Battery Drain When Travelling - Power Converter Issue?

[Bailey'sMom]

I would love to see some close up pictures of the ground wires and their location on the TM. I keep hearing about checking for bad grounds, but honestly don't think I would know one if I saw one.

Thanks

[scrubjaysnest]

On your SD they should be in the same place as our SL. That is Street side between the rear bumper and the gray water discharge is a black plastic cover with a screen in it. Remove the cover and the frame grounds are there.
Sometimes there is an odd one along the frame such as the electric tongue jack or under the break away break switch.

[tentcamper]

I have 2 frame grounds that I have seen.

1st - on the tongue, you follow the bare un-insulated wire from the battery negative terminal. There is a ground lug that is screwed to the frame.

2nd - under the camper on the inside of the frame rail, or maybe the cross frame rail. Between the rear bumper and gray water holding tank nearer to the street side. Again there is a ground lug that is screwed to the frame and an un-insulated wire copper wire is there. The wire looks like it come from somewhere around the converter.

I will need to check for the ground that scrubjaysnest mentioned, or maybe that the same one as my 2nd ground mentioned above and they changed it?

[Bill]

Bailey's Mom -

In my 2720SL, the battery is in the rear compartment. On the battery's negative post, there are two wires - one white and one bare (might also be green on some trailers). The bare wire is the primary ground, and runs to a connection on the frame only a couple feet away from the battery. The white wire runs up to the converter, where it terminates at the ground "buss bar" inside the converter housing. There is another ground connection from that buss bar to the frame somewhere up there. But the bare wire is the main one.

In addition, every light has two wires, hot and ground. The ground wire is simply screwed to the aluminum skin of the trailer right at the fixture, and since the aluminum skin is attached to the frame, the light circuit is completed this way. When a single light doesn't work, a loose ground at the fixture is often the culprit.

But the primary ground for the entire system is the bare wire at the battery.

Bill

Originally Posted by Bailey'sMom

I would love to see some close up pictures of the ground wires and their location on the TM. I keep hearing about checking for bad grounds, but honestly don't think I would know one if I saw one.

Thanks

[tentcamper]

All my ceiling lights have a natural (white wire) and 12v wire both tied to a 12G wire, but all my running, turn, and brake lights are grounded to the aluminum skin. Everything I have seen inside the camper from the fridge, fans and water pump all seem to have a white natural wire.

I also have the white natural and bare ground wire on the neg battery terminal.

My schematics shows a natural wire to the ceiling lights ground. If I look at the newer TM schematics it shows a chassis ground on the ceiling lights. There must have been a cost saving change made some time after 2003.

[Bailey'sMom]

Thanks everyone. I will check these out when I get a chance.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by tentcamper

All my ceiling lights have a natural (white wire) and 12v wire both tied to a 12G wire, but all my running, turn, and brake lights are grounded to the aluminum skin. Everything I have seen inside the camper from the fridge, fans and water pump all seem to have a white natural wire.

I also have the white natural and bare ground wire on the neg battery terminal.

My schematics shows a natural wire to the ceiling lights ground. If I look at the newer TM schematics it shows a chassis ground on the ceiling lights. There must have been a cost saving change made some time after 2003.

Tentcamper -

You are right. In some TMs, every light fixture has its own local ground attached to the aluminum skin. And in others, a white ground wire is run alongside the hot wire to all the ceiling lights, and the ground wire is grounded to the skin at a single point.

Incidentally, when you refer to a "natural" wire, I imagine you mean "neutral" wire. A single-voltage DC distribution system (12 VDC in this case) doesn't really have a neutral - it has hot (live) and ground, occasionally referred to as positive and negative. At least in simple distribution systems, a "neutral" wire is found only in AC distribution systems. People argue about the term "neutral" in multi-voltage DC systems, but it doesn't apply here.

Bill

[YNPKing]

This is my first post. I enjoy reading all the information in the forum. It is an excellent source of information. I hope this question hasn't been answered.

My question is, how much amperage is supplied to the battery from the TV? I have 2 6V Lifeline AGM batteries supplying 220V inside my 2417 Sport. When traveling, I run the fan and refrigerator on DC. I was told by Dometic that the refrigerator on DC consumes 15.0 amp/hrs and I'm guessing about 1 amp/hrs for the fan. So, about 16.0 amp/hrs is withdrawn from the batteries. Will the TV offset the 16.0 amp/hrs? Does the Bargman and/or trailer wiring suppress the amperage to the WFCO converter? Does the converter itself suppress the amperage to the batteries? I'm thinking that due to the size of the trailer wiring to the converter, it can only carry a few amps.

The reason for my question is that when I arrive at the campsite after traveling 6-8 hours and connect to AC, the converter fan runs for a period of time (?) which makes me think the batteries require a significant bulk charge.

[Padgett]

There are other threads but the 3-way fridge takes 2x to 3x the power of a compressor fridge and is a real power drain, around 180W regardless of voltage. You would be better off from a capacity standpoint running on propane rather than battery

Power from the TV really depends more on the TV wiring to the Bargman & altermator capacity than anything. Mine appears to have a 10 gauge wire on a 30A fuse and a 160A alternator. My experience is that you need at least 140A (under 100A is Not Engough particularly with lights on, 120A is marginal) rated alternator to be able to charge effectively at low engine rpm. (My Interstate cruise is under 2,000 rpm)

[tentcamper]

Glade you found it.

I have been think about getting under my TM and cleaning the frame grounds. I have only seen 2. One up by the battery and the other back by the gray water. Are there any more??