Quote:
Originally Posted by thataway4
A couple of comments: A battery reading 12.1 volt is 60% discharged. I never take a Flooded Lead Acid (FLA) battery (resting state, no charge or discharge for at least 2 hours) to less than 12.20 volts, or 50% discharge. When you are less than 11 volts, the battery for all purposes is fully discharged (capacity wise). Very many times at that level, and the battery is damaged. I like to have a battery monitor, connected directly to the battery terminals, and also one which gives rate of discharge/charge, as well as amps in and out. Something like the Victron Smart shunt, can be read on a smart phone, or the Victon 712, on a gauge and smart phone. (I have also had good luck with the Chinese knock off of the Victron 702, for a fraction of the price.)
With a 21' travel trailer, it will probably be fairly well heated with one of the 1200 watt ceramic cube heater. We have even used these in a 42' RV when heating the "bedroom" area. With our 25' Via, that suffices in temps down close to 30*--thus you are not using the propane up, or consuming the battery as much.
Now you have to find out why the 40 amp fuse is blown. Usually this is a direct short--and some critter chewing a wire can cause that. Also even in a "like new" unit there still can be corrosion. So check all of the main cables, if any corrosion, clean with a brass or stainless steel wire brush and coat with a small amount of dielectric grease when hooking back up.
The usual digital volt meter will read up to 10 amps, with the "10 amp input". You can buy nice clamp on meters which will also. measure AC current, as well as DC current up to 400+ amps. I find this it handy in diagnosing problems in RV's to be able to measure current flow out of chargers and alternators.
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Bob, thanks for the tips, especially for the electric heater. My wife added that, and an electric blanket, to our notes we were making that weekend.
I've checked for corrosion and so far so good but again, good tips to have handy for the future; I'm pointing more at that dealer-installed surge protector as the reason for the 40a fuses getting blown but won't rule out anything else.
I am going to pull the battery this weekend and just get it tested separately to help me have a good baseline of its health because ultimately, I'll be adding/swapping batteries as we upgrade and trick our our TT with the goal of making it being more boondockable.
V/R
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