Why did my battery go dead?

I have a question, my battery went dead at a campground, even though we were plugged in-what happened, I'm just a newbie, so don't even know where the battery is-I just bought this TM-a 2004 3124ks.

There are only two places that I know of where the batteries are ever installed in a TM:

1. On the tongue by the propane cylinders.
2. In the rear storage compartment.

If you do not know where they are how do you know they are bad? Perhaps you do not have a battery at all, which would make it illegal to tow it.

When not plugged in to shore power, did the lights ever work?

Carol C, You may have blown a fuse. There is a 30 amp inline fuse that connects to your battery terminals. I would start there. Ron

Originally Posted by Carol C

I have a question, my battery went dead at a campground

This may be a silly question, but was the power on at the power box? (did that for about 20 minutes before too ). You could have only been on battery. Also, are you talking the camper battery or you car battery?

Dan

To follow up on what Dan wrote, very often the switch on the trailer park box where you plug in the TM power cord is in the 'off' position. You need to flip it on. If this is not done, you will be operating your TM on battery power and it will probably soon be dead. A way to tell if this is the case without actually checking is to run some sort of 110 volt appliance...heater, toaster, microwave, etc. It it works this is not the problem.

It was the battery in the TM that died, but it did recharge when I hooked my Explorer up to the tow plug-I left the vehicle running and recharged the battery. I had a/c working fine and a lamp plugged also worked. I have no real instructions with the TM, so is there an on/off switch on the converter that needs to be turned on when you hook up to electricity?

No your converter is automatic. There is a switch in the box you plugged into at the campgraound. It's like a breaker at your electrical panel at your house.

If your a/c is working your are getting power. Check the battery terminals to see the connections are clean and tight and that your have water in the battery.
It is just like your car battery.

[mjlaupp]

Originally Posted by Carol C

It was the battery in the TM that died, but it did recharge when I hooked my Explorer up to the tow plug-I left the vehicle running and recharged the battery. I had a/c working fine and a lamp plugged also worked. I have no real instructions with the TM, so is there an on/off switch on the converter that needs to be turned on when you hook up to electricity?

If you had 12 volt DC power to the TM lighting after you charged the battery and the TM was disconnected from shore power then the most likely problem is with the converter. The fuse at the battery is OK.

Did you check the 10 volt AC breakers? One of them provides power to the 12 volt converter section. Were the 12 volt lights working when plugged into shore power? If so, then the converter is getting 110 volts AC and the breaker is OK. There should be a label on the converter to point you to the correct breaker.

The Magnatec/Parallex 6335 converter used in the 2004 TM has a built-in relay that switches the battery in and out of the circuits as needed. When the TM is plugged into shore power, the battery is isolated from the 12 volt circuits in the TM. The converter provides 2 separate 12 volt DC circuits, 1 for battery charging and the other to run the 12 volt lighting and appliances. When the TM is not connected to shore power, the relay connects the battery to the TM 12 volt DC circuits.

If the converter is bad then you have two choices. Upgrade the converter or replace it with a used unit. I have done the upgrade and have a replacement converter section availiable. See the "Converter Upgrade" thread in this forum.

Mike

None of the 12 v lights worked (or the toilet) until after I recharged the battery with my vehicle. I will find the battery (I looked but apparently not very well) and will check everything. Thanks for all the help.

Carol