Help!! Camper Battery won't charge when plugged into truck

[Bullmarket]

I have a slide in camper and for some reason the battery in the camper will not charge while plugged into the truck and the truck running. The readout in the camper used to show full charge. I can charge the battery by plugging in the external 120 plug. I checked with a volt meter the plug in the truck and it is getting 12 volts there. The running lights on the camper work as do the turn signals etc... the battery just won't charge. I checked the fuses in the camper and they look good also.

 

[The patriot]

this aint much of a help...but

The amount of amps that might be carried through the trailer plug isnt enough to really charge the battery. Especially if it's in a low charge state.

Maybe cleaning off the contacts on the hitch plug may help a little.

Eric

 

[klenger]

Is the camper battery already (nearly) full charge. If so, the truck alternator does not output enough voltage to top off a deep cycle battery. The 120 volt charger most likely puts out more voltage than the truck alternator.



What type of converter does the camper have? If it's an IntelliPower unit, adding the Charge Wizzard is a good investment. It provides higher voltates to fully charge a deep cycle battery, but then drops the voltage to a lower level after it's charged to prevent boiling the battery.



See http://www.klenger.net/arctic-fox/charge-wizard.pdf for info on the charge wizard.

 

[Bullmarket]

Always before, when the truck was running, On the information panel in the camper would show full charge. I know the battery may not be fully charged but it would show that on the panel, now it doesn't. The only way I can charge the battery now is AC. I'm going to check the truck again but I believe it is getting 14 volts at the plug and it seems to have something to do with the camper

 

[Bullmarket]

Nope, the camper isn't getting any voltage on the cable contact for battery charge. All other work. I traced the wire that is spliced into another wire and no voltage there. All this just happened after I had an ATS triple lock installed with commander. Of course I can't prove it but the guy was no electronic whiz cause the first box was installed wrong. Can I rewire this with a hot source from anywhere?

 

[PKleine]

Can I rewire this with a hot source from anywhere?

Yes, but...



You can run an 8 or 10 gauge wire from the positive battery terminal to the connector. Be sure to put a fuse in this wire close to the battery. This will give you an 'always hot' wire. But you may not want it done that way; especially after a night of heavy electrical consumption. You could find that your camper battery along with the truck batteries are dead.



A better way to do this is to use a battery isolator or a solenoid. This will prevent your truck batteries from being discharged by the camper. There are advantages and disadvantages to both methods. The solenoid is probably the least expensive way to isolate the camper battery. But it turns on with the ignition key, which starts to recharge the camper battery while the grid heaters are still warming up. I don’t like the competition for starting current. Battery isolators will not allow charging of the camper battery until the trucks voltage raises above a preset limit, meaning once the engine is running and the alternator has output, the isolator will activate, allowing the camper battery to recharge. But, battery isolators cost more than solenoids. The lower cost units use a diode and have a 0. 55 to 0. 7 voltage drop across them which will prevent fully recharging the camper battery. Higher cost units such as the battery isolators from Hell Roaring Technologies use electronics instead of diodes and have a very low voltage drop of 0. 005 volts or less. You could see a higher voltage drop by using too small of wire for the length of run.



So now you have some choices. :-laf



PK



I’m not affiliated with Hell Roaring Technologies, just used them as an example.

 

[jelag]

How old is your camper battery????



if the camper battery is bad... . it won't take a charge from the charging system of the truck. . but the charging system from 120 volts will charge it...



the internal resistance of a bad battery is such that a 120 volt charger will go above the 15. 5 volts that the charging system on the truck turns off at... ... the 120 volt charger will go as high as 16-17 volts and will overcome the resistance ... ... . If when the 120 volt charger is powered up... all the lights get really bright... . this might be your problem... .



Or any bad connection from the truck to the battery will raise the charging voltage required to charge the battery... .

 

[LStanphill]

Have you checked the 40amp fuse under the hood for the trailer circuit? I'm assuming your plugging into the 7 way round trailer plug?

 

[Bullmarket]

It was a 25 amp in-line fuse that goes to the ( I presume 40 amp fuse ). Or at least the fusebox. I just found it today. One of the many problems that you encounter when you don't install stuff yourself.