Drained battery

[skcin]

Went on our first trip in the PU this past weekend.  It went great except for one thing - the heater quit in the middle of night 2 because the RV/boat battery was dead.  :mad:  This campground had no electric hookups. We had to get up & hook the wires back up to the truck.  Worked fine the rest of the night, and the truck's battery had plenty of juice the next morning.

I was under the impression that "under normal use" the battery should last 3 days.  It lasted us approx. 30 hours.  Is the heater/ignitor/fan really that much of a drain on the battery?  Should we leave the PU hooked up to the truck the entire time next time?  How often & for how long should we run the truck to recharge it's battery?  

The only other things we used electric-wise were the lights & we were very careful not to leave them on when we weren't using them.  We didn't even plug anything in to the outlets.  I'm confused.  Any thoughts?

[mike4947]

Here's a few numbers you can use to figure out how long your battery will last.

Furnace fan will draw 3.4 amps per hour when it is running.
 
Each light bulb will draw between 1.4 and 1.8 amps. Two dual bulb ceiling fixtures will draw between 5.6 and 7.2 amps per hour.
 
The average group 24 battey will have apx 40-50 amps available until the voltage is low enough to not run the furnace.
 
The water pump draws apx 5 amps when running, BUT, since the time it takes to pump a 20 gallon tank dry (20gal/2.8GPM) is apx 7 minutes an entire tank would use (7/60)X5 or just over 1/2 amp total.

[Recumbentman]

A couple of things to keep in mind.
did you charge the battery just before your trip ? Need to have the battery top-off before a trip.
did you have your heater setting high, so that it kept cycling on and off through out the night ? We usally warm up the PU right before bed and then turn it off during the night and then re-heat in the morning.
what size battery do you have ? size matters.  :p

[skcin]

The battery was charged, and it's brand new.  We charged it by plugging the PU (via adapter) into our garage outlet for 24 hours - is there a better way?  I'm not sure of the size, let me get back to you guys on that.   We had the heater set at about 66 through the night - I was ready to turn it off/down.  Stupid husband.  

Interesting about the amps.  Makes sense that we drained it now.  How come one bulb light is only about 2 amps per hour, but a dual is 7?

So what to do to avoid this in the future, if there aren't any electric hookups?  Should we hook the PU to the TV & run it for a while every morning?  If so, how long would it take to recharge the battery?  Do most people here use generators?

[tlhdoc]

Sorry you ran out of power.  I have 3 group 31 batteries and have been know to take all 3 on longer/colder trips if we don't have hookups.  Rather than buy a generator I would get a second battery.  Put it in a battery box and just set it inside the camper when towing.  Put it on the ground by the tongue when you are at camp and if you need it you have it.  The best way to charge the battery on the camper is with a 3 stage "smart charger".  You can get them on ebay, Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, etc.

[garym053]

I would charge it with a Deep Cycle Charger rather than using the Pop-up Converter. Some of those convereters barely push 12V to the battery and it isn't 100% charged until around 12.6V or more. With those, You can plug the convereter in for a month and not get a full charge.

I've run lights and funace for 3 nights and still had power with my old Jayco. I'll see how the new Starcraft is this weekend!

[mike4947]

Interesting about the amps. Makes sense that we drained it now. How come one bulb light is only about 2 amps per hour, but a dual is 7?

That's for Two dual bulb fixtures (four bulbs running)

[AustinBoston]

Did you, by any chance, run a fridge on 12V (during the drive)?  Even with a TV connection, that can drain up to half the battery.

Austin

[skcin]

Did you, by any chance, run a fridge on 12V (during the drive)?  Even with a TV connection, that can drain up to half the battery.

Austin

Nope, we didn't use the fridge this trip.

Thanks for all the advice everybody.  I'll look into a second battery & a charger.  Do I really need to get the deep cycle battery at my RV dealer?  Are there other options/places to purchase?

[tlhdoc]

Nope, we didn't use the fridge this trip.
 
Thanks for all the advice everybody. I'll look into a second battery & a charger. Do I really need to get the deep cycle battery at my RV dealer? Are there other options/places to purchase?

I would NOT get a battery at the dealer.  Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Costco, battery store, etc. will have them too.  You want a deep cycle, not a starting battery, not a starting battery.

[rccs]

What is the year and model of your camper? Some of the older campers did not even have chargers built into the converter and some newer ones, as stated, had poor quality chargers in them. The newer WFCO converters have a 3 stage charger built in and are supposed to do a pretty good job of charging.

[skcin]

What is the year and model of your camper? Some of the older campers did not even have chargers built into the converter and some newer ones, as stated, had poor quality chargers in them. The newer WFCO converters have a 3 stage charger built in and are supposed to do a pretty good job of charging.

We have a '98 Jayco.

[Medic118]

I just got back from 8 night trip. We had the same problem with a battery not lasting. The one we had died after the first night. I went to sears and bought a die hard deep cycle battery for about 80.00. It lasted for 7 nights using the lights about an hour per night and the heater alot the first three nights then intermittently the rest.

[skcin]

I just got back from 8 night trip. We had the same problem with a battery not lasting. The one we had died after the first night. I went to sears and bought a die hard deep cycle battery for about 80.00. It lasted for 7 nights using the lights about an hour per night and the heater alot the first three nights then intermittently the rest.

Really.  Good to know.

Slightly OT, but should we still be able to utilize the standard electric outlets in the PU while hooked up to the battery, or is there not enough juice?  The outlets work great when we're plugged into an electrical source at home, but nada when we're on battery, even when it's first charged.

[mike4947]

That's because the outlets need 120 volt AC to power them. Your trailer does not have an INVERTER that changes the 12 volt DC power from a battery to 120 volt AC power. It has a CONVERTER which converts 120 volt AC power to 12 volt DC power as well as supplying 120 volt AC to the outlets in the trailer.

 
Also batteries are limited in the amount of amps they contain. Inverter work by sing large amounts of 12 volt amps to supply small amounts of 120 volt amps. That 1200 watt Mr Coffee drip coffee maker that only uses apx 10 amps on a 120 volt outlet from shore power will draw apx 100 amps from the battery while it makes your coffee when using an inverter.
It's the old watts = amps X volts.