Running on DC redux. - Page 2 - Hi-Lo camper travel trailer forum

RichR · 10-16-2014, 12:12 PM

The sensor should work ok in the trailer fridge, there is less metal to shield the signal. My sensor works fine in our fridge.

JackandJanet · 10-16-2014, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichR

If there is a sensor attached to the fins in the fridge try sliding it up or down to see if it makes any difference.

Rich, to respond properly to your suggestion, I was out winterizing my trailer this morning and checked the refrigerator. There IS a sensor in a white sleeve attached to the left most fin in the refrigerator. It was in the lowest position, so I've slid it to the uppermost position. Guess I'll have to wait until next camping season to see if it changes the temperature in the refrigerator section, but this is certainly an item to consider if your refrigerator temps are not what you want.

Thanks bunches!

- Jack

Luckydog671 · 10-16-2014, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JackandJanet

Rich, to respond properly to your suggestion, I was out winterizing my trailer this morning and checked the refrigerator. There IS a sensor in a white sleeve attached to the left most fin in the refrigerator. It was in the lowest position, so I've slid it to the uppermost position. Guess I'll have to wait until next camping season to see if it changes the temperature in the refrigerator section, but this is certainly an item to consider if your refrigerator temps are not what you want.

Thanks bunches!

- Jack

That's what that thing is! On mine, there is a sticker on the fridge wall that has a blue triangle pointing towards the sensor but I see no reference point on the sensor sleeve. Any idea what that's about?

RichR · 10-16-2014, 05:37 PM

If you have the manual for the fridge look to see if there is any reference to the sensor/thermistor. I have seen lots of talk about it on the RV.Net RV and Camping Forum ? RV, Trailer, Camper, Motorhome, Camping and Campground Information

Garry · 10-18-2014, 01:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luckydog671

Thanks for everyone's input! I've had the fridge chilling since last night (empty) on electric. Even on the warmest setting, the fridge is around 25 degrees and the freezer is a little below 0. Ambient outside temp is 69 degrees.

We decided to turn it off on departure in the morning. We'll run with it empty, except for some ice in the fridge portion, as an experiment to see how cold it stays. We'll travel with the cold food in a cooler in the tow vehicle and transfer when we get to the cg.

I hope that sucker doesn't freeze all the food when we stock it!

On our recent one month trip we did not have any issues with the frig on d/c from Southern California to Moab, Utah (total of 4 days RV camping), however, about four hours after leaving Moab we arrived at a dry campground in South Mineral, Colorado and our batteries were dead. Stayed at South Mineral 2 nights with batteries charged and left for Mesa Verde, CO (refrig on d/c) and arrived again with dead batteries. Left Mesa Verde with charged batteries and dropped down into Aztec, New Mexico for about two hours and then drove (with refrig off) to Pagosa Springs, CO to an RV Park, no problems with batteries. Left Pagosa Springs with refrig on d/c and drove to Childress, Texas, arriving with dead batteries. Left the refrig off for the remainder of the trip while in transit, which remained cold but the freezer did cool down a bit on some of the stretches through western Texas. Back home, electrical was checked and the trailer batteries should have been receiving a charge while in transit.

RichR · 10-18-2014, 08:44 AM

Tow vehicle charge lines are notorious for having under-sized charge lines. For some reason the car companies use too small wire for the application. You say you checked and have power coming to the trailer which is good. Something that has happened is that your batteries have gone dead on several occasions, that's bad for them. That will essentially kill the life of the batteries, by now the damage has already been done. Put a good charge on them at home and let them sit idle overnight, then take them to a battery shop and have them tested. Two things you can do, run a heavier gauge wire from your TV or don't keep the fridge on all the time you are traveling. We rarely run the fridge while on the road for four hours or less, if everything is cold when you leave home it will stay cold for a number of hours.

If you have a good charge line and good batteries you should be able run all day with no problems. If you stop along the way shut off the fridge. If we stop for any length of time I park on a nearly level spot and raise the top and switch to gas.

JackandJanet · 10-18-2014, 11:48 AM

To add to Rich's post, Garry, it really sounds to me like your battery charging fuse in the tow vehicle has blown. I found this can easily happen, especially if you raise the trailer top with the trailer electrically connected to the tow vehicle and the engine running. The draw through the charging circuit then is very high. I went through 3 fuses when my trailer was new before I learned this.

If you haven't done it, apply a voltmeter to the battery charging pin and ground pin at the 7-pin plug on your tow vehicle with the engine running. You SHOULD see something in the neighborhood of 14V if that circuit is active. If you see much lower voltage, your charging circuit is not up to par, possibly due to undersized wires or corroded/loose connections. If you see zero volts, the fuse is blown.

- Jack

Luckydog671 · 10-18-2014, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JackandJanet

To add to Rich's post, Garry, it really sounds to me like your battery charging fuse in the tow vehicle has blown. I found this can easily happen, especially if you raise the trailer top with the trailer electrically connected to the tow vehicle and the engine running. The draw through the charging circuit then is very high. I went through 3 fuses when my trailer was new before I learned this.

If you haven't done it, apply a voltmeter to the battery charging pin and ground pin at the 7-pin plug on your tow vehicle with the engine running. You SHOULD see something in the neighborhood of 14V if that circuit is active. If you see much lower voltage, your charging circuit is not up to par, possibly due to undersized wires or corroded/loose connections. If you see zero volts, the fuse is blown.

- Jack

Hi Jack,

Electrically challenged here . . . can a multimeter be used to perfom the check you mentioned?

Garry · 10-18-2014, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JackandJanet

To add to Rich's post, Garry, it really sounds to me like your battery charging fuse in the tow vehicle has blown. I found this can easily happen, especially if you raise the trailer top with the trailer electrically connected to the tow vehicle and the engine running. The draw through the charging circuit then is very high. I went through 3 fuses when my trailer was new before I learned this.

If you haven't done it, apply a voltmeter to the battery charging pin and ground pin at the 7-pin plug on your tow vehicle with the engine running. You SHOULD see something in the neighborhood of 14V if that circuit is active. If you see much lower voltage, your charging circuit is not up to par, possibly due to undersized wires or corroded/loose connections. If you see zero volts, the fuse is blown.

- Jack

Thanks for the input Jack and yes I had checked the fuse in the truck and all was well. My son checked the 7-pin plug and all was well with the plug. With that said, after returning from the trip, I did clean the 7-pin trailer plug with a very thin, small file, so a dirty plug could have been part of the problem. When I complete repairs to the water heater I plan on charging the batteries and then having them tested, though with a multi-meter I still get good readings.

JackandJanet · 10-18-2014, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luckydog671

Hi Jack,

Electrically challenged here . . . can a multimeter be used to perfom the check you mentioned?

Hi Greg - Yes, a multimeter would work fine. The "multi" part of the name means it combines AC and DC voltmeter and Ammeter functions, as well as Ohmmeter and continuity and sometimes other functions.

You would need to turn the selector on the meter to the DC volts position and possibly set the "range" value to an up to 20 volt reading. Many multimeters now though are "auto ranging", so you'd just need to set it to DC volts.

Hope I'm making sense - your meter should have a manual that will tell you how to set it up to read DC volts.

- Jack

JackandJanet · 10-18-2014, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garry

Thanks for the input Jack and yes I had checked the fuse in the truck and all was well. My son checked the 7-pin plug and all was well with the plug. With that said, after returning from the trip, I did clean the 7-pin trailer plug with a very thin, small file, so a dirty plug could have been part of the problem. When I complete repairs to the water heater I plan on charging the batteries and then having them tested, though with a multi-meter I still get good readings.

Garry, I don't blame you for being confused. I would be too.

There is one other possibility - the charging circuit from the trailer tow plug to your battery is defective. This can be easily checked by electrically connecting the trailer to the tow vehicle, starting the tow vehicle's engine, and then checking the voltage across the trailer battery terminals. You don't have to have any electrical equipment on in the trailer when you do this. It should read your alternator output, which would normally be in the range of 14V. If it is below 13V, the tow vehicle is NOT charging the trailer batteries.

And, if you turn on the refrigerator (and it's actually running) if the voltage across the terminals drops to below 12.7V, you are taking more power out of the batteries than they are receiving from the tow vehicle.

I'm interested in what you find out doing this.

- Jack