Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

DEAD BATTERY

Without Solar Panel.
If your battery dies when parked. Make sure ALL circuits are off. Most 
LQ rigs have a main battery turn off switch. Park the rig, disconnect 
from the truck, turn off the battery. Test the battery with a DC 
voltmeter - should read 12.4 to 12.6. Note the reading to xx.xx digits 
if you use a digital voltmeter.

Turn on the battery switch. Make sure ALL DC appliances are OFF or 
disconnected. Look at the volt meter. If it reads lower, there is a 
bleed off leakage. Look for hard wired devices like a gas detector. Pull 
all the fuses from the 12 fuse panel. Voltage should be the same as the 
 first reading. Install one fuse at a time to find the circuit that is 
draining the battery.
Look for TV or DVD or SAT  units. The refrigerator even when off may 
cause a slight drain.
Look at the LQ control panel - the tank fluid levels take some current.
Bottom line MOST LQ rigs have live 12vdc circuits all the time. So when 
parked at home turn off the main switch.

Do not leave the cable plugged into the trailer-truck  connector. Some 
setups go direct to the battery of the truck, this will drain both 
batteries. Good habit to get into when the truck is parked in camp 
unplug the cable.

WITH SOLAR PANEL

All solar panels should have what is called a reverse current or 
blocking diode in the solar panel. It prevents the battery current from 
passing back thought the panel at night and draining the battery. If you 
have a panel installed without this diode or you do not use a solar 
battery charge controller you will drain the LQ battery packs. The high 
cost panels have this diode - cheapos do not. Anything over a 20 watt 
panel should use a charge controller. My rig has 3   50 watt panels 
which give about 6 amp of current under full sun, they are very old like 
20 years ( old commercial Arco) They should give about 9amp or more. 
Each panel has a diode and I use a 30 amp charge controller. The 
commercial solar panels are costly 50 watts about $300.


If you don't have solar and leave the battery switch on so all the 
electronics stays live, then you should invest in a battery  slow 
charger called a battery minder or float charger. There are many out 
there - look on ebay. Used mostly for boats. There are  cheap ones on 
ebay for  under $20 - not too good, they are for little batteries. You 
need one that will give out 1 to 5 amps and cut back to trickle pulse 
charge to just  top off the battery. These units will not over charge 
and cook the battery. They will keep the battery at about 13.2vdc.

I bought one for the truck for $15. A very good unit and just bought 
another for the LQ. I wanted one to back up the solar when parked at 
home. I run a power line out to the rig and connect the charger to the 
battery and plug in.  The battery charger in the LQ will over charge the 
battery.  I DO NOT leave my rig plugged in to the main power line  all 
the time. I only plug up the day before to get the refrigerators cooled down

Here is the type of battery unit I use but lower cost ;)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/New-Pro-Mariner-Pro-Sport-6-On-Board-Battery-Charger_W0QQitemZ250268752962QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item250268752962&_trksid=p3286.m14.l1318

These are are all over the place but real cheap and I have read reports 
not too reliable
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/12-VOLT-AUTOMATIC-BATTERY-FLOAT-CHARGER-TRICKLE-CHARGE_W0QQitemZ370066964178QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item370066964178&_trksid=p3286.m14.l1318

Just have to look around on ebay for a small 1 to 3 amp high quality device

BATTERY
If the battery still will not keep charged or looses its charge in 
ridecamp, the battery may be shot. The standard class 27 deep cycle 
battery has a useful  life of about 2 years before it starts to go bad. 
The plates break down from all the vibrations of travel as well as the 
design. They are not your standard starter battery. If you get 3 years 
you are doing good. I have used the high dollar Optima gel grid mat 
battery. I got 5 years out of 3 of them. They are under warranty for 3 
years. They hold the charge under load longer and last for many charge 
cycles. Cost about $90  a piece.
When you use more then one battery as in 2 or 3 - it is normal to 
connect then in parallel - 12 volts with 2 to 3 times the amp ratings. 
However the bank of batteries must be the same type size and age. If one 
battery begins to age - it will drain down the other battery in the 
bank. One way to prevent this is to have a large high current switch to 
run one at time. Most are for a 2 battery system. You select nr 1 or nr 
2 or ALL. Use ALL to charge them, then when in camp use nr1 until dead 
the switch to nr2.

With my solar system and good batteries I can go for 3 to 4 days without 
running the generator as long as we have sun.

That should cover the 12 volt LQ system

Sure is off topic but - it helps us who DONT like to rough it anymore to 
endure :) I quit roughing it back in 76 when I bought my first 
motorhome. A homemade conversion of a 1963 IH S1900 chassis with a 16 
travel trailer attached to the frame behind the cab.

--
Roger R

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