Electrical problem troubleshooting
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Forum Name: Podmods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks
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URL: http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3913
Printed Date: 05 May 2024 at 5:43am
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Topic: Electrical problem troubleshooting
Posted By: NorthStarPodders
Subject: Electrical problem troubleshooting
Date Posted: 30 Aug 2013 at 2:04pm
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I'm having problems with my electrical system, specifically the battery, and I'm hoping I can get some ideas about what to try next for sorting them out.
When I charge my battery and hook it back up to my Rpod, I'm getting little or no power flowing into my trailer. When I press the battery indicator level, I get a 3/4ths reading, but the light itself is very faint. The lights don't turn on, and I get intermittent beeping from the CO2 sensor, which I understand is normal. I've tried different things to sort out the problem. Got a new battery. Got a new battery charger. I'm not sure what to try next. Could this be a fuse issue? I ran into this on our last trip, and having the towing vehicle hooked up to the trailer seemed to somehow rectify the situation, and we had no other issues on the short weekend trip. But I'm getting ready for longer one and hate to take off again with this unresolved issue. I welcome any of your suggestions. Many thanks! ------------- 2009 173 |
Replies:
Posted By: CharlieM
Date Posted: 30 Aug 2013 at 2:18pm
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You should have a voltmeter capable of measuring 12 VDC. If you don't have one, get one. They are cheap at auto stores, etc. After you charge the battery and reconnect it to the Pod, put the voltmeter probes directly on the battery posts, not the connectors. The charged battery should read about 12.5 volts. Turn on trailer inside lights and read battery again. If it drops below 12 volts and the lights do not light, either the battery or charger are bad. If the battery stays around 12.5, but the lights still don't work, you have a bad connection in the battery circuit. Check the battery connections and the screw terminal connections on the back of the power panel. If hooking up the TV and running it allow all lights to operate I'd suspect the battery/charger/connection area. Let us know how it goes, ------------- Charlie Northern Colorado OLD: 2013 RP-172, 2010 Honda Pilot 3.5L 4WD PRESENT: 2014 Camplite 21RBS, 2013 Supercharged Tacoma 4L V6 4WD |
Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 30 Aug 2013 at 3:01pm
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You are using a stand alone charger to charge the battery? What is the voltage of the battery after charging? If, after sitting for a couple hours not hooked up to anything, you have 12.6v or above, your battery is probably OK. If not, it may be the problem. If you have 12v power at all, it's not a fuse issue persay. That is easy enough to check, are any fuses blown? How did the camper act when plugged in at the campground? Everything worked? If you have changed the battery, and have faith in the charger, my guess would be a ground issue. ------------- |
Posted By: Seanl
Date Posted: 30 Aug 2013 at 8:41pm
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I am with Furpod my first thought was a bad ground. I have had that with cars where the battery was charged but because of a bad ground strap I would not get a full 12 volts. Easy enough to check. Measure the voltage across the + and - terminals on the battery and then between the + and a ground point on the trailer. Should be very close to the same reading. ------------- Sean, 2011 Rpod RP-173,2009 Jeep Liberty Rocky Mountain Edition 
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Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 30 Aug 2013 at 8:52pm
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Have you tried charging the battery using the pod itself? A note about the detectors - the two on the ceiling run on 9 volt batteries. One is a standard smoke detector and the other is a standard carbon monoxide (CO) detector. If either of them starts chirping just replace the 9 volt. Chirping is the low-battery warning. There is a 3rd detector near the floor, usually near the converter which is a LPG detector. It only runs from the 12 volt supply either from the converter or the battery on the tongue. It has a low-battery warning too and you won't miss it - low battery or propane warning it will scream you out of the camper. ------------- Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723 - Pod instruction manual 
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Posted By: NorthStarPodders
Date Posted: 01 Sep 2013 at 10:37am
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Thanks so much for all of your suggestions. In exploring a possible grounding issue, I found that the black negative battery cable was totally hanging outside of the plastic sleeve that keeps the two battery cables together. (In exploring those connections, I saw that the negative cable is grounded to the tongue, so it was good find and check that.)
I also found that the fuse/converter panel door was hanging open. After both of those easy fixes the battery power is strong again. (I also noticed that the indicator light on the LP detector turns from orangish to green when everything's working well with the power supply. Yay!) ------------- 2009 173 |
Posted By: TIDALWAVE
Date Posted: 01 Sep 2013 at 12:12pm
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I installed a 12VDC socket inside my POD, and bought a digital 12VDC meter. If I am dry camping I can easily insert the meter and read the battery voltage. I have learned not to let the voltage drop too far (battery capacity less than 50%). Time to charge the dual batteries. The meter can also tell you if the voltage coming into the POD from the tow vehicle is adequate by disconnecting a battery post and checking the running TOW feed. My dual battery setup also has a 12VDC socket so I can directly read the voltage right at the battery. Any voltage loss can then be pin-pointed quite readily...coming from the TV, at the converter/circuit panel, or at the batteries. The meter cost less than $15 and the sockets were only a couple of bucks each. ------------- TIDALWAVE |
Posted By: CharlieM
Date Posted: 01 Sep 2013 at 12:39pm
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I did the same thing. 12V sockets inside for running/charging computers, phones. players, etc. directly from 12V. I keep a digital battery monitor plugged in to monitor the battery. The TV charging can be checked without disconnecting the battery by watching the voltage when shorepower is absent. With the TV running the battery should be about 13.5V. With the TV stopped the voltage will drop to around 12.5V. If the TV does not bump up the voltage above 12.5V you have a problem.
------------- Charlie Northern Colorado OLD: 2013 RP-172, 2010 Honda Pilot 3.5L 4WD PRESENT: 2014 Camplite 21RBS, 2013 Supercharged Tacoma 4L V6 4WD |
Posted By: CaperPodder
Date Posted: 03 Sep 2013 at 8:53am
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I had an issue this weekend while camping. I had the Pod plugged in at home before leaving and had a full battery reading on the inside monitor. I parked the Pod at our bus stop with only the fridge running on battery for 6 hours since we wanted to leave right away after work. When I got to the Pod afterwork, my battery was down to it's last light on the monitor. I changed the fridgerator to propane, hooked the Bargman to the TV and took off for our camping trip. After driving for 2.5 hours and getting to our campsite, the battery was drained, interior lights were very dim and the LPG monitor was chirping a low battery warning. This was a Provinvial Park campground with no services and I was not even able to open the slide out with the TV running. We slept with the slide in that night and headed to the next destination which would have full hookups. The next two days, with the Pod plugged in, everything worked fine and I left yesterday morning with a full battery reading. After getting home 5 hours later, the same thing happened. Battery was drained to the point that the LPG monitor was chirping.Anyone know what my issue could be? I'm thinking there might be a bad connection on the TV end since running the engine wouldn't even give me enough juice to run interior lights or slide out. All exterior lights and brakes on the pod worked though when connected to the TV. ------------- Don, Mimi, & Nola the Goldendoodle 2013 RPod 177 (CachePod) 2013 F-150 4x4 |
Posted By: Folornhope
Date Posted: 03 Sep 2013 at 9:19am
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As a side note...if memory serves there is a way to manually put the slide out. Don't remember the particulars at this time though. ------------- Eddy the Escape Pod...177 Ford F150 |
Posted By: CharlieM
Date Posted: 03 Sep 2013 at 9:23am
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First off, the fridge draws about 10 Amps from the battery. Running 6 hours on 12V used 60 A-H which just about does in a single 24 series battery. That's why the battery indicated almost depleted. The charge from the TV while driving is not much more than a maintenance charge. Probably in the 5-8 Amp range depending on the vehicle and wiring. For the 2.5 hour drive you would have had to charge at 24 Amps (60/2.5) just to replace the original battery charge. Not likely to happen, especially if you ran the fridge on 12V while driving. Best practice is to cool the fridge and fully charge the battery on shore power at home. Switch to propane for any stops and while driving. This should let you arrive at the campsite with a full battery. Then switch to shore power if you have it at the site. Beware of running the fridge on battery. Only for very short times and when you have a period of shore power available to recharge.
------------- Charlie Northern Colorado OLD: 2013 RP-172, 2010 Honda Pilot 3.5L 4WD PRESENT: 2014 Camplite 21RBS, 2013 Supercharged Tacoma 4L V6 4WD |
Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 03 Sep 2013 at 10:06am
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Charlie pretty much covered it.
I will point out one thing, I see you tow with an F150. Are you SURE your truck is set up to CHARGE while towing? I know for sure older Ford's need to have a charging relay and fuse installed before they would. In fact I JUST installed them in a '04 Expedition last week.
ALSO.. if in need of putting 12v into the pod in a hurry, like so you can get the slide out, turn your TV around and hook up with your jumper cables, start the TV and you will be moving a LOT of 12v into that battery. Way more than the little 10g wire in the harness can push. And yes, you should carry jumper cables.
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Posted By: CaperPodder
Date Posted: 03 Sep 2013 at 12:24pm
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Thanks for the info Charlie and furpod.
furpod, will simply checking my fuses let me know that I have the charging relay installed?
As for the jumper cables I had them with me, I just never even thought of doing that. It was late and dark and we simply were only there to sleep so i didn't mind not having the slide out that night. ------------- Don, Mimi, & Nola the Goldendoodle 2013 RPod 177 (CachePod) 2013 F-150 4x4 |
Posted By: hogone
Date Posted: 03 Sep 2013 at 12:51pm
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CaperPodder: I have a 2010 F150 and had to install the relay and fuse myself; found them in the glove box!!! (at least mine were). Charging system works great. ------------- Jon & Pam 2013 RP177 2010 F150 2017 HD Streetglide 2009 HD Lowrider CHEESEHEAD |
Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 03 Sep 2013 at 1:08pm
+1
If you are boondocking for more than a few days you can use this same method to partially recharge the battery every 2-3 days, just run the TV for 30-60 minutes. Overall very inefficient but for an occasional trip it may still be far cheaper than buying a solar system or generator. ------------- Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723 - Pod instruction manual
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Posted By: CaperPodder
Date Posted: 03 Sep 2013 at 1:56pm
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hogone, i'll look in the glove box tonight but I'm pretty sure when I took delivery, there were only screws to hold the license plate. I'll check under the hood to see if the relay and fuse are installed and if not, will get a service appointment to have them put in. I've also seen on a Ford forum that some mentionned that they found a pigtail for a harness along with the relay and fuse. Did you have the pigtail in that bag or was it already intalled. ------------- Don, Mimi, & Nola the Goldendoodle 2013 RPod 177 (CachePod) 2013 F-150 4x4 |
Posted By: hogone
Date Posted: 03 Sep 2013 at 2:15pm
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CaperPodder: The pigtail was there as well in the bag, but I had already bought one (harness) before I realized it. Granted the one I bought had plugs on both ends, so no hard wiring!! ------------- Jon & Pam 2013 RP177 2010 F150 2017 HD Streetglide 2009 HD Lowrider CHEESEHEAD |
Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 03 Sep 2013 at 3:50pm
maybe.. look in the owners manual, see what it says. Should be a diagram of the fuse box. I forget exactly what the realy and fuse circuit were called, but to me it was pretty obvious by the name it was battery feed to the trailer.. The realy will be a square box looking thing, about 1 1/4 inches on a side, 5-6 blades, the fuse was a square 30 amp. BTW, my friend who just bought the one owner, 80K mile '04 Expedition, her pigtail, fuse, relay, and instructions were still in the factory bag in the glove box. I bought mine 5-6 years ago, the bag was in with the jack handle and stuff. So look behind/under the back seat etc.. ------------- |
Posted By: CaperPodder
Date Posted: 04 Sep 2013 at 11:07am
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Thanks furpod. Got home, checked under the hood in the electrical distribution box and low and behold, I was missing the relay slot #9 and the 30 amp fuse in slot #21. Looked again in the glove compartment and found both in a plastic bag. Will install them when the weather clears. Since there is no pigtail, should I assume that it is already connected? ------------- Don, Mimi, & Nola the Goldendoodle 2013 RPod 177 (CachePod) 2013 F-150 4x4 |
Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 04 Sep 2013 at 2:16pm
If you have a brake controller installed, either the pigtail was used in that instal or a factory cable was used.. either way, that is what the pigtail is/was for..  ------------- |