airbag hitch.

Those guys worry about tail and brake lights and left and right turn signals but they never have to worry about charging a battery in the trailer so they did not include a "charging wire" to the harness!!!

I've been living in the fiver over a year and moving from here to there and the converter/charger is so good in the EXCEL it keep the battery topped off whenever we were plugged in in a campground!

So, the fix is run another wire to the female end of the harness and we'll be all set.

Thanks to all who contributed. Just one more time we have proven Excel components are very robust and not the problem!