Low voltage error: Battery on or off with 50 amp?

[PapaHill]

Pardon the question which seems very basic but as a long time vintage Airstream owner, we never had the option of shutting off juice to the battery.

We have been leaving it on while connected to 50 amp at RV parks. However, when we go to retract our jacks to leave we always get a "low voltage" error. (Love that auto level!) We have enough juice to get the jacks retracted and be on our way but the error bugs me and nothing in our manuals addresses where the switch should be while hooked to 50 amp.

So, if we shut the battery off while camped but back to on position when we tow will it charge via our Dodge dually while in transit?

Thanks for bearing with us as we have only had our Big Country since Sept 2012. We are full time so we are learning fast.

Ms. Hill

 

[danemayer]

Hi PapaHill,

While using the trailer, the battery cutoff should be ON. If OFF, the battery is isolated from the Power Converter and won't get charged. Generally you need to cut it to OFF only when storing the trailer, so that the small parasitic drains from alarms and LEDs don't drain the battery.

The hydraulics motor for the leveling system draws more current that anything else in the trailer, and depends almost entirely on the battery charge. When plugged into shore power, all of the interior 12V stuff will work fine even without a battery or with the battery cutoff on OFF, because the fuse box is getting power from the Power Converter. So the low voltage message is an indication that your battery is having trouble meeting the heavy demand of the hydraulics.

Here's a link to a 12V troubleshooting guide written by Heartland owners that may help you isolate the problem.

 

[cookie]

If I were you I would not disconnect the battery when you are hooked to shore power.
When you do that, your converter is not charging your battery.
If your battery is not charged you will get the low voltage error.
Have you checked the battery with a digital meter to verify the charge?

Peace
Dave

 

[brianharrison]

By the way, Welcome to the Heartland family!

 

[wdk450]

You should leave the battery switch ON so the convertor/charger will charge the batteries while you are connected to shore power. That is what the converter/charger is for. The modern RV convertor/chargers have a very sophisticated microprocessor-controlled battery charging system that charges the batteries as quick as possible, and in 3 (or 4 ) distinct charging stages, as recommended by the battery manufacturers.