our first trip part 2.5

[grayghost]

well after being spoiled by having plug ins at michigan, illinois, nebraska and missouri stops, we did dry camping at the cincinnati field trial this past week-end.

our little honda eu 2000i generator was more than sufficient to power the water heater, water pump, television/dvd. the propane tanks were more than adequate for the furnace.

however, there seems to be a problem with the batteries. a battery tester showed full power, but we could not operate anything off the battery. we were getting no power to our electrical outlets unless we hooked up the generator. ???

does anyone have any idea what we should be looking for to check this out?

a group of us went out to dinner on friday night and when we returned to our tm, we had a bus parked next door. this guy spent all sat and sun trying to fix the heater in that behemoth. meanwhile i was very toasty in my tm.

a friend who was there had been thinking of a tm to go to dog shows with (there is a group on yahoo called rvk9 just for people who travel with trailers, motorhomes, etc to dog shows). anyway, nanc is fascinated with the tm and we told her when we were ready to close it down. she came over and i let her help tom. she really likes it. she has a full size van that her dogs stay in, so she only needs room for herself and a few friends to party in.

didn't see any tms on this trip.

oh forgot to mention that from thursday afternoon to sun morning we only had the waste tank 1/2 full.

another question - when filling the fresh water tank without someone to check inside the tm, is there any problem with just filling it until it starts to overflow and then shutting it of. the other option is to run back and forth between the door side and street side.

all in all a nice experience. we will dry camp again in southern tennessee in a few weeks. and then head out to ardmore oklahoma where there will hopefully be a hookup for us.

tom and eileen

[Bill]

We were getting no power to our electrical outlets unless we hooked up the generatorYou do realize that none of the household-type outlets are powered from the battery? The battery powers only the 12-volt appliances. These include the ceiling lights, water pump, and furnace - but not anything that you plug into the household outlets, like a microwave.

A battery tester showed full power Are you referring to the test panel under the sink, or did you have a separate battery tester? If separate, where did you hook it when it showed OK?

If the problem is truly a battery problem, one possible problem is that the main battery fuse has popped. This a 30-amp glass cartridge fuse, mounted in an in-line holder in the black battery wire, about 6" from the battery. The result would be no 12-volt power anywhere in the TM - but the power would come back when your generator powers up the converter.

Another possible problem - one or more of the fuses in the inidividual battery circuits has popped. These fuses are behind the brown front door of the converter, and there are 9 of them. If one of these pops, there is no 12-volt power ON THAT CIRCUIT, and the power does not come back when you start the generator.

If this doesn't make sense, get back to us with more specifics - what worked, what did not work, and under what conditions. By the way, what model TM do you have? Your sig line does not specify, and it is sometimes helpful to know.

Bill

[arknoah]

I would way there should be no problem in filling up the fresh water tank to the top unless, as in our case, the overflow tube cracked and no longer stayed on the overflow hole to the outside. Alternately, you could stay inside until the water is just about to the place you want it, then go outside and turn it off. In that way, you won't be sloshing water out of the overflow tube as you drive along, which is good, since you may crack the tube as we have and get some water on the floor under the couch.