Help Needed! - Hi-Lo camper travel trailer forum

byrdmeister · 11-11-2014, 05:02 PM

Just got my trailer back from the West Coast Trip. New battery put in and it appears that it is "drained". Here is where I am asking for help.
1. The converter is humming when plugged into electricity. What/should it be humming? Could this impact the battery?
2. Doesn't appear that it is charging while traveling down the road.
3. Could something be amiss because of the battery change?
4. Where does one go to begin the "rule this out".
5. I have read and will reread the suggestions on the forum; but has anyone experienced this on a plus or minus 1994 model?
6. Would a short in the outside porch light or a bathroom light "suck" the battery down quickly?
7. Has anyone replaced the converter on this approximate model with a newer design and how did it work out?

Thank you in advance for any suggestions. Please understand I am a partial shade tree mechanic with very little knowledge of electrical etc. Please bare with my ineptness as I try and "corral" this problem.

Byrd

RichR · 11-11-2014, 05:24 PM

Is the battery hooked up correctly? Check for voltage at the battery when plugged into shore power. Check to see if there is power coming from the tow vehicle. I can't think that both sources of power are bad. Is the fridge turned on to DC, that will drain a battery pretty fast.

renoites · 11-11-2014, 06:03 PM

Byrdmeister

Check the voltage on the battery without being hooked up to anything.
Correct polarity when/where installed?

1. This sound is NOT abnormal.
2.????? A likely major issue
3.not likely since no computer type of components
4.here
5
6.
7.

#1 thing!!! REMOVE every fuse, inspect and re-install.
Turn off all 120v circuit breakers and then turn back on.
I don't think that the on board charger will be able to re-charge a completely dead battery .
I would start at where it comes into the trlr and chase the 120v.

do the 120v first .PLUG INTO POWER and verify that system is working. Use your multimeter at the interior plugs.

Good?

now check all of the inverter fuses. Remove, inspect and replace.
Now use your multimeter to cross the fuse and see if fuse is good.(lots of people forget this).

2. At your tow vehicle there is a circuit breaker/fuse normally that energizes the charging line to the trlr. It will be a 30amp or better C/B or fuse.
7. Why do you think that you have a short?

hth
steve

JackandJanet · 11-11-2014, 06:45 PM

Wayne, if your battery is receiving a charge, either on shore power or from the tow vehicle, the voltage measured across the battery terminals will be above 13V. If it is in the mid-12s or less, you are not charging. This reading should be taken with everything in the trailer turned off, since many things turned on could drag the voltage down, especially a high draw item like the fridge.

If you remove ALL charging sources and disconnect the negative battery cable, you can switch your multimeter to Amps (I'd start with the highest range) and then connect the positive Ammeter probe to the negative cable and the negative probe to the disconnected negative battery terminal. If you get any reading at all, you have a constant drain on the battery that, over time, will kill it. If you don't see a reading on the higher Amp range (probably 10 Amps), switch to the highest milliAmp range. Keep reducing the range if you still see 0 Amps to confirm there is NO draw. Any draw at all means something is pulling current and is draining the battery. You need to start with high ranges to prevent blowing fuses in the multimeter if there IS a draw.

If I've said anything unclear, ask me about it.

- Jack

byrdmeister · 11-11-2014, 06:49 PM

The reason I thought about a short being a problem is that:
1. I worked on the porch light and thought that where I connected the wires to replace the switch they might be touching something or one another. There was very little wire to work with and it was "close fits".
2. Just recently, the light in the bathroom (over the little closet) flickered on and off. As I reached to move the switch, it would come on/off finally going off all together. I have intended taking light down, but have not done so. Presently, I have no light, but I believe it is not a bulb but in the socket itself. Thus the thought of a short.

JackandJanet · 11-11-2014, 06:57 PM

Wayne, there are very few shorts that won't pop circuit breakers or blow fuses, depending on how the circuit is protected. Those that don't are ones that generally have just a tiny contact that quickly burns through opening the circuit disabling the short. There CAN be continuous minor shorts, but they are VERY rare.

The problems with your lights sound like loose connections to me. This creates an "open" (non-functioning) circuit.

- Jack

RichR · 11-11-2014, 07:13 PM

I don't know about your trailer model but many trailers have fuses in the CONVERTER/Charger that protect against reverse polarity. These fuses are located in the convertor NOT with the other fuses. My above post was to see if the converter is putting out power to the battery. If it is it should be showing at least 13 volts. The converter has only two wires to the battery and do not connect to anything else. 12 volt power to the trailer all comes from the battery via the heavy cables and go to the fuse block inside.

byrdmeister · 11-11-2014, 07:15 PM

I have the trailer plugged into 110 from the house. Top goes up and down with no problem. When weather is a little warmer, I will first unhook from 110 and see if there is juice on the battery (Jack, I will check for volts if charged).
If everything is ok there, I shall begin the search. I read an article about the converter (MagnetTek brand) having the same/similar problem. He describes how the 110 side of converter can be working, but the 12v system not charging/working. He goes on to describe how he took out and worked on. If that is what my problem is there is NO WAY I can do the stuff that he describes. I would just have to look for similar converter and make the change. Temps around here are going to be in the 20-30s for the next 4 days. For west Texas, that is almost the temp that puts us into hibernation.
For all of those to the north and east, be careful and stay warm!

Papa · 11-11-2014, 08:31 PM

Wayne,
You stated that the battery didn't seem to be charging while riding down the road. I own a GMC truck and once had a drained battery problem. It seems that I had raised the Hi Lo while it was still plugged in to the truck. GMC has a 30 amp fuse in the truck, but the hydraulic pump draws much more than that to begin the lift. So when I raised the Hi Lo while still plugged in to the truck unbeknown to me it blew the truck fuse. I left the camp ground and got home with a dead battery.
You didn't say but it sounds like when you got home you had a dead battery. I'd check the truck's fuse and put a meter on the 7 pin plug on the truck to insure the truck is charging the battery. In my case it was nothing wrong with the camper just a truck fuse.
Hope this helps and keep us posted as to what you find.
God Bless
Papa
P. S. I just remembered that GMC does not install that fuse on new trucks or SUV's. My son-in-law once arrived at a campground with a dead battery because GMC had not installed the fuse. They provide it but the new owner has to install it. Anyway that's the way it was on 2005 models.

renoites · 11-11-2014, 10:26 PM

Byrd
" Top goes up and down with no problem"
If the top goes up, it is not a battery problem.
The top raising uses the 12v system, not 120v.
steve

kenh · 11-11-2014, 11:53 PM

If the top goes up and down after you have had the unit plugged into 120VAC for a while then the battery has been recharged. The converter in my Funlite 2294 will not raise the top if the battery is too low.

It wasn't clear to me if the battery drained while driving or while in use. If it drained while driving and you had the refrigerator on 12VDC then most likely you are not charging from the tow vehicle. This has been a consistent problem with my unit. Usually it is a bad connector somewhere. However, on my E150 (97) van I ran the battery down while driving due to bad connector. (Had the fridge on.) I corrected the connector problem and started up the van and left it run for a few minutes thinking it would charge the battery enough to lift the top. It didn't, so I got the bright idea (there was no shore power at the site) that I would start up van and lift the top, bad idea, it fried the relay in the van!

Just some thoughts, kenh

Rolff · 11-14-2014, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by renoites

Byrd
" Top goes up and down with no problem"
If the top goes up, it is not a battery problem.
The top raising uses the 12v system, not 120v.
steve

I was thinking the same thing when I read that. Also I thought I had read here that people installed a 10 gauge wire from the TV battery to the charger lead on the connector because the TV doesn't charge very well with smaller gauge wires. The Fridge will drain it quick.

byrdmeister · 11-14-2014, 10:06 PM

I thought that when I was plugged into the 110 from the house that it acted as a trickle charger for the battery also. As my thinking is going when I am plugged into the truck, the 12v side of the converter is not working. The ice box doesn't cool on 12v and the battery doesn't charge, the battery drains and the top won't go up. When I hook up to the 110, the top goes up. So help me with my thinking please. It appears to me that the 12v side of the converter isn't working. My son-in-law had to hook jumper cables to the battery to raise the top while on the way home from Oregon. I think I am more confused as I think about this.

JackandJanet · 11-14-2014, 11:31 PM

Wayne, the converter DOES reduce the charging current and voltage when it is plugged into 110V and the battery is at or near a full charge state. Rather than a "trickle charger", I believe this behavior is called "float charging". At least this is true for the converter in my 2007 HiLo.

If your battery is low, but not totally dead, then I think the converter can supply enough additional current to raise the top, if you are plugged into shore power.

I may be wrong, I don't have access to my manual right now, but I don't think the converter is in the circuit at all when the shore power is disconnected. If I'm wrong, someone please correct me. So, if your battery is not charging when plugged into the tow vehicle (and the ignition is ON - ideally with the engine running) then there is something wrong with the charging circuit and the fault is usually a blown 30A fuse. If that's not the case, you may have broken or loose connections in the wiring to the +12V and Gnd pins in the 7-pin socket on the TV. If they're fine, you have a wiring fault in the trailer, and I think the wiring is very short from the trailer plug directly to the battery. I don't know that it goes anywhere else.

You could check for continuity between the positive and negative battery cables (disconnected from the battery) and the corresponding trailer plug pins using a multimeter either on Ohms setting or "Cont".

- Jack

JIM L · 11-15-2014, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by byrdmeister

I thought that when I was plugged into the 110 from the house that it acted as a trickle charger for the battery also. As my thinking is going when I am plugged into the truck, the 12v side of the converter is not working. The ice box doesn't cool on 12v and the battery doesn't charge, the battery drains and the top won't go up. When I hook up to the 110, the top goes up. So help me with my thinking please. It appears to me that the 12v side of the converter isn't working. My son-in-law had to hook jumper cables to the battery to raise the top while on the way home from Oregon. I think I am more confused as I think about this.

Hi; I sent you a private message.