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Hi Roger,

Back in 1997 when I put my first solar panel on a horse trailer the 
solar industry was a "cottage industry" with a bunch of guys in a garage 
make the electronics to control the panel charge of the battery and 
powering the DC electronics. Some of them were good - some didn't know 
their back end from a hole in the ground. The controller I had in my 
trailer had a bad diode. It drained the batter to 11 volts and kept it 
there. When I called outfit that made the controller I got the 
"president" on the line and he got pretty huffy when I laid out the fact 
my volt meter told me.

The solar industry is a little better today but I'm still not certain 
about it's quality control. The first place I would look is the 
controller in a solar set up. You can buy a inexpensive digital volt 
meter that plugs into the DC outlet in an LQ trailer that will tell you 
the DC voltage on the line. With a solar panel when the sun is out you 
should be reading 13 plus volts ( it will shunt at 14.2 volts to protect 
the battery). When the sun goes down a fully charged batter should read 
about 2.1 volts per cell or 12.3 to 12.6 volts for a 12 volt battery. It 
will drop some as you use electrons from the battery without replacing 
them when the sun is down.

If it reads 10 something you have a dead (or most likely a shorted ) 
cell. If you have two batteries in parallel (to increase the current 
available) a dead cell in one will pull the other one down eventually 
killing it.

The fun of trouble shooting a LQ electrical system.

Truman

Roger Rittenhouse wrote:
> 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.


--

“He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a 
monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also 
into you.” Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil


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