Battery draining faster than charging

[Kevinandvicki]

Hi all. I have a 2007 2720. I am plugged into a 30 amp at rv park. Prior to trip, I was plugged in at home. Battery was charging up to 3/4. Here at park, I am using the fan and lights. last night, the battery was down to almost zero. Lights were low and heater wouldn’t turned on. I turned off all lights and fans, and this morning, battery is currently charged up to half and hopefully rising. All AC outlets are working fine. The battery is an Interstate less than a year old. I rarely use the trailer unplugged. Any idea why my battery seems to be draining faster than it is charging.

Additional information. I removed the original fridge and installed a mini fridge freezer. 110. Also, removed the stove and installed a mini freezer. Also 110. Am I pulling too much power so there isn’t anything left for the battery?

 

[Shrimpburrito]

First of all, have you checked the water levels in your battery? If the water levels are below the plates, you can expect poor battery performance. If they need water, only use distilled water.

Second, when connected to shore power, the 12-volt TM appliances should all work fine regardless of the battery charge. In fact, they should work just fine without any battery at all. So if your water levels aren't the problem, I think I would just disconnect the battery, making sure to not let them touch each other, or anything else metal (especially the TM frame). You could just wrap some tape around them. Then go inside and test your 12-volt appliances. If that solved the problem, then your battery is suspect. If it doesn't, then I think I'd next be exploring the converter (which charges the battery, and also converts 120 volts AC to 12 volts DC for your 12-volt appliances.)

Dave

 

[Bill]

Hi all. I have a 2007 2720. I am plugged into a 30 amp at rv park. Prior to trip, I was plugged in at home. Battery was charging up to 3/4.

Presumably you are judging the "3/4" level using the little lights on the sink apron? They are reasonably useless, so we don't get a lot of info from that, except that the battery had at least some charge.

Here at park, all AC outlets are working fine.

This tells us that park power is good.

I am using the fan and lights. Last night, the battery was down to almost zero.

This tells us that the battery charger is not charging the battery at any significant rate.

Lights were low and heater wouldn’t turned on. I turned off all lights and fans, and this morning, battery is currently charged up to half and hopefully rising.

Again, "charged up to half" is judged by the little lights on the sink apron? Still, it sounds like the battery is getting some charge, but just a trickle.

Question - is the TM plugged into the tow vehicle during all this?

Question: is it possible that the pin on the break-away switch on the tongue has been pulled?

Question: Are the circuit breakers (3 or 4 big black things in the converter) all turned on? Be aware that you cannot judge them by eye. You must push each one to the OFF position, and then push it back to the ON position. Each push should be crisp, not mushy.

Additional information. I removed the original fridge and installed a mini fridge freezer. 110. Also, removed the stove and installed a mini freezer. Also 110. Am I pulling too much power so there isn’t anything left for the battery?

If you are sure they were running on 110, those don't sound like big power consumers, though you might check their tags for "amps" or "watts". If they were inadvertently set to DC, that is a whole different story.

You may find that the battery charger in the converter is failing. We'll try to find some other cause - be hopeful. The converter has some fuses inside it that could cause this behavior, but they don't often fail.

Bill

 

[Kevinandvicki]

Dave. Water level is fine. Lights do no work when I disconnect the battery. When I put the volt meter on the battery, it is between 11.4 and 11.9 while plugged into shore power. Same when unplugged from shore power.

 

[Kevinandvicki]

Bill. Not plugged into tow vehicle. Break away pin is still in place. All breakers inside are fine. Volt meter on battery shows between 11.4 and 11.9. Freezer and fridge are 110 only. No DC option.

 

[Shrimpburrito]

Hmmm....it seems to me the converter does not have any DC output for some reason. What does model is printed on the nameplate on the cabinet for the converter (the door you opened to check the circuit breakers)? MagneTek 6300 Q Series by chance?

I'm sure Bill will chime in with maybe other ideas, including how to further chase this one down.

Dave

 

[Kevinandvicki]

Dave. It is a WFCO WF-8955. One test I did makes me think it is the converter fuse panel. Without the battery hooked up, the fuse panel is reading 1.2 from the AC lines. Not sure if that means the fuse panel is bad or the converter. Trying to find some troubleshooting videos.

 

[Shrimpburrito]

Without the battery hooked up, the fuse panel is reading 1.2 from the AC lines.

Can you expand on what do you mean by this? Is 1.2 referring to amps? Volts?

The fuse panel only protects DC circuits, so I'm just not sure what you're referring to.

When you're plugged in without the battery connected, what exactly is displaying 1.2?

Dave

 

[Wavery]

@Dave. Water level is fine. Lights do no work when I disconnect the battery. When I put the volt meter on the battery, it is between 11.4 and 11.9 while plugged into shore power. Same when unplugged from shore power.

Sounds like your converter's charger is either disconnected, the breaker is turned off or it's shot (common). When you are plugged into shore power, the voltage should read 13.8V minimum. That 13.8V should be coming directly from the converter's charger. If that's not happening, there's a problem with the converter.

Your 110V appliances have nothing to do with your converter's charger or your battery. That 110v is coming directly from your power cord to your converter's breakers. The fridge and freezer combined only draw about 10A maximum (if both compressors are running at the same time). Your service from the power cord is 30A.

 

[Bill]

I have to agree with the conclusions above. It seems that the battery is not being charged AT ALL, and is struggling to provide a bit of residual energy from the last time it was properly charged. The fact that some 12-volt appliances (panel on the sink apron, etc) work A LITTLE BIT when the battery is connected, and the trailer is unplugged from shore power, says that the battery fuse is OK. The fact that no 12-volt appliances work AT ALL when the battery is disconnected points to a charger problem. As has been mentioned, all the 12-volt appliances should work perfectly, powered by the charger, even with the battery disconnected. The fact that they don't work at all points to a charger failure.

I think you can replace the charger portion of the WFCO converter for about $100 at Amazon, if you are willing to do a small amount of work to install it. You don't have to buy an entire converter-plus-installation from a RV dealer. For example, check out https://www.bestconverter.com/Replacement-Lower-Converter-Assembly-for-WFCO-8955_c_196.html

Bill

 

[Kevinandvicki]

Bill. I see you went with a progressive dynamics a while back. It looks like the PD 4655V would be compatible. What PD unit do you use? I am waiting to hear back from WFCO tech support to help walk me through making sure my converter is actually dead. i think it is also. What PD unit do you use? I am somewhat handy so I am pretty sure I can install whatever I end up getting.

 

[Shrimpburrito]

Other than the main breaker, is there a breaker in newer TMs that will shut off only the converter? There's not one in my older TM at least.....

If there is, checking to make sure that is not tripped for some reason would be easy to do before swapping out the converter.

Since he's getting 12VDC to some DC appliances, albeit not great, but consistent with a low voltage, I'd say the odds of the converter being disconnected are pretty low.

Dave

 

[Shrimpburrito]

@Bill. I see you went with a progressive dynamics a while back. It looks like the PD 4655V would be compatible. What PD unit do you use? I am waiting to hear back from WFCO tech support to help walk me through making sure my converter is actually dead. i think it is also. What PD unit do you use? I am somewhat handy so I am pretty sure I can install whatever I end up getting.

Bill will chime in too, by I'll cast a vote for the PD 46xxV series, which is the one you've picked out. When I got lithium batteries, I upgraded my converter to a PD4635V, and it's been flawless. Comes with a new upgraded DC distribution board too, so I swapped that out as well. There is a jumper on the converter board to configure it for lead acid or lithium, so just make sure it's in the right spot.

I had a Paralllax unit, and at least with that chassis, while the upgrade was time consuming, it wasn't technically challenging.

Dave

 

[Wavery]

I like the Progressive Dynamics with the Charge Wizard. The Charge Wizard allows you to force the charger to output at it's maximum capacity for the entire duration of the charge. Without the Charge Wizard, you just have a 3-stage charger and it will take a lot longer to charge your lithium battery (if/when you get one).

However, you are in a quandary with that L/A battery. Be sure that what you get is lithium compatible as well because your next battery will probably be lithium. L/A are becoming less and less attractive at any price.

 

[Kevinandvicki]

Hi all. Wanted to give an update and say thank you. I bought and installed the PD4655V. It was a straight forward install, no modification needed other than an adapter plate for the front screws to hold it in place. The converter came with a new DC board that had the charge wizard as part of it, but I decided not to install it. I have it as a back up since my DC board is fine. Battery now charging at 13.6 and holding steady. Thank you all for the advice and guidance.

 

[Wavery]

Hi all. Wanted to give an update and say thank you. I bought and installed the PD4655V. It was a straight forward install, no modification needed other than an adapter plate for the front screws to hold it in place. The converter came with a new DC board that had the charge wizard as part of it, but I decided not to install it. I have it as a back up since my DC board is fine. Battery now charging at 13.6 and holding steady. Thank you all for the advice and guidance.

I hope that you increased the DC wire size to at least 8AWG better would be 6AWG.

If you use the "Charge Wizard", the battery will charge @ 14.6V and at ~50A until the battery is fully charged. That will cut down charging time by 75%.

You can order the Charge Wizard dongle to activate the full charge cycle.
https://www.amazon.com/Progressive-...&sprefix=charge+wizard+pendant,aps,185&sr=8-1