Isolated electrical failure.

[steve33]

Without apparent warning, the celing lights, furnace, and fridge in my 2014 Hawk have all stopped working, as has the fridge fan and floor lights. The water pump and ceiling fan still work, and starting the truck makes no difference, so obviously the battery is still charged. All fuses are intact.

Ideas?

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Open circuit is my guess. I’d look for a loose wire at the bus that’s the DC source for those devices.

 

[pvstoy]

Also check the return grounding buss for a pull outs.

All that being off is on different fuses at the panel?

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Also check the return grounding buss for a pull outs.
All that being off is on different fuses at the panel?

Yup, I forgot about the ground.

 

[pvstoy]

Some times they piggyback more than one circuit wire into one hole on the ground buss. If the screw came loose and wires under tension can break the circuit.

 

[ClimberRob]

Likely a negative/ground issue. I had an issue with a negative/common run in my Grandby. There were multiple wires poorly tied in to a single run. I ended up pulling a lot of it out and re-wiring all of the individual negatives back to a common bus bar behind the fuse panel.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Steve, please do let us know what you find. It might help the next member with a similar problem.

 

[steve33]

Thanks everyone. I just got back from a long weekend trip with the camper. I didn't have a chance to look into anything before I left so just had to live with it as is. Meaning no fridge! Anyway, while away, the other electrical devices that HAD been working failed. So it at least seems like, at this point, the battery was slowly dying. Is it possible that devices died off depending on how much power they draw? I don't know. Anyway, now the fan doesn't work, the water pump doesn't work, and even the battery charge meter which had been reading at 1/3 charge, is now not coming on. So, again, guessing, but I am wondering if either my gel battery has died, or the charging system has failed. Obviously entirely different solutions to those two problems and I am not sure how I would know one vs the other. I do think, in the meantime, that if I plug in to shore power and things work that would confirm my suspicions about what is wrong. Now I just have to find that plug in for shore power which I never use because I never camp with hook ups.

 

[ClimberRob]

Different devices definitely have their own specific threshold of "minimum" voltage. I don't know what type of AC charger you have. If your battery is completely dead, you might need a different charger to try to bring it back to life. Sounds like you need an inline shunt-based monitor in your rig, as well.

 

[pvstoy]

A minimum you need is a volt meter, heck even the free ones at Harbor Freight would work to just tell you what the voltage at the battery is. This is basic but at least you could have know if your battery even had voltage and at what level it was before you plugged into shore power. Quite a bit could be known from a volt meter!

 

[steve33]

Well, I plugged into shore power and everything works. So there is no wiring issue, just either the RV battery or the charging system.

I suppose if I replace the battery I will know... but not right away as, if it is the charging sytem, I won't know until the new RV battery completely discharges.

 

[steve33]

So the battery has succefully charged when plugged into shore power, even though it completely discharged while driiving highways on a trip. So presumably this means the battery itself is fine, and the... converter?.... that allows charging from shore power, is fine. So then it is something in the charging system from the truck. I am assuming that does NOT go through the converter, as it is already 12 volt? Or am I wrong? FYI the camper exterior lights all work while driving, so the connection to the truck electrical sytem is intact.

 

[ClimberRob]

You likely are not getting sufficient amperage and/or voltage off of the truck. You need a thick wire for that run. 4 AWG is a good choice. Then you need at least a quality battery separator, such as the Blue Sea ACR, or a DC-DC charger (best option).

You really need to install a decent shunt-based meter to have any idea what's going on with your system.

 

[steve33]

FYI, I charged the RV battery by plugging it into shore power, and it has functioned totally fine since then. I guess one just needs to "top it up" periodically.

 

[PaulT]

Before replacing my AGM batteries with LiFePO4 batteries, I typically plugged into shore power overnight after every trip to ensure the camper batteries reached full charge regularly. After that solar kept them topped off.

Paul