blower fan

[Tractorat]

My TT is a 1988 although in pretty good condition. I just recently finished converting all of the inside lamps to LED. For most, I replaced the entire fixture. But for a couple I just replaced the 1141 incandescent lamps with the LED lamps. I paid attention to how much difference there is in voltage drop between the incandescent and the LED. Incredible.

Anyway, I wanted to see how much voltage drop there is for the radio and the furnace blower fan. I forget what the radio was, the the blower fan drops the voltage on my volt meter down almost a full volt. Does anyone know if that is a normal voltage drop for the fan ?
Thanks

 

[brucejohnson]

Sounds about right for a high inductive load off the battery. Is your reading running off the battery itself, or are you plugged into shore power running off the inverter? I'll step out to my trailer and see what it does with the furnace fan.

 

[Tractorat]

Well, I have a voltmeter that just plugs into the 12v port in my trailer. Too much trouble to first remote the propane bottle box, then take the covers off the batteries, replace the battery cover, and then replace the propane bottle cover.
The 12v plug in meter isnt great. It can be finicky if I bend the display to more easily read it. But it is usually pretty good.

I thought a volt drop would probably be normal, but Ive never paid that much attention to it for the fan blower. Ive found that if I use my propane mister heater, it heats the TT up fine, and the batts last a whole lot longer. Even then, I only use heat when the inside temp drops below maybe 50 or 55 degrees in the winter.

Oh, and that is on batt power only. No drop when on shore power.

 

[brucejohnson]

Well, not a fair comparison as I have a 200+w solar panel feeding my original 2010 era batteries. What I did notice though was the battery voltage dropped about .7vdc when I tuned the furnace on. After several minutes the starting battery voltage of 13.7vdc declined to 12.4vdc, where it somewhat stabilized. This was with the solar panel charging at .5 amp (very cloudy and gray down here in the greater prairie and Mima Mounds vicinity. So with loose mental calculations (totally forgot all those detailed conversion calculations) it looks about right for what you are observing (and I just may have to acquire a set of new batteries after 10 years).

 

[Tractorat]

Thanks, thats about what I thought.

 

[brucejohnson]

I converted all my travel trailer interior and exterior lights over to LEDs several years ago. I researched for the correct brightness level and highest lumens. So far the interior ones are exceeding expectations. The exterior are loosing segments as time passes and are not turning out to be a valuable asset. I had to get red and amber as the "white" was too blue and really changed the color through the red and amber lenses. I have a new set on order (amber, enclosed single segment LED) that is supposed to match the height of the incandescent 194 bulb. The bulb height in the clearance light fixtures have very limited space to accommodate any bulb height variation.
Overall the LED interior lights have made a noticeable improvement in total illumination and battery conservation.

 

[Tractorat]

When I went to buy the last lamps the other day, they only had a couple of the lower lumen lamp which worked well for one of my fixtures. They didnt have the actual 1141. but they had a ckt board with the leds on one side and a plug for the fixture. It tapes to the inside of the fixture and you just add a little silicone to set it in. I did make a mistake in getting a lower lumen lamp for my porch light. The salesman said it was just a couple of lumes less than the high output, but amp draw was a lot less. Im going to go back and get a high output when I get a chance.

 

[Tuesdak]

What voltages are you seeing for the fan operation? You do need to measure a couple other places to really know what is going on. At the battery and power distribution center (cheat and measure a fuse voltage vs. taking it apart.) 12.6V is normal battery voltage with anything over that being a surface charge that can drop quick. The only concern one should have is the voltage drop between the battery and the fan. Positive and ground voltages matter as the problem can be on either or both wires. Voltage drop could indicate a bad connection, bad connection at the shared fuse, power distribution center connections, wire that's too small, failing batteries...

LED's do save on batteries, but, I carry some spare LED lamps. I have had a few completely quit (or go very very dim) from when I did my conversion in 2016. LED Reliability is awful. At least the Camping World brand Item No. 101769. I used "soft white" to keep the blue glare down. Most of the lamps in my RV had high hours with blackened glass and needed replacement anyway: even the florescent fixtures had one bulb of 4 burned out. The cost of lamps being high now makes it easier to pay 1/4 more for LED lamps. I even have one low lumen RED LED as a nightlight. The biggest problem they appear to have is the fixture switches: won't turn on till you try it 3-4 times after sitting. It's like they don't have enough current to clean the contacts. One outdoor fixture I need to remove the bulb now and then to get it to work. The biggest problem is hitting the starter on the genset with low batteries: the LED's completely shut off during cranking. I left the florescent fixtures alone and kept a few incandescent lamps: in the range hood (high heat) and over the dining table we don't use much or use with the gen running charging batteries. I will turn on the "old school" fixtures if it's dark out and I need to start the genset.

 

[brucejohnson]

LED Reliability is awful. At least the Camping World brand

That is an understatement! It is hit AND miss most of the time.