Voltage Drain when using water pump or furnace, 19' Scamp

[Ottoscamp]

I'm pretty sure this has been discussed before, but I'm not able to find the relevant post. Hopefully someone can help.

What I think I read once before is that dimming of lights when using the furnace or water pump can be corrected or reduced by adding a relay (?) in the circuit. I'm not an electrical expert (just enough knowledge to be dangerous!), so please be patient with my ignorance of how these things work.

Is such a thing possible? How do I do it?

[Gerry]

You fail to mention if your finding this problem while running off your battery or of shore power ... Just putting it out there ... If your running off you battery, and this happends, it could be that your battery doesn't have enough voltage in it to run these items all at once. Change lights over to LED and make sure battery is charged up. See if this doesn't fix the problem

[Ottoscamp]

Fair. I almost included that information but then thought it was self-evident. I guess not. It's possible I'm connected to shore power but not water. In any case, I'm talking about on battery power, freshly charged (and a pretty new battery -- factory specs), and most of the lights have already been switched to LEDs. I notice it on any or all of them.

[Gerry]

Others will be more knowledgeable about this but it takes quite a bit of power to run furnace or water-pump. Other things may be running also you didn't mention, fridge, converter. Use mulimeter to check volts in Battery while things are running. Hope others chime in on this as like I said, they will be more knowledgeable.

[Ottoscamp]

I posted this in Mods, Alterations, and Updates, since I didn't realize this electrical thread was here.

https://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/...mp-102911.html

Hopefully some experts can chime in over there.

[justa25thTA]

Measure the voltage of the battery at rest and with the water pump running.

[Lynn Eberhardt]

Normal. The battery and wiring can only supply so much power at once. That's why your car headlights will dim if they're on when you start the engine or the living room lamp may dim if you start the vacuum cleaner while it's plugged into the same outlet. While the trailer is plugged into external power, the converter will usually meet the increased load unnoticed.

[Ottoscamp]

Originally Posted by Lynn Eberhardt

Normal. The battery and wiring can only supply so much power at once.

Sure. I didn't say it wasn't normal; I asked if it was possible to address it, as I thought had been discussed somewhere in these forums before. I asked Scamp about it, and they suggested a soft start kit for the each of the respective power items -- pump and furnace. Reading about them, not sure that's applicable to this issue (usually used for AC with their major power surge).

I had thought someone referenced a relay, but as I said in the OP, I'm no expert on these things, so I don't even know if that's what I read about before.

[Bsharp76]

OK battery crash course 12.2 is dead 12.8 is fully charged, if your battery is at 12.2 and you plug into shore power it really still is a dead battery even though it's charging. That would explain flickering lights, but also a dead battery puts alot of strain on your converter (usually in fuse box) which can rob power as well with same flickering result. Get a meter and test the battery, test it unplugged from shore power or you'll get a misleading 13.1-13.6 that's because plugged in the battery is charging but if your charging a crap battery it's just going to cause another issue. Then turn on pump and see if it drops below 12.2 if so replace it

[Ottoscamp]

Originally Posted by justa25thTA

Measure the voltage of the battery at rest and with the water pump running.

So I'm getting the following voltage readings, all at full charge, not connected to shore power:

• porch light on only -- 12.08 V (that is low for a fully charged battery, as I understand it, although the battery is only a few months old.
• all interior lights plus porch light -- 10.94 V
• water pump plus all interior lights plus porch light -- 9.53 V
• furnace start up plus water pump plus all interior lights plus porch light -- 9.2 V
• furnace start up plus all interior lights plus porch light -- 10.55 V

I didn't try anything else, although we do have a ceiling fan that runs when it's hot out and we are often charging phones, portables, or reading lights.

[Ottoscamp]

Originally Posted by Bsharp76

OK battery crash course 12.2 is dead 12.8 is fully charged, if your battery is at 12.2 and you plug into shore power it really still is a dead battery even though it's charging.

Ok, so it's effectively dead (see the other reply I just posted). Fortunately, it's under warranty, so I'll be able to replace it for free.

However, I'm pretty sure even when it was new -- just a couple months ago -- I was having the same experience. Still, I'll replace it and immediately run voltage checks.

I appreciate the specific information.

[Casita Greg]

Your battery is dead, and obviously not holding a charge. Doesn't matter how old it is. Some brand new ones are dead right off the shelf. Replace it with a new one, and have them test it before you install it.

[Lloyd (aka Santa) Coltman]

A common thing with a lot of LED lights is that there is NO filtering. As said lights are instant on/off, flickering is obvious. Case in point: On my garage door opener I tried to install LED bulbs (as Incandescent are now scarce). The flickering, when motor was operating, was almost intolerable. So, I went back to a couple of low wattage 'Rough Service' incandescent bulbs I had on the shelf.

[computerspook]

Originally Posted by Ottoscamp

Ok, so it's effectively dead (see the other reply I just posted). Fortunately, it's under warranty, so I'll be able to replace it for free.

However, I'm pretty sure even when it was new -- just a couple months ago -- I was having the same experience. Still, I'll replace it and immediately run voltage checks.

I appreciate the specific information.

Well check the voltage at the battery. It sounds to me like you're checking it at the devices which is another thing you need to be checking. But the test for a good battery is at the battery. You should experience some voltage drop in the wiring going to the divide but not a lot.

[Bsharp76]

OK battery is shot first of all ,next step plug it in and test voltage again if it's not 13+ your converter isn't charging that's underlying cause of battery dying which is what I suspect your real issue is

[computerspook]

Originally Posted by Bsharp76

OK battery is shot first of all ,next step plug it in and test voltage again if it's not 13+ your converter isn't charging that's underlying cause of battery dying which is what I suspect your real issue is

Well sure sounds like the battery is toast. But make sure you test at the terminals. I had one fail and it was actually a problem in the connector to wire connection and it was not getting enough charge and then when there was a draw it also lost going out. Basically the converter was putting out 13.8 to the wire going to the battery. But the charge voltage going into the battery was at most just at 12. And then when there was any draw the voltage at wire going back into the unit was under 11. Yeah destroyed the battery. But the converter was fine. (that time) It was in the wires. And I wonder if that is the case here.


I also had a bad connection happen going out of a converter that looked like the circuitry was bad. But once I traced it, a soldering iron fixed it.


Lesson, check all of the links in the system.

[beardrum]

Long story short: I once bought a brand new battery at an RV place, which they "activated" (by filling it with electrolite) and then it took AT LEAST 24 hours on the charger to get up to 13.6 volts. Then it worked fine. I'd suggest you disconnect the battery from EVERYTHING, and charge it for a good long time (24 hours). Then try it out. You should see 13.6 volts at least.

cg

[Ottoscamp]

I appreciate all the recent post!

Yes, the battery looks better (12.8 volts) when I tested it free of the wiring (which I did just before taking it to the store to replace).

I was already in the process of mapping out the whole DC circuit, so I will finish that and start testing all the components. This part is all foreign to me, so I appreciate any suggestions on process!

[computerspook]

Originally Posted by Ottoscamp

I appreciate all the recent post!

Yes, the battery looks better (12.8 volts) when I tested it free of the wiring (which I did just before taking it to the store to replace).

I was already in the process of mapping out the whole DC circuit, so I will finish that and start testing all the components. This part is all foreign to me, so I appreciate any suggestions on process!

Well basically you are probably looking for the weak link. And it will probably be a small problem. One hint is that the problem is probably getting warm or hot. So look for that.

[CarlD]

One other thing to consider is where you actually measure the battery voltage. If you have a bad connection at the battery and measure the voltage on connectors attached to the battery you could see a voltage drop. So when measuring the battery voltage connect directly to the terminal not the connector.