Keep 12 volt battery charged?
 

We have had a 1979 Hi-Lo for many years and LOVE it. The only consistent problem we have is keeping the battery charged. We just came from a 5 day camping trip with a brand new battery. Trying to lower it we realized our battery was again dead. Anyone come up with creative ways to keep it charged while sitting at home or at a campsite?

I plug in my batteries for a couple of days once a month at home. That keeps em topped off. Leaving the trailer plugged in all the time will overcharge the battery and boil off the water inside, ruining the battery. A battery tender or a charger that has a float stage can be left attached all the time as it will maintain the battery, goint to the float or maintainance stage when the battery is fully charged. At the campsite, I always boondock so I run the generator.

Do you think your trailers internal battery charger may have a problem?

Options for keeping battery from going dead while camping:

1. Add second battery and run them parallel.
2. Add solar charger.
3. Remove 12 volt battery and add 6 volt golf cart batteries and run them in series.

There are threads for each of these options. You can do a search and find them. Unfortunately i cannot insert links right now.

Battery going dead while camping
 

Plug your trailer into your tow vehicle and run the tow vehicle for 1/2 hr. This will charge up the battery.

Tinatot,

I am assuming that you had no problem while you were camping and connected to a land line. I am also assuming that you evidently had a somewhat lengthy drive to return home after your 5-day camping trip. It sounds to me as if you need to check out your charging circuit from the tow vehicle. We had a 75 model at one time and I had the same problem. I found that the wire for the charging circuit was non-existent and simply had to run a good size charging wire to the proper terminal. If your fridge was running on DC while you were travelling that would explain how your new battery got discharged on your trip home.

If you have an owner's manual, you might check the section on car-trailer connector wiring. The factory recommends the charge wire from the tow vehicle should be a fused #10 wire. You might first check the Tow vehicle connector pin with a Volt-meter to see if you have voltage. If none is present, you either have a bad connection or a blown fuse. You might also insure there is a wire on the opposing trailer pin. If the trailer wire is missing [which may be the case on an older model] you will have to wire it to the battery. It should also be a #10 gauge.

I know that some forum members have a problem of leaving the HiLo plugged in when not in use. I have never had a problem doing so but I do check the water level in the batteries regularly and make sure they don't boil dry. Some use a trickle charger which will keep the battery up if nothing in the trailer is turned on.

I have enough room in the battery compartment so I keep a 2nd battery wired parallel. I installed battery isolators so that I can have one off line for an emergency and available should the primary battery lose its charge. Mine is set up so that I can alternate which battery is off line or leave both online for charging.

Hope this helps.

Jerry Curtis
2406T

Fireball: I didn't know it had an internal battery charger. I'm pretty sure it doesn't actually.

We've been using the camper for over 20 years and have fixed so many things. This one thing is a recurring problem however. I was just surprised we purchased a new battery the day before our trip, had no problem raising it at home nor at the campsite - but 5 days later the battery was dead. And Jerry: you are correct - we had no problems plugged into a land line at the campsite.

We've been thinking about getting a Schumacher XM1-5 Maintainer, 1.5 Amp (only $20). I'll show all this to my hubby who 'really' does all the work and let him know your suggestions!

Thanks all!

For a "maintenance" charger, I highly recommend the Battery Minder: Batteryminders Specials | BatteryMinders.com. It will not "boil" the battery dry and desulphates the battery too. Alternatively, the Battery Tender Plus is a good choice, but it lacks the desulphating feature: Battery Tender Plus - Batterytender.com

You can find both of these at a cheaper price than shown if you look around.

- Jack

Tinatot,

To my knowledge, there has not been a HiLo come off the assembly line that did not have [2] charging circuits for the battery. One from the land hook-up and one from the tow vehicle. The very fact that you have a battery and that your HiLo works fine so long as it is plugged into the land power bears this out as the battery is recharged only when you are plugged into an AC outlet, but slowly drains during the driving time. The charged battery begins discharging as soon as you unplug from the landline and your refrigerator is now working directly from the battery and puts out enough current to keep your refrigerator cool while you were driving home. What is missing is that your tow vehicle should run the refrigerator and also keep the battery charged while you are in motion.

It seems to me that since your HiLo is okay when it is plugged into a landline, but it [evidently] does not charge when you are travelling home from an outing, tells me the continuity of your charge line from the tow vehicle to the HiLo suffers from:
)a: a blown fuse or
)b: an open charge line either in your tow vehicle from the tow vehicle battery/generator to the connector or;
)c: an open in the HiLo charge line from the HiLo connector to the HiLo battery.

If this is a recent problem and it has been okay before, then I would suggest that you clean the connector contacts on both the tow vehicle connector and the HiLo connector. [Be sure and disconnect the battery in both tow vehicle and HiLo before cleaning these].

If the contacts have been subjected to water condensation over a period of time, a buildup occurs that will act as either an insulator or a high resistance connection and that buildup is impeding the flow of current from the tow vehicle charging circuit to the Hilo battery circuit.

While you are at it, you might also clean both the battery cables [inside the battery clamp] and also clean the battery terminals. The tow vehicle charging circuit may not be as powerful as your land circuit and the high resistance may be preventing a good charge while you are driving. You are dealing with [2] separate charging circuits here; one from the land hookup and one from the tow vehicle.

I am no electrical expert but somewhere in all the mix I think I have provided the answer to your problem. Now get hubby out there and prove me wrong.

You will need a volt-ohm meter to isolate the problem.

Good Luck.

Jerry Curtis
2406 T