No lights in 13’ Scamp

[pegski]

Just started boondocking and turned on my LEDs and no go. I checked the battery and it was fully charged. I did plug in a phone on the 400 watt inverter I had installed and although it screeched at first, it stopped and I noticed it was off which has never happened. I changed a fuse in the battery but no difference. Any ideas? Where do the outside battery lines go?

[thrifty bill]

Need more information: what changes if any have you made since you last dry camped or boondocked?

I always double check recent changes, all fuses, and get the VOM out. Easy to get polarity wrong.

[AC0GV]

Depending on floor plan, some older Scamps also have a second fuse just inside under the bed. But more information would help. What changes have you made? Is the fan working? It's important to have a volt meter or test light in the tool box, a $6 Harbor Freight meter works well.

[Byron Kinnaman]

There's a fuse under the front couch in passenger side. However your description indicates that the battery has discharged or doesn't hold charge. If you're attempting to run the fridge on battery there would be the problem. If not my next guess is your battery isn't holding a charge. The best way to check that is to take the battery to a battery shop and do a "load" test. Most battery shops I know of will do the test free.

[Lockman]

Looking at your public profile it looks as if the Scamp is from 1995, If so you or someone has added these LED's since then. Have they always worked correctly or have you recently added them and not fully checked them out?


Maybe you need to go back to check if they were wired in correctly. Either by you or whoever you had install them.

[Stubbs]

How did you determine the battery was fully charged? From your description I would check the inverter. If you have a multi meter or simple test light check the inverter. I assume they worked before. There may be a fuse in the inverter.

[pegski]

As noted, it is a 1995 Scamp and the lights were added years ago with no problems until now. The inverter has been screeching for awhile now even while showing it’s getting power. After plugging into it, it died. I do have a VOM and the battery is fully charged. Fuse on the main wires from the battery were blown- I changed that. I went under the couch to look for wires and while finding them didn't see any fuses. Looked under the sink at those wires and while I saw a switch, which I tried, wires didn’t seem to have a fuse either. Is there another set of wires under the bed? I tried to turn on the furnace last night and realized I need power to ignite that. The inverter is another problem that I’ll just replace.

[pegski]

I have a volt meter and battery is fully charged. Haven’t done anything new in years. Inverter was showing it was getting power but it still screeched. I planned to replace that soon. Refrigerator is always on propane. I can’t help but think it has some connection to that inverter. I don’t usually use it but since I knew it was getting power (tested it at home to troubleshoot) thought I could withstand the noise for awhile to charge my phone. It has never totally died before.

[Lockman]

Originally Posted by pegski

The inverter has been screeching for awhile now even while showing it’s getting power. After plugging into it, it died. I do have a VOM and the battery is fully charged. Fuse on the main wires from the battery were blown- I changed that.

I would suspect that the inverter has a severe problem and it is loading down the DC system. I would remove the 12 volt battery connection that is attached to the inverter. This would isolate the inverter from the 12v. system and point to it as the cause of the blown fuse off the battery. If the inverter is isolated and the main fuse off the battery is good then you should get your 12 volts to the lights, providing there are not any other fuses between the lights and the battery. The screeching could be caused by the cooling fan.

Originally Posted by pegski

I have a volt meter and battery is fully charged. Haven’t done anything new in years. Inverter was showing it was getting power but it still screeched.

Well yes, your battery could be fully charged but the inverter caused the main fuse off the battery to blow hence no 12 volts to the system. Are you supplying a/c voltage to the inverter, because that what its needs to invert 120 a/c to 12dc power. I think your thinking is correct that your inverter is the cause of your problems.

[thrifty bill]

Charging phones? I'm a fan of sticking with 12V and using a car charger. I installed a pair of 12V outlets inside a cabinet.

I've replaced old in line fuses with in line manual resetting breakers. They are cheap, and no more fuses to worry about. I went manual reset instead of automatic as I would rather know if something trips.

It sure looks like there is another fuse somewhere in your system. I don't know Scamps. On my Trillium, there was a fuse in the front gaucho cabinet, and a second fuse on the power center. I replaced my old power center (good riddance) and swapped the gaucho in line fuse with a breaker as I mentioned. My new power center has a 40A DC fuse for the battery itself. If that goes and I am dry camping, I am out of luck (need to get some spares). I also have a fuse (actually in line breaker) on the battery itself.

And if you are trying to run refrigerator on 12V when dry camping, forget it. Battery will not last long. Propane, or a lot of solar (and sunshine, and extra battery too).

OP was clearly talking about an inverter, but some others have migrated to converter. Inverter: 12V DC in, 120V AC out. Converter: 120V AC in, 12V DC out.

[Lockman]

My apologizes Peg. I just checked your user name and discovered my error. I should say. I hope she continues the forum and lets us know the outcome.



Sorry Peg,


Jack

[Lockman]

Due to an editing problem I lost my original post and was inserting this info within it. Please disregard.


It seems my Dumb Dell Computer (Windows 10) will delete a whole page of information if the palm of my right hand slightly touched the touch-pad. Poor design, only computer that I have that does this.


Jack

[Lockman]

Your Right Bill, I stand corrected. I should have said "converter" instead of "inverter".

I think what was confusing here was that Peg said " I did plug in a phone on the 400 watt inverter I had installed and although it screeched at first, it stopped and I noticed it was off which has never happened. I changed a fuse in the battery but no difference". Now I am not sure what screeched. Was it the phone???Since she was boon-docking she did not mention that she was using a generator.

Anyway, I suggested that she isolate the converter (inverter) from the system to check if it was the cause of the blown fuse off the battery as rare as it may be.

Jack