Absolute newbie with a battery question
Hi there! My husband and I bought a 1969 Aloha in great shape recently, for a fellow we know to live in through the winter. The guy we bought it from doesn't seem to know much about it - he bought it from an electrician, who apparently rewired it, or something.
Here's what we know: when you plug in the power to the back of the trailer, it gives electricity to the outlets that have been installed throughout, the microwave, and we *think* the water pump and the heater fan. There are two overhead lights in the main area and one in the bathroom that do NOT run off that electricity.
The previous owner made the loose suggestion that 'we might want to get a battery'. So my husband did some research and got a deep cycle battery, appropriate to our travel trailer. We installed it, and voila, the overhead lights worked! Huzzah!
Our homeless friend moved into the trailer yesterday, and though they used only one of the overhead lights for maybe a couple of hours, and the bathroom light, at this point none of them are working. They did not run the water pump or the heater, and the electric has been plugged into our house the entire time. We assumed that being plugged in would automatically charge the battery - that was what the previous owner thought, and that seemed to be the general consensus. I guess we were wrong.
Is it possible that the battery is drained already, after a few hours of one small dome light use? When you get a brand new deep cycle battery, is there some sort of voodoo magic that you need to do to it? I am obviously completely ignorant of such things, to my embarrassment, and I have been trying to understand all the information I am finding online, but I just don't.
Should the battery be charging when the rig is plugged in? Or was that a bad assumption? If not, then how do we charge it? Do we need a separate charger? I am very confused, and hopeful that you folks can patiently explain to me. Thank you so much - and I love looking at your photos. Once warm weather is back, we'll be remodeling our new baby and taking her out on the road! For now, we just need to keep this man and his wife warm and dry for the winter.
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