Raising Landing Gear with a dead battery - a learning experience

[RollingHome]

This is a FYI. I had the BH sitting un-plugged for about 3 weeks. Today I heard the CO2 monitor alarm sounding. We all know this means the house battery is low or CO2 is present. I turned on the outside light under the front of the rig near the kingpin box and confirmed a dead battery. I bumped the retract and ... silence, nothing happened. So I connect the 7-pin towing cable to the TV pressed retract and ... silence. I looked at the Driver Information Center on my dash (I have a GM integral brake controller) and read "trailer connected". The CO2 alarm was annunciating this entire time. I then connected the shore power cord. The alarm immediately silenced. I then hit retract and walla, the landing gear came up.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
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Moral of the story, if one is rural camping then one will have to wait until the battery get's charged a little from the TV or use your genny. Hooking the umbilical from your TV will not give instant gratification. It also gives me a reason to get that 1/4 hex bit for the battery powered drill, I'm just itching to try that emergency retract technique anyway. <o></o>
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[RollingHome]

More info, I pulled about 18 feet of the shore line out from the powered reel. I charged the battery for 3 hours. I wanted to move the rig so I unplugged the land line and the battery had only enough power to retract 9' of cord with the power reel. One would think 2 hours of charging would have brought the battery up enough to take in 18' of cord. So once again, here's one more thing that won't work "IF" the battery is dead. I could always leave the cord out and tie it off to the ladder or tuck it in a window. I would pull the entire cord all the way out to reduce it from coming out by itself going down the hi-way. Also, even though the TV was connected it would not bring the cord in.

 

[Willym]

You just proved that the charging line from most tow vehicles is quite a small gauge wire, and so the current capacity is quite limited. Regarding the 50 A cable, did you try turning the take up drum by hand or was it not accessible?

I expect that you meant that it was your carbon monoxide (CO) detector alarming

 

[Bob&Patty]

My question would be..was the engine running in the TV?? Not all TV's will send 12V to the trailer if not running. I had the battery go dead and with the TV running it would retract the landing gear.

Just for a little insight. The convertor is only a trickle charger. Its not a full on battery charger. With the 50amp cord plug in, it will take some time to bring the battery up.

There very few things in a trailer that run off 110V. Most everything runs off 12V. Moral to the story is, dead battery...not much will work.

 

[branson4020]

Actually it was probably the propane detector.

 

[RollingHome]

Yep, I was wrong on the detector (CO2 ???) I do this everytime. Actually, I didn't see it only heard it. So the charger is small... would you suggest I carry a larger charger, what size ? Tried turning the reel by hand and it was doable but tight. Had the TV running. I also turned off the battery switch (to reduce load) and plugged in the 120 VAC. I was able to retract then, but would cord would unplug if I kept doing it. I also was thinking of installing a second battery with a selector switch and alternate batteries to cycle both. Used to do this with my boats and it worked. Actually, I tried so many different things today I may be confused when I did what... I'm going to let it charge over night and check it tomorrow. I suspect all will be well. It was just a wake up call how important the battery is on our RV's, sometimes I take things for granted. Good thing it happened at home. Thanks for taking the time to give me some help. Tom This also raised another question.

 

[lhetsler]

This has not been my experience when I have a dead battery and hookup the truck, everything works (truck running). I am wondering if you put in your own shutoff switch or it came with one. What I am getting a is you said that you shut off the battery switch. Could the switch be hooked up in such a way that when off, the charge from the truck is cutoff as well. If this is not the case, I would look into a heavier charge wire, because I have had a completely dead battery and not experienced what you did when I hook up my tow vehicle.

 

[RollingHome]

Thanks, Wes, I think you may be correct, something didn't seem right. I'll get into it deeper and see if I can find out anything else. The battery switch came with the unit from HL.

 

[JohnDar]

Last fall, when we picked up our BH at the dealer after having work done on it and the rig held while we were out of town, the battery was dead as a doornail. Hooked up the running TV and extended the slides (to check the work), and retracted them. Ran the jacks, too.

 

[RollingHome]

John, you're the 2nd poster who said this. Sounds like my wires are too small or something else, Thanks. Tom

 

[cookie]

Tom, you might want to take your tester and be certain you are getting 12 volts to the plug. You may have blown the fuse in your TV.

Peace
Dave

 

[plumberdude]

RollingHome,
question, when you stop for the night and leaving the next day do you unplug your tv from your rig when pluged into shore power?
lori

 

[RollingHome]

Dave, I will need to verify absolutely. I "assumed" since my Driver Information Center was communicating that the circuit was hot... dumb assumption huh, I of all should have not assumed... I'm embarrassed, I'll check it tomorrow.

Pat, as I recall I unplug usually. That being said, I'm still plugged in tonight because I am also plugged into 120 VAC. I assumed "AGAIN" the 120 VAC would overide any discharge and actually charge both the RV & TV batteries. Guess I'm slipping here, better get my butt in gear and start thinking smarter. Oh well

 

[pmmjarrett]

You don't need a battery in the camper to operate any 12v accessories, I only carry a tiny breakaway box battery for transporting and don't use it at all to run the jacks and unplug it before a dealer will kill it operating slides, you just need power from the tow vehicle plug.

You need to check the fuse on the tow vehicle, if fuse is OK then check 12v pin on the plug on the TV with a test light or multimeter. Might want to check to see if pins have flattened and are not making good contact too if you do have 12v at plug but nothing 12v works.

The 12v pin is pin #4 and should be a black and/or red wire. It's right between the #3 pin / Brown wire (running lights) and the #6 pin green wire(right turn signal)

Your ground pin is the #1 pin (white wire) and is betreen the #2 pin / blue wire (brakes) and the #5 pin / yellow wire (left turn)

The center pin (#7) is usually an orange wire and is an auxiliary wire, it's usually hooked to the reverse lights on the TV.

 

[RollingHome]

Here I go with my assumptions again... PmmJarret, 7 Pin Plug, I guess I count from the square step detent and go clockwise on the trailer receptacle (in the truck bed). #1 is just right of the detent and #4 is 4 clockwise. With the TV running this should be hot (12VDC) between the #4 terminal and the terminal emediately to the right (#!) of the detent. Am I correct ? Also, as I understand it, is this the charging circuit for the RV battery ?

In closing, several have mentioned the TV fuse being blown??? I have a 2011 Chevy NBS truck, I "assume" this fuse is in the fuse box in the engine compartment. Any techs out there want to zero me in on the exact fuse ? I'll eventually find it but you may speed up the process, am I in the right area ? In advance thanks to all. Tom

 

[Bob&Patty]

Tom, yes the "charge" fuse is in the UBC (underhood fuse panel). Haven't looked in a while, but they are marked on the lid. I believe that it is a 40amp fuse. They are pretty hard to tell if they are blown. If unsure, remove another 40amp fuse, put it in the slot and test at the plug end. As to your question about leaving the TV connected to the coach at nite. I dont see any reason why not as long as your hooked to shore power.

 

[RollingHome]

Thanks Bob, I'll check it tomorrow in the daylight... ta

 

[porthole]

The converter is only a trickle charger. Its not a full on battery charger.

Bighorns come with a 60 amp converter, no?
That is far from a trickle charger.

I've seen several dealers use a small rechargeable jump pack to operate all the trailer functions when batteries are not installed.

This sounds like another problem.

 

[RollingHome]

Duane, I really hope ur wrong, but, tomorrow will tell. Actually, I'm thinking the same thing... Let's hope we're both wrong

 

[pmmjarrett]

Here I go with my assumptions again... PmmJarret,

7 Pin Plug, I guess I count from the square step detent and go clockwise on the trailer receptacle (in the truck bed).
#1 is just right of the detent and #4 is 4 clockwise. With the TV running this should be hot (12VDC) between the #4 terminal and the terminal emediately to the right (#!) of the detent. Am I correct ? Also, as I understand it, is this the charging circuit for the RV battery ?

NO!!!! Not even close to how they number them.
Looks like some goofy Gemerous Motors truck engineer came up with this numbering system:angel:

Here's what it looks like as you are staring at the plug on the truck with the lid open.

If you are looking at the trailer pug it's a mirror image

If you are looking at the back of the plugs where the wires come in this is what you see.