battery question

steve59 · 07-15-2013, 07:46 PM

We went to the mountains for 2 weeks and it is about a 4 hour drive. Had the battery all charged up with a trickle charge battery charger and when we arrived at the camp grounds the inside lights would not work, we had no hook ups at the campgrounds so I took the battery over to the shop where they charged it up for about 18 hours on their trickle charge battery charger and the battery worked well for the 2 weeks that we were there. Arrived home last night and was unloading the camper and noticed the inside lights were not working again. My wife followed me home and said all my outside lights all worked properly with no flickering or any signs of anything wrong with the outside lights. The battery is 2 years old and it is a stow away battery from Central Tractor. Any suggestion would be appreciated.

mainah · 07-16-2013, 07:00 AM

Your TV should charge the battery while you drive. If the trailer outlet is an add on it is very possible the TV was not wired for charging. The lighting for the running/stop/tail lights does not use the camper battery the power comes from the TV. A dead give away would be a 4 pin trailer plug. If you have a 7 pin outlet on the TV the 12 volt charge pin will be at 1 o'clock and the ground will be at 7 o'clock there should be 12 volts + between the two with the TV running. The system if fused at the camper but if the fuse is out you most likely would have no inside lights at all.

steve59 · 07-16-2013, 09:55 AM

thank you mainah for the reply,I do have the 7 pin plug and this is the 1st time I have ever had this problem.I will check the plug on both my truck and camper and make sure they are both connected and tight.I put my trickle charger on the battery and then I have lights again. the battery goes dead after a 4 hour tow,also the electric brakes worked fine all the way home.

mainah · 07-16-2013, 04:38 PM

It sure sounds like you have a charging problem. The brakes are again powered by your TV (except in a brake away) Some have a fuse for the charge system in case the TV has an issue with wiring that is some thing you might check that will be at the camper. Also the TV if factory wired has a charge fuse some where. If you have a friend with a meter you can check the charge rate right at your camper battery while it's hooked up.

Gene · 07-17-2013, 07:23 PM

Mainah said it all, here is a picture of the plug if that help find the battery lead.