Batteries??
 

Two ( sealed) batteries in this unit. Looking through the electrolyte window there are red spots in both of them. Even after leaving it plugged in for 24 hours they still show red---though the inside monitor reads full once the converter is disconnected. So are these batteries going? I thought it was suppose to read green when fully charged. Also- even with the double hinged top on the battery compartment it almost looks like I would have to unscrew the rear top panel from near where it meets the body of the trailer to get the batteries out without dragging over the hydraulic pump. Thoughts?

And---what is the general opinion on glass matt batteries-other than they are expensive?

rick

Have you checked the voltage after charging? Let the batteries sit overnight after charging before you check the voltage. You should have 12.6 volts if they are in good shape. Then run the top up and down, let the batteries sit for a while and check the voltage again. Hopefully you shouldn't see much drop in voltage.

Changing to different batteries seems to be a popular thing. I see that many people have changed to two six volt batteries in series. But you have to make sure the batteries will fit the compartment and the cover does not contact the battery terminals. Six volt batteries tend to be taller than twelve volt.

Look at this webpage, it has lots of good info: The 12volt Side of Life (Part 1)

Put a trickle on for 24 hours though the charger was reading o amps after about 5 hours meaning the battery wasn't accepting anymore. Pulled the trickle charger and let it rest for about 4 hours----tested with digital volt meter and only got 12.46-12.47. So- I guess they are not quite up to snuff though serviceable for a bit. Idiot light inside trailer reads full charge- of course.

Just dropped a couple of super bucks on the 97 tv- including new rotors pads, calipers, rear drums, upper and lower ball joints and control arms and a radiator---and two new tires-----so I need to wait a bit for new batteries.

But- I got a good look at the wiring in the battery compartment and I am baffled. Positive goes to what looks like a solenoid on top of the lift motor and there is a wire from that over to something else---but I'll be damned if I understand where the leads from the charger come into the battery and where the DC line goes from the battery to the trailer. I did locate the charging line from the plug that attaches to the tv.

rick

Batteries and truck repairs
 

Hopefully one of the guys will post on your wiring question. We also have a 97f250 and we recently spent about two grand. Rebuilt water pump,had to rebuild the top half of the motor for a leak. New tires earlier this year and tranny fluid change(seal leaking).Put away about $100.00 per month and when the repairs hit it doesn't hurt so much. Forgot new interstate truck battery. On average you can spend 4or 5 grand on repairs in a year. Just thought I would give you some empathy. Can't buy a new for the price of our repairs!!

There is a wiring diagram in the manual, if you don't have one look in the Library. When you replace the batteries be sure to use deep cycle ones, do not use regular auto batteries they will not hold up.

Making sure the main power switch is off or the positive cable to the batteries is disconnected allow the batteries to sit a couple of days and check the voltage again to see if the charge is holding. 12.5 volts is okay, but you will probably get reduced usage time between charges.

The wire from the solenoid is probably going to the thermal circuit breakers which look like a little box with two terminal posts. There is one circuit breaker for the lift motor and one for the wiring to the rest of the trailer.

Those batteries with the green/red sightglass, have always been pretty darn accurate for each of the batteries I have owned. Red means dead. I have one in a car I dont drive much, it charged all day sat at 8amps most of sunday down to 2 amps (automatic & dang good charger), still wont start the car.

Yeah

Batteries are in parallel and one now reads red and the other doesn't have anything-which depending on which advice I've gotten they should BOTH be dead.:confused: At any rate- I suppose I should disconnect them from each other and everything else to figure out what is really what. They are ac delco grouip 24 marine deep cycle ---so deep cycle and cranking.

Thanks for the tip on what the wiring is- maybe I will post pictures and folks can help me from there. I have the diagrams in the manual but I was never too adept at reading wire diagrams.

I got married last weekend (after 25 years of cohabitation) and a friend gave us a solar panel kit that I'm looking forward to wiring in-----so the more I can figure out how everything works the better off I will be screwing it up :)

I'm also curious as to where everything runs. I know the group of wires runs up by the bathroom vent but I'm not sure what they are for and where they go and where they come from. If they run across the inside of ceiling how to folks access them? Is it possible to drop ceiling panels???? Anyway- thanks for the advice up to here.

Rick

Wiring locations
 

The wires in our Classic run behind the paneling at the top of the paneling. You do not have to remove the ceiling to get at he wires. You would have to tear out wall paneling to access some of the wire. Congratulations on your marriage!!

Wiring
 

When we did total tearout of the interior walls the wire was behind the paneling at the top. One time some of our lights in all but the bathroom went out and we chose to run the wire from the inverter under our couch up the interior wall drilled a sm hole on the underside of the dinette cabinet and hooked up to the wire in the cabinet. You don't have to remove the ceiling to get at wiring.Look under 90 HiLo Classic restoration to see pictures of open walls and some will show the wiring.

Wiring
 

Some of the wiring did riun down the wall and along the top half bottom rail. Congratulations on your marriage!!

Thanks- its good to know where to look. And thanks for the congrats----25 years of unwedded near-bliss, we will see how this works.:;)