Battery Issue

quiltsnh

Member
Hi I have a 40 ft Fairfield. Last year we had a problem closing our slides for winter on our destination trailer. I was told it was because the ground wire wasn't attached and therefore the battery wasn't charging. We got the slides in and all winter long our electric bill kept climbing. We went to the trailer in the spring and disconnected the battery and pulled the land plug. I took the battery to NAPA and had it tested and it was dead. Therefore the converter was trying to charge it all winter causing high electric bills. We bought a new battery and attached it white neg/red positive. And nothing is happening the converter which is supposed to trickle it is doing nothing. doesn't come on. Questions: Does the ground wire have to be attached? and what does it look like? Color? And what other trouble shooting should I do?
Thanx in advance.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Hi quiltsnh,

If Fairfield is set up the same as the rest of the product line, there's a set of 12V DC mini-circuit breakers near the battery. One of the breakers is a manual reset breaker that sits between the Power Converter and the battery. If it trips, no power gets to the battery to keep it charged. Once the battery runs down, you won't be able to operate slides which are usually also powered through breakers on the same buss bar. So it's very possible the breaker has tripped and needs to be reset.

If you put a volt meter on the battery, if the converter is working and the breaker is not tripped, you'll read around 13.4V DC. If the converter is not working, or the breaker is tripped, you'll read 12.4 V or less.

I'm attaching a picture of the breaker, showing the teeny, tiny reset button. The breakers may be covered by a rubber boot. The reset button can be hard to spot, so sometimes it's easier to feel for it. I'm attaching several pictures of the buss bar and breakers from different trailers. They don't all look the same and the arrangement of breakers will vary. But hopefully this'll get you there.

Also, we have a 12V Block Diagram and Troubleshooting Guide that may help you run down the problem, if it's not the circuit breaker needing to be reset. Here's a link.
 

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Oregon_Camper

Well-known member
I'm attaching a picture of the breaker, showing the teeny, tiny reset button. The breakers may be covered by a rubber boot. The reset button can be hard to spot, so sometimes it's easier to feel for it.

I found the breaker and have a question. When I depress the button, there is no "feedback" or pressure when pressed.

Should it click or snap or do something the provides me with a feeling that it was reset and now in "working" mode?
 

danemayer

Well-known member
It's a soft reset, so you usually can't tell if it did anything. Take a voltage reading at the battery. If it's 13.4V you're getting power from the converter to the battery.
 

Dahensler

Member
Good Afternoon

New to the RV life style. After reading the threads on this subject.
When I get home tonight I will check the switches.

History: I had unknown knowledge of the converter and battery.
The power went out and came back on.
One day I was getting to leave the camp ground and the slide outs and leveeing system would not work.
The battery was dead, (it was old batter) bought a new one.
Month later was preparing to the camper, and the hydraulic leveling system would not work or the slideouts.
I checked the voltage at the battery and it was 1.5, no charging from the converter

So when I check the switches and reset them and it does not work what is the next step?

Thank You
 

Jim.Allison

Well-known member
if all other systems look normal, find your charger/converter and look at the blade fuses. You can disconnect the lead from your battery and check voltage from the lead to the terminal, or to ground. IF you get nothing then look at the blade fuses on the charger/converter.
 

Dahensler

Member
if all other systems look normal, find your charger/converter and look at the blade fuses. You can disconnect the lead from your battery and check voltage from the lead to the terminal, or to ground. IF you get nothing then look at the blade fuses on the charger/converter.

Good Morning
Last night I checked the converter (PD9280 model)

I inspected the 30 amp fuses-all good. I unplugged it and plugged it back in. I checked the voltage coming out of the converter it was 13.3V.

I went to the buss bar and I reset the switch.

Now, I was charging the new battery which was disconnected from the camper. I turned on the master switch and decided to take a voltage reading on the battery cables to see if the converter was charging there is no voltage. I was under the assumption that there would be charge voltage f 13.3V.

Please enlighten me
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Good Morning
Last night I checked the converter (PD9280 model)

I inspected the 30 amp fuses-all good. I unplugged it and plugged it back in. I checked the voltage coming out of the converter it was 13.3V.

I went to the buss bar and I reset the switch.

Now, I was charging the new battery which was disconnected from the camper. I turned on the master switch and decided to take a voltage reading on the battery cables to see if the converter was charging there is no voltage. I was under the assumption that there would be charge voltage f 13.3V.

Please enlighten me

If you have 13.3 V coming out of the Power Converter, you should also be seeing it at the positive battery cable, IF power is getting through the 12V mini-circuit breaker. Check the voltage at the top of the breaker where the Power Converter wiring is attached, and again at the bottom of the breaker (with battery cutoff in the OFF position or battery disconnected, so you're not reading battery voltage). You should see 13.3V on both top and bottom of the breaker. If you have 13.3V at the top but not at the bottom, you have either got a tripped breaker or a failed breaker.

Also take a look at our 12V Block Diagram and Diagnostic Guide.
 

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Jim.Allison

Well-known member
What danemayer said......start working backwards from the battery to find the point where you are losing the converter power.

A side note: I eliminated my progressive charger when I installed my Xantrex inverter charger. But I noticed when uninstalling it that they used a chassis ground. Just a plain uninsulated copper wire flopping around behind the basement wall, and secured to the chassis with a bolt. If you saw something like this, I would inspect it closely. Chassis grounds work well enough but they are not the best way to complete a circuit. 12v DC would "rather" for lack of a better term run directly to the batt with its own copper wire. Also a chassis ground is prone to failure from minor corrosion, or maybe the paint was not removed before the ground wire was attached to the chassis. Grounds are the most common cause of 12v DC circuit failures. Anytime I have a chassis ground I run an additional, properly sized dedicated ground back to the negative buss for that appliance/component. Chassis grounds are proper, but dedicated grounds are better, I use both.
 
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