Power Question

[Steve C.]

Hi, hoping to get some help here.

I recently was able to get my Atwood furnace working with a new board. It has been working flawlessly and needless to say I was plenty warm this past weekend. But:

1. The heater stopped working on the last night in the middle of the night. It would not ignite. Still had plenty of propane.
2. The internal LED lights were dimming.
3. The fan installed in the ceiling worked fine.
4. These are the only three things that require power in the camper.

However: I accidentally left my lights on and killed the truck battery and had to be jump started. After driving 100 miles to home, the internal LED lights are still dim. The furnace fires up but sounds like it's not blowing at full speed. The fan blows. I would think that 100 miles would give the aux battery a good charge.

So obviously a power issue. my question is, if you had to take a guess, is it possible that the truck battery is too weak to charge the aux battery and thus run the heater and LED lights properly? The aux battery in the camper is only one year old.

Looking on where to start here and if I might be missing something. I think starting with a new battery for the truck will be phase 1. Also, I do not run any other power sources to the camper like solar, etc. Thanks.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

The dead truck battery should not effect the camper battery I would think.
You have a battery isolator that keeps the camper battery from discharging through the truck one.

Just thoughts. Not the best on electric knowledge. I think Vic will jump in here with some good ideas.

Frank

 

[Vic Harder]

Jumping in...

It is possible that the battery isolator that keeps one battery from discharging the other, is in a stuck state, where it will not connect unless it perceives that the other battery is not tooooo low. Solution? Hook up both batteries to battery chargers, and recharge them separately, then try again to see if starting the truck gets the isolator to click on.

The isolators used in earlier campers were pretty "dumb". I used to recommend getting a better isolator, like a blue sea ML-ACR, but these days I say just get a DCDC charger, especially since your main charging source is the truck. While you are at it, upgrade the wiring to 6AWG or thicker, and add in a true battery SOC monitor, like the Victron BMW712 or their Smart Shunt.

I hope that helps get you started. Ask more questions as they come up for you!

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Vic thanks for jumping in here.That info helped me also.
Frank

 

[ski3pin]

Also check the connection between the truck and camper in the truck bed. Once, I did not get any alternator charging to the camper battery and found a bad connection. Or a blown fuse or breaker. Don't forget the simple stuff first.

 

[veryactivelife]

Since this happened at the tail end of the weekend it's possible that the voltage of the camper battery was too low especially since the camper lights were dimming. The heaters require a certain voltage in order to fire and you may have dropped below that. A test is to start up the truck when this happens, of course that wouldn't have been an option for you.

Why the truck battery was dead is another matter. Possibilities would be the battery is just end of life and not holding a charge well, something was draining it like interior lights radio etc, or the battery separator in the camper is not working and allowing the camper to drain the truck.

If the truck battery was fully dead I doubt that a 100 mile trip would get the voltage up to normal and also charge the camper battery.

Dean

 

[pvstoy]

Hey Steve C, What year is your FWC Fleet on a 2005 Tacoma?

First, bummer that you left the lights on the Tacoma and drained the truck battery. Toyota is not known not to have great alternator output for charging let alone a second battery.

Depending on what year your Fleet is determines what FWC put in there for a battery separator model. Most in the past was a Surepower that would refuse to provide any current to the camper battery until the truck battery was fat and happily charged. As mentioned 100 miles would not allow much given to the camper battery.

A wire upgrade from truck to camper and a DC/DC charger you will get the charge you need and allow a removal of the SurePower separator.

At this point, if you have not done it yet, is to fully charge both batteries and give the heater a another try.

As mentioned a battery monitor shunt system like from Victron will let you know easily and quickly what is going on with the battery.

Going simple... and cheap, for a quick check on battery voltage, get you a cheap volt meter. Nothing fancy, just need to see voltage. Using the volt meter touching the camper battery, and truck running, you could have seen if the truck was putting in volts to the camper battery. Truck engine off, camper reads 12 volt something. Truck running voltage at the camper battery should be around 14 something volts. Volt meter has may uses but this gives you one use that gives you feedback.

As Ski mentioned checking the camper to truck connection. Make sure it is clean.

 

[Steve C.]

Wow thanks for the great responses. My Fleet is a 2015. I checked the camper yesterday after leaving the top popped to dry/air the interior and everything ran as it was supposed to: the lights were bright again and the heater fired right up. Pretty weird. But I am going to replace the truck battery, it looks like it may be from 2015 (I bought truck in 2016). Also need to check the wiring connection between the camper and the truck, that is a good idea. And may add second battery to camper if that will give me more juice for longer.

 

[pvstoy]

Wow thanks for the great responses. My Fleet is a 2015. I checked the camper yesterday after leaving the top popped to dry/air the interior and everything ran as it was supposed to: the lights were bright again and the heater fired right up. Pretty weird. But I am going to replace the truck battery, it looks like it may be from 2015 (I bought truck in 2016). Also need to check the wiring connection between the camper and the truck, that is a good idea. And may add second battery to camper if that will give me more juice for longer.

Great that all seems to be working. Did you charge the camper battery after you returned home? You got some charge from the drive home and camper battery rebounded with no load. At that state who knows how many cycles the heater could run before the voltage drop was too low to get the fan speed to tell the heater to fire up.

7 years for a truck battery is good life, winter is coming good time to change it so you don't have any issues during the cold winter.

If you add a second camper battery in parallel it will take longer to charge both up than just one battery. You might want to sort out getting better efficient charge from your alternator with heavier wire and a DC/DC charger. You might not need a second battery unless you camp in one location and the second battery will extend your stay without running the truck engine.

Second camper battery should match the existing but the age difference is a problem. Sitting idle one will fight the other until the new battery is brought down by the older battery. Most will buy two matching batteries at the same time.

Solar helps when you are parked for multiple days and you have sun.