help?

[srndpte]

We are the happy new owners of a 1996 16' Scamp named Nadine. We just returned from our shake down camp and had a problem that we hope someone can help with. Electric worked perfectly when we were at a camp ground that had hook ups. But when we camped without hookups the lights dimmed quickly (about 30 mins) although the maxx fan kept working for nearly the entire night - finally slowing and then quitting. We thought that more than likely the battery was old and couldn't hold a charge so stopped and bought a new one (marine). The same thing happened that night - lights dimmed and went out after about 30 mins. We didn't use the fan that night. Is there a switch that needs to be thrown? Or a wire that may not be attached? Any help that you could give would be much appreciated!! Thank you!

[Frederick L. Simson]

Welcome! I see you are new here.

Originally Posted by srndpte

We thought that more than likely the battery was old and couldn't hold a charge so stopped and bought a new one (marine). The same thing happened that night - lights dimmed and went out after about 30 mins.

Putting a battery in a trailer is a little different than putting a battery in a car. Was your NEW battery a "Deep Cycle" Marine battery? Your trailer could not care less about cold-cranking-amps, so a car battery is wrong. Plus, since your trailer doesn't have an alternator in it like your car does, and batteries tend to sit on store shelves for a month or more, you need to charge up even a NEW battery before putting it in the trailer. You need to monitor a trailer battery often during use. A fully charged Deep cycle 12 volt Battery should actually read 13.6 volts when fully charged. If it reads 11.8 volts then it is already 1/2 discharged and in need of recharging again. By the time it reads 10.0 volts it is Dead, dead, dead and probably won't hold a recharge.

[Donna D.]

Welcome to FiberglassRV Linda, we're glad you're here

[srndpte]

Originally Posted by Frederick L. Simson

Welcome! I see you are new here.

Putting a battery in a trailer is a little different than putting a battery in a car. Was your NEW battery a "Deep Cycle" Marine battery? Your trailer could not care less about cold-cranking-amps, so a car battery is wrong. Plus, since your trailer doesn't have an alternator in it like your car does, and batteries tend to sit on store shelves for a month or more, you need to charge up even a NEW battery before putting it in the trailer. You need to monitor a trailer battery often during use. A fully charged Deep cycle 12 volt Battery should actually read 13.6 volts when fully charged. If it reads 11.8 volts then it is already 1/2 discharged and in need of recharging again. By the time it reads 10.0 volts it is Dead, dead, dead and probably won't hold a recharge.

Hello Frederick
Thank you for your reply! We took the battery to have it checked out and found that it is completely dead and more than likely won't hold a charge. The old battery is also nearly kaput so hopefully this is the problem. Now we need to go about returning a battery that was purchased 300 miles away (and cost twice as much as normal retail.....)

[srndpte]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

Welcome to FiberglassRV Linda, we're glad you're here

Hi Donna
Thank you for your warm welcome! I have been a lurker here for a year or so while we were searching for our little Scamp. Read lots of great advice about things to look for (and watch out for) and it really helped. We love our Scamp and hope to have this electrical issue solved soon so we can go camping (or is it Scamping?) again!

[Dennis Clinton]

Hey Linda. Welcome. We are both in the same neck of the woods. 1/2 my time is spent at my home in Big Bear City also.

[floyd]

A common problem with Scamps of that era is a blown fuse located inside the bulkhead starboard side front where the wiring enters from the battery. check it and while you are at it, check for a loose connection. Also check all 12V fuses in the converter and listen for the cooling fan in the converter when hooked to shore power. Check the voltage at the battery with and without shore power, it should be higher with shore power. If you have a three-way fridge, check it to be sure that the 12V switch is in the OFF position.* they are truly battery HOGS.
After doing these things report back,... if not solved we can come up with more solutions which may be less likely.



*{the fridge should NEVER have more than one power source on at a time}

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by floyd

A common problem with Scamps of that era is a blown fuse located inside the bulkhead starboard side front where the wiring enters from the battery.

Think about it Floyd.. If that fuse was blown nothing would work anytime. Not fade out.

Also check all 12V fuses in the converter and listen for the cooling fan in the converter when hooked to shore power.

If any fuse was blown would have something not working not the fade out.

Check the voltage at the battery with and without shore power, it should be higher with shore power.

More importantly check the voltage with and without the tow vehicle attached and running. No change would mean the tow vehicle isn't charging the battery.

If you have a three-way fridge, check it to be sure that the 12V switch is in the OFF position.* they are truly battery HOGS.

Good point. That would be my first guess. If have a current meter you can check the current at the battery. There should be zero or near zero (propane detector will draw some if connected properly, about .05 amps)

[floyd]

Maybe you are right Byron,but I was thinking of a dedicated fused charge line to the battery. If it were bad it would act as described.
Shore power with a converter is nearly always present, yet there are many TVs which are not wired to charge the trailer battery,and one night on shore power should charge a good battery enough for the next.

[Tim Wood]

Also chances are they don't have a converter, my 96 13' doesn't. If that is the case you will need to get a battery tender, so your battery will charge while hooked up to shore power.

[Mike Magee]

Yes, it does sound like the battery is not getting charged properly from the tow vehicle. Blown fuse, bad converter, or loose connection are likely possibilities.

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by floyd

Maybe you are right Byron,but I was thinking of a dedicated fused charge line to the battery. If it were bad it would act as described.
Shore power with a converter is nearly always present, yet there are many TVs which are not wired to charge the trailer battery,and one night on shore power should charge a good battery enough for the next.

The original post indicated that the fan worked most of the night then slowed and stopped, I think. That would indicated a battery not fully charged or not holding a charge. Could be the TV not charging.
I see by a later post they apparently got a defective battery. Happens, though not very often.

Cheers.

[srndpte]

Thank you all for the advice and good information. We will check each and every one of the items that have been mentioned. The fuse in the area under the front bunk where the wiring enters the trailer has us stumped though. We have seen that fuse mentioned several times but are unable to locate it. There are several blue connectors in the wiring there but we see nothing that looks like a fuse. There are several fuses coming off the battery. Is it possible that the under bunk fuse was removed at some point in time and placed closer to the battery? Or if it was removed would everything still work properly without it? Is it possibly a very small fuse and has been placed inside of one of the blue connectors? It has been raining steadily here with no sign of letting up so we will hold off on doing anything electrical until it has dried out a bit.

[floyd]

Originally Posted by srndpte

Thank you all for the advice and good information. We will check each and every one of the items that have been mentioned. The fuse in the area under the front bunk where the wiring enters the trailer has us stumped though. We have seen that fuse mentioned several times but are unable to locate it. There are several blue connectors in the wiring there but we see nothing that looks like a fuse. There are several fuses coming off the battery. Is it possible that the under bunk fuse was removed at some point in time and placed closer to the battery? Or if it was removed would everything still work properly without it? Is it possibly a very small fuse and has been placed inside of one of the blue connectors? It has been raining steadily here with no sign of letting up so we will hold off on doing anything electrical until it has dried out a bit.

Actually, not all trailers have that fuse in the charge line, some have it in the converter, some even have both. If you don't find it, it may not be there. testing the voltage at the battery will reveal whether charging is the problem.

[srndpte]

We got the new battery, hooked it up and everything works fine. Will be out Scamping this weekend so will be able to test it over time. But are optomistic! Thanks for all of your suggestions and help on this subject. I have printed out all of them and will keep the pages in the Scamp with our owners manual.