Going off-grid in August

[Bill]

If the battery doesn't put 12 VDC into the trailer, but when you hook a jump pack onto THE VERY SAME BATTERY TERMINALS, then it would seem that the battery must be the problem. Since you had problems with the ring lugs that attach to the battery, I suppose the problem could be an intermittent connection there, one that makes or breaks when you disturb the wires. Or it could be an intermittent connection in the fuse holder as you move the connecting wires.

The fuse in the battery box is either a glass cylinder (metal ends) in a hot-dog shape plastic fuseholder, or a blade fuse in an automotive-style flat fuse holder. Check this picture in my Tech Stuff album

http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...&pictureid=760

The former type of fuse holder is famous for overheating and going intermittent. If you have it, you should replace it with the latter, a much better design.

Both types of fuse can be "tested" by visual inspection. You will see a broken metallic strip iniside the fuse body if the fuse is bad.

Bill

[flipflop]

Originally Posted by Bill

If the battery doesn't put 12 VDC into the trailer, but when you hook a jump pack onto THE VERY SAME BATTERY TERMINALS, then it would seem that the battery must be the problem. Since you had problems with the ring lugs that attach to the battery, I suppose the problem could be an intermittent connection there, one that makes or breaks when you disturb the wires. Or it could be an intermittent connection in the fuse holder as you move the connecting wires.

The fuse in the battery box is either a glass cylinder (metal ends) in a hot-dog shape plastic fuseholder, or a blade fuse in an automotive-style flat fuse holder. Check this picture in my Tech Stuff album

http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...&pictureid=760

The former type of fuse holder is famous for overheating and going intermittent. If you have it, you should replace it with the latter, a much better design.

Both types of fuse can be "tested" by visual inspection. You will see a broken metallic strip iniside the fuse body if the fuse is bad.

Bill

Thanks, Bill. I edited my post above. This trailer had/has a Type 1 circuit breaker in the battery box (which I knew absolutely nothing about, thought it was a fuse and either worked or didn't work).

Everything worked before I started fooling around in the battery box, so something I did in the battery box is the culprit. It appears the ring terminal coming loose was just a sidetracker from whatever the real problem is.

I'll know more in the morning.

[Bill]

Thanks for adding the link. It tells us that "Type 1" simply means "self-resetting". The link still shows many different kinds of breakers, but as long as you are sure you don't have a "Type 2" or "Type 3" breaker, I don't think it matters which kind you have. The important thing is that we know you have a breaker, so we can stop looking for fuse-related problems.

You have dual 6-volt batteries. They should be hooked up as shown in the right half of this sketch in my Tech Stuff album.
http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...&pictureid=451
Note especially that NOTHING should be connected to the interconnection point between the two batteries (from the + of the lower battery to the - of the upper battery in the sketch). If you have anything connected here, remove it.

Your solar stuff will be connected to the outer wires labelled "black" and "white" in the sketch. The positive lead from your solar stuff will have its own fuse, and so it should be connected directly to the + terminal of the upper 6-volt battery. (BTW, don't connect the positive lead from your solar stuff to the other side (i.e., TM side) of your Type 1 breaker.) And of course the negative lead from your solar stuff should be connected directly to the - terminal of the lower 6-volt battery.

Let us know what you find.

Bill

[ThePair]

I have had a self-resetting breaker go bad on me in a very odd way, in that it still allowed a voltage to pass, but no substantial current. This made some troubleshooting very difficult until I thought to replace it, and all was well again.

If nothing else is clearly wrong, I would consider that. They're cheap.

[flipflop]

Thanks again, Bill, Pair, et al. I bought three replacement CarQuest BR30 breakers in Deming just in case ($4 ea). They're the correct part.

Still haven't isolated the trbl. The other mongrel (the one with all her toenails) had some severe diarrhea overnight and into the AM, really bad, so into town I go just in case she needs vet care - had to go into town anyway to get some 10AWG to make jumpers for the battery box in case that's the trouble. What a mess, she needed diapers frankly.

So anyway, I didn't trblshoot at all, 60 miles to get to an Ace Hardware, just quickly bought some 10AWG and ring terminals if I need to make some jumpers. Had to stop at a laundromat, as I said above 'what a mess'. So that was the day. Not going to work on it in the dark, the generator or the truck inverter can handle the load.

On the bright side, the dog seems to be ok, has plenty of energy, and another bright note, I fab'd a screen for the upper half of the entry door to keep the flies out, works great.

Velcro and blind rivets are my friends - riveted some velcro tabs and strips to fiberglass window screen, sticky back velcro on the upper door inside frame. Have to duck down to get in and out, but it's better than a trailer full of flies. There's a couple moths trying to get in right now attracted to the lights. Nope, no entry allowed.

[flipflop]

A couple of other things that are working well are these headlamps http://www.homedepot.com/p/Coast-HL7...B&gclsrc=aw.ds

Unlike others where you're constantly pushing buttons, these have ONE button, then it's a twist to focus and a slide to adjust lighting power.

These air deflectors are great for the furnace - https://www.lowes.com/pd/Accord-3-5-...lector/3260347

Make sure you get the ones labeled 'Heavy Duty Air Deflector'. At my Lowes the next bin over had a air deflector that looked the same, but it melted from the furnace heat, these Heavy Duty ones do not.

You'll need additional magnets to keep them secured to the furnace grate - http://www.homedepot.com/p/MASTER-MA...6254/203613123

One of these on each end of the air deflector holds it to the furnace grate. Lowes doesn't carry these, Home Depot is the spot.

Forgot to mention this water bladder - http://www.campingworld.com/shopping...45-gallon/1605

It's easy to figure out how to use it once you get it in your hands. It's a siphon feed into the fresh tank from this 4Runner's bed. Drained and folded it fits under the dinette seat by the water tank and water pump.

[flipflop]

Originally Posted by Bill

If the battery doesn't put 12 VDC into the trailer, but when you hook a jump pack onto THE VERY SAME BATTERY TERMINALS, then it would seem that the battery must be the problem. Since you had problems with the ring lugs that attach to the battery, I suppose the problem could be an intermittent connection there, one that makes or breaks when you disturb the wires. Or it could be an intermittent connection in the fuse holder as you move the connecting wires.


Bill

Welp, I wish I had more experience trblshooting 12VDC trbls. With all connections/jumpers disconnected both batteries tested at 6.15VDC. So apparently the batteries are charged. And yes, the jumpers are connected as in your sketch for series.

I went through all of the connections and jumpers scraping them down to metal. The jumpers test good for continuity with the ohmmeter, as did the ckt breaker.

The ground lug connected to the streetside tongue was heavily corroded, as was the white wire connected to it. I filed all that clean, dielectric on all connections.

I'm running the gen now plugged into the trailer, we'll see what happens.

EDIT: Cleaning the ground lug got the furnace running overnight. Still concerned that the white wire has some corrosion between strands, so added a 10AWG jumper.

[flipflop]

Originally Posted by flipflop

Welp, I wish I had more experience trblshooting 12VDC trbls. With all connections/jumpers disconnected both batteries tested at 6.15VDC. So apparently the batteries are charged. And yes, the jumpers are connected as in your sketch for series.

I went through all of the connections and jumpers scraping them down to metal. The jumpers test good for continuity with the ohmmeter, as did the ckt breaker.

The ground lug connected to the streetside tongue was heavily corroded, as was the white wire connected to it. I filed all that clean, dielectric on all connections.

I'm running the gen now plugged into the trailer, we'll see what happens.

EDIT: Cleaning the ground lug got the furnace running overnight. Still concerned that the white wire has some corrosion between strands, so added a 10AWG jumper.

Oh, my woeful ignorance. Turns out it was a bad battery as Bill suggested above. Being ignorant of how to test for such, I skipped that and assumed it was the corroded frame ground.

Using these instructions http://solarhomestead.com/defective-...oubleshooting/ I saw Step 6 which says while charging if one has high voltage it's bad. One was charging at 7.45VDC the other at 6.5VDC.

Replaced both this AM with NAPA-brand BAT-8144 186AH batteries, NAPA being the closest place available.

I'm not sure when the batt went bad, may have been bad when I bought the trailer. When I tested the systems in the driveway everything seemed good, but I think maybe it was the factory solar was running everything (????) since I tested in full sun. I guess the bottom line is I'm just ignorant about DC electrical systems.

EDIT: Hallelujah, the Christmas Tree on the Systems Monitor panel finally lit up all the way without solar and without the generator. Now I'll find out how long these NAPA batteries last not only keeping the trailer systems going, but charging the laptop and smartphone. Fortunately I have the jump pack and truck inverter as backup.

EDIT: Feels great to wake up for once with the Systems Monitor panel lit up to 'Good'. And with the 150W inverter plugged in charging the laptop/smartphone.