Scamp Battery Question

[Karalyn]

My Scamp is 3 yrs old and battery is not holding its charge.
By plugging the Scamp into 120 volt for a couple of days, shouldn't that recharge the battery??? It is not helping.
Is there something in the Scamp that should be turned off to keep the battery from loosing its charge?
I never had this problem with my Casita or old Scamp.
The origional owner never had a problem, and the Scamp was stored at a Public Storage where I bought it. Lights, furnace, etc all worked. Now that I have it home ther is a dead battery when I go out to turn on lights.
I could just need a new battery, but before I do that, is there some thing I should have turned off besides lights, water pumps when trailer is not in use?

[Ed Harris]

You don't say if the loads work when plugged in?
Either way look for fuses on the line from the battery.
There is one outside and there may be one just inside where it enters the trailer and it may be buried behind "Rat Fur",guess how I know this?

Ed

[Cyndi B.]

Is the converter unplugged? You may have to stand on your head to see it.

[Karalyn]

Originally Posted by Ed Harris

You don't say if the loads work when plugged in?
Either way look for fuses on the line from the battery.
There is one outside and there may be one just inside where it enters the trailer and it may be buried behind "Rat Fur",guess how I know this?

Ed

Ed, what do you mean by "loads"?
Fuses also, huh. Hmmmmm, will check that out. Not sure how I would know if they are no good.

[Ed Harris]

Originally Posted by Karalyn

Ed, what do you mean by "loads"?
Fuses also, huh. Hmmmmm, will check that out. Not sure how I would know if they are no good.

Sorry
The loads are the lights and other things you have powered.
You said the battery is not holding a charge but do the lights work when plugged into shore power?

For some reason there are multiple fuses on the battery and some are hidden?
If a fuse is blown/open then it would look the same as a dead battery.

The type of fuse in the Scamp is clear so you can see if the fused link is intact or solid and thus good or broken and open or bad.

The link looks like an "S" on its side.
Should be obvious.

Ed

[Brian Van Snell]

Karalyn:

If you have a voltmeter you should see a higher voltage on your battery when you are plugged in to 120 volts than when you are not. For example, when my battery is fully charged the converter operates in maintenance mode and supplies about 13.2 volts. When the battery needs charging it usually is 13.6 volts or higher. If no difference, then as Ed says, might be a fuse. If the converter is providing some power to the trailer the 12 volt trailer lights should seem brighter when you are plugged in to 120 volts than when you are not.

Brian

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by Karalyn

My Scamp is 3 yrs old and battery is not holding its charge.
By plugging the Scamp into 120 volt for a couple of days, shouldn't that recharge the battery??? It is not helping.
Is there something in the Scamp that should be turned off to keep the battery from loosing its charge?
I never had this problem with my Casita or old Scamp.
The origional owner never had a problem, and the Scamp was stored at a Public Storage where I bought it. Lights, furnace, etc all worked. Now that I have it home ther is a dead battery when I go out to turn on lights.
I could just need a new battery, but before I do that, is there some thing I should have turned off besides lights, water pumps when trailer is not in use?

Batteries are kind funny. Some will last forever it seems, others not so good. My original Scamp battery lasted 4 years. I replaced in February 2010 because it wasn't holding a charge. That battery lasted less than 6 months.
I suspect that part of the problem is with the converter in the trailer. According to converter manufacturer it stops charging at 12.2 volts, which is way under charged. The reason the original lasted for four years, we towed it off to someplace once or twice a month and tow charged the battery fully. February through August this year we were out only a couple times, with about 4 months of the trailer sitting. That battery was a hybrid, marine battery, not a true deep cycle battery.
We'll see how the current deep cycle battery fairs. I've added a battery minder, keeper type of device that keeps the battery fully charged and desulfates it.
Not all batteries are created

[Carol H]

Karalyn, the inline fuse as mentioned is hard to find. :-) normally at the point that the wiring from the tongue enters the trailer (in my case it was inside in the front right hatch under the bunk - up against the front wall, behind the rat fur) it was hard to see or tell it was a fuse as it was wrapped in tape making it look just like a wire splice. There are also often fuses in the converter box itself. I assume you have checked the main breaker box to make sure alls fine there - mines under the sink.

3 years for a battery may not be all that bad. Its life will depend on how it was treated in the past. If it was run down to nothing many times or was ever boiled dry by leaving it connected to 110 when not in use that can/will shorten its life.

Good luck.