North Trail - Battery Level Status display

[Albertg]

I have noticed that when I'm plugged into shore power my Batt level shows full regardless of the actual battery level, It also shows full when I'm hooked up to my vehicle. But when I'm hooked up to my generator its showing what level the battery is at. My generator is powering my frig. and air conditioner just fine so I know it's working but I am wondering if it's not charging my battery????
I thought the generator might need to be grounded but that made no difference.

 

[danemayer]

Re: ATF: North Trail - Levels Status display

Hi Albertg,

When plugged into shore power, 120V AC goes to your Power Converter where it's changed to 12V DC to power your interior lights, thermostat, refrigerator and water heater control boards, furnace, and to charge the battery. The typical output of the Power Converter is actually 13.2V DC. That shows up on your battery monitor as a full charge, even if your battery were disconnected. The monitor is showing either the battery level, or the output of the Power Converter.

When plugged into your truck, the truck battery level or alternator output (if the engine is running), passes through your 12V DC wiring in the trailer and shows up on the monitor.

With shore power disconnected and truck disconnected, the monitor will show the battery level.

There is a 12V DC mini-circuit breaker in-between the battery and power converter. If that trips, the battery will not get charged by the Power Converter. When this happens, the classic symptom is that as soon as you disconnect shore power, all your interior lights go out. But since your battery monitor responds to the truck being connected, that breaker is probably not tripped.

If you plug your shore power cord into the generator and don't see the same results on your battery monitor as when on shore power, I'd guess you're not getting generator power to the Power Converter. If your trailer has 50 amp service, this might be due to a cord adapter that is only feeding one power leg to your trailer.

Our owner-written Electrical user guide in this folder has numerous diagrams and pictures along with explanations of how everything goes together. With that guide and a volt meter, you should be able to run down the problem.

 

[Albertg]

Re: ATF: North Trail - Levels Status display

I guess I’m confused. If shore power from a 20 amp circuit gives proper results why wouldn’t my 30amp from the generator do the same?

 

[danemayer]

Re: ATF: North Trail - Levels Status display

I guess I’m confused. If shore power from a 20 amp circuit gives proper results why wouldn’t my 30amp from the generator do the same?

I can only guess. But based on your problem description, it sounds like you may have one leg of your 50 amp connection not getting power.

Generators often have special adapter cords that are different from the adapters you might use to plug into a 20 amp circuit. Given that you're seeing different results when using different adapters/cords, I'd look at those different adapters/cords.

 

[Albertg]

Re: ATF: North Trail - Levels Status display

I’ll skip the 30 amp plug on the generator and try the 20 amp plug. If I’m understanding you the problem is with the generator as all cables / plugs are the same but give different results.

 

[danemayer]

Re: ATF: North Trail - Levels Status display

I’ll skip the 30 amp plug on the generator and try the 20 amp plug. If I’m understanding you the problem is with the generator as all cables / plugs are the same but give different results.

A 30 amp receptacle is different from a 20 amp receptacle, and you must be using a different plug or an adapter. It's more likely the problem is with the plug or adapter than with the generator itself.

 

[Albertg]

Re: ATF: North Trail - Levels Status display

The trailer has a 30 amp service cable with plug. I have an adopt. that goes to 20 amp that hooks to my 30 amp trailer cable.
Why would the 30 amp cable change wit the 20 amp adpt.

 

[danemayer]

Re: ATF: North Trail - Levels Status display

The trailer has a 30 amp service cable with plug. I have an adopt. that goes to 20 amp that hooks to my 30 amp trailer cable.
Why would the 30 amp cable change wit the 20 amp adpt.

Thanks for answering a key question - whether your trailer has 30 amp or 50 amp service.

The 30 amp service means you have a single hot leg. That hot leg powers everything in the trailer. So you either have power or don't have power going to the Converter. The only other factor that comes to mind is that the Power Converter may have low-voltage detection that shuts it off if power falls below 105V. So if your generator is putting out 104V, as a possible example, it might be enough to run other things, but perhaps not the Power Converter. Low voltage could be bad for your air conditioner, even if it does run.

I don't think you'll get any further at diagnosing this mystery without a volt meter.

 

[Albertg]

Re: ATF: North Trail - Levels Status display

Thanks, I’ll check the generator output