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 Member
Posts: 45
Location: Picayune,MS | How do you recharge the batteries? I know they are supposed to recharge when hooked to truck while pulling...I have a switch that I can turn them on/off..... Hauled 1 1/2 hour trip with it in the on position and when I went to unhook (hydraylic jack) battery was dead..... Do most folks travel with it on or off????????? I dont leave trailer plugged in or anything on in trailer when not in use....... I also have 2 batteries in my battery compartment..what voltage battery is usually installed?
Edited by Turnnburn64 2008-07-15 12:47 PM
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 399
Location: Ottawa, Illinois 61350 | Your truck will only supply a small trickle charge to your LQ batteries going down the road. However, if you have a converter in your trailer; it is basically nothing more than a battery charger. Leave your life line cord plugged in when your trailer is sitting at house/barn. This will keep your batteries charged up, and when your ready to use your trailer: you will have a full charge. Invest in a battery tester to find out if your batteries are still good or not. Most LQ's of today have master shut off switches on them; and you can cut any juice that would otherwise rob your batteries from a charge when not in use. If your trailer doesn't have one; your dealers service department can probably install one on or near your battery box. |
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Expert
Posts: 3802
  
Location: Rocky Mount N.C. | I like these Battery MINDers...... http://www.thebatteryminder.com/battery-chargers-c-21.html http://www.thebatteryminder.com/
Edited by retento 2008-07-09 2:03 PM
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Member
Posts: 45
Location: Picayune,MS | Ok ....checked batteries and they were dry...added water and trailer has been plugged in for 2 days now and batteries still don't have a full charge.... added water Friday @ 4:30 and had trailer plugged in until 2pm Sat....went to show and came home and still didn't have enough juice to unhook (hydralic jack) I am thinking I need new batteries??????? The trailer is only a yr old, how long should batteries last?????? |
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Expert
Posts: 5870
Location: western PA | Your batteries should last a few years, depending on their construction and maintenance care. If they have been stored dead and dry, the internal plates could be sulfated and damaged, ruining the batteries. Most batteries have an initial replacement period in which they can be swapped for new ones at no cost. This will vary by manufacturer and the quality of the battery. After that they are prorated during their warranty period. I would pull them out and take them to a battery sales where they can be tested for condition. They may have been damaged and if so, no amount of charging will help. If they test ok, then your charging system is probably at fault. The converter can be checked for a dc charging output, using a multimeter. The batteries can also be charged using any type of external battery charging devise. Gard |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 720
| If they are allowed to run dry, that is abuse and the warranty is gone. And the batteries are toast. Buy new ones, and now you know to check the water monthly. |
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Member
Posts: 12
| I've learned the hard way, if you let marine batteries die, they won't recharge and you have to get brand new ones. Check the water and make sure they are charged well. If they aren't recharging when plugged in or driving then you may have problems with you converter. We accidentally reversed the polarity on our batteries (either installed them wrong or charged them wrong) and it blew the fuses, not in the fuse box but on the inverter and the stereo. We didn't understand why the batteries wouldn't stay charged or recharged still we took a look at it and found the blown fuses. Now I periodically check the water and the charge on the batteries and keep them turned off when I am parked for a while. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 714
Location: Minnesota | Maybe I missed it, but does your trailer have an inverter with a battery charger? If you have the trailer at home and just sitting, i would not leave the dead man switch in the "on" position. Anything that may draw juice will drain the battery. I have to admit that I was guilty and left the radio on for a week. Guess what, battery dead even with a solar charger because I was in a building. |
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.jpg) Veteran
Posts: 195
Location: Atlanta, GA | A vehicle is never a adequate source to charge a battery. Unless you plan to drive half way across the US. If your trailer is equipped with a Converter charger all you have to do is plug it into a land power source and it will take care of it. If you have a battery disconnect switch the switch must be in the on position to allow the batteries to accept a charge. If you do not have a Converter just hook up to a battery charger and charge your batteries once in a while. It is not recommended to let your batteries drop below 50% without charging. The best battery to use on a trailer is a deep cycle marine battery 24DC or 27DC. If you are hooked up to your vehicle always remember if your batteries die on your trailer it will pull from your vehicles battery/batteries and they are next. Don't get stuck. Hope this helps |
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Regular
Posts: 60
Location: Ky | Originally written by genebob on 2008-07-17 12:11 AM
Maybe I missed it, but does your trailer have an inverter with a battery charger? If you have the trailer at home and just sitting, i would not leave the dead man switch in the "on" position. Anything that may draw juice will drain the battery. I have to admit that I was guilty and left the radio on for a week. Guess what, battery dead even with a solar charger because I was in a building. If you turn the battery off, the refrig. will not work. Even if you are plugged into AC, the fridge has to have DC power for the control board. Same for the furnace if you need to use it. We always keep our fridge and freezer stocked since we are on the road every week end. I wouldn't want to take that stuff out and leave the doors open when it's sitting there during the week. |
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Veteran
Posts: 195
Location: Atlanta, GA | If you have a converter and are plugged into ac power your battery switch does not have to be on to run your 12v items. The converter converts AC to DC to run these items. But it is however a good thing to keep the battery switch on to keep the battery charged so that when you get ready to leave home they are ready. Good Luck |
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.jpg) Expert
Posts: 2828
Location: Southern New Mexico | Originally written by jd&ez on 2008-07-17 8:41 PM Originally written by genebob on 2008-07-17 12:11 AM
Maybe I missed it, but does your trailer have an inverter with a battery charger? If you have the trailer at home and just sitting, i would not leave the dead man switch in the "on" position. Anything that may draw juice will drain the battery. I have to admit that I was guilty and left the radio on for a week. Guess what, battery dead even with a solar charger because I was in a building. If you turn the battery off, the refrig. will not work. Even if you are plugged into AC, the fridge has to have DC power for the control board. Same for the furnace if you need to use it. We always keep our fridge and freezer stocked since we are on the road every week end. I wouldn't want to take that stuff out and leave the doors open when it's sitting there during the week. That isn't the way our camper works. We had friends over last week and they used our camper (makes nice guest quarters). I turned the frig on propane the day before they got here but didn't plug the trailer in until they got here. The battery was disconnected until I plugged in the trailer and flipped the disconnect switch and the frig was nice and cold with ice in the freezer. The hot water heater worked as well. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 309
Location: MO | We also use a Battery MinDer. When we put the trailer in storage, even for a sort time as a week, We make sure that the battery is fully charged and then run the AC power to the Battery MinDer. It will de-sulphate the battery as well as keep it charged. Ingenious little device. We kept it on the trailer batteries over the winter and it maintained the battery charge fine. |
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Expert
Posts: 1205
Location: Arkansas | What do you do with batteries that are "sealed" and "maintainence free" ... if those are drying out what does one do? |
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Expert
Posts: 5870
Location: western PA | Most maintenence free bateries can be checked for a proper fluid level. The caps will sometimes be larger one piece casings that expose all the cells at once. "Lead-acid batteries normally consume some of the water during a normal charge-discharge cycle. Adding water periodically is necessary to keep the plates flooded. Maintenance-free batteries use a calcium alloy of lead instead of an antimony alloy, which reduces the amount of electrolysis. In addition, the amount of free-standing electrolyte above the plates is designed to be much higher in a new maintenance-free battery. This means that there’s enough electrolyte to keep the plates covered even after a few seasons of normal use. So, during the battery’s normal service life there should be no need to add water. Any abnormal electrical system condition or high ambient temperatures may boil off more than the normal amount of water, however. Adding water may extend the service life " Gard |
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Regular
Posts: 60
Location: Ky | Originally written by Terri on 2008-07-17 1:30 PM Originally written by jd&ez on 2008-07-17 8:41 PM Originally written by genebob on 2008-07-17 12:11 AM
Maybe I missed it, but does your trailer have an inverter with a battery charger? If you have the trailer at home and just sitting, i would not leave the dead man switch in the "on" position. Anything that may draw juice will drain the battery. I have to admit that I was guilty and left the radio on for a week. Guess what, battery dead even with a solar charger because I was in a building. If you turn the battery off, the refrig. will not work. Even if you are plugged into AC, the fridge has to have DC power for the control board. Same for the furnace if you need to use it. We always keep our fridge and freezer stocked since we are on the road every week end. I wouldn't want to take that stuff out and leave the doors open when it's sitting there during the week. That isn't the way our camper works. We had friends over last week and they used our camper (makes nice guest quarters). I turned the frig on propane the day before they got here but didn't plug the trailer in until they got here. The battery was disconnected until I plugged in the trailer and flipped the disconnect switch and the frig was nice and cold with ice in the freezer. The hot water heater worked as well. Maybe they have changed them. I had a 2000 Elite LQ trailer and built in Onan generator. We had a problem with the inverter and it was not charging the batteries when plugged up at home or when the generator was running. The batteries went down because we didn't know they weren't being charged. Our fride would not work even with the generator running and it wouldn't work on just LP. When we took it to the shop, they had to replace the inverter and they told us that the circuit boards were DC and had to have battery power to control the fridge and the furnace. I've had 2 LQ trailers since that one and I haven't tried to shut off the batteries to see if that problem was unique to that one trailer. |
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LQ Battery questions??Need more help!!!!!
