Electrical question 2000 coleman cheyenne popup

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pcash007

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Jan 31, 2019
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First post here...bought a used popup last summer.

part ignorance and part laziness, I did not take care of the batteries for the winter.  Connected the onshore power to charge the batteries to check their health. When the offshore power is connected all the lights turn on around the RV , the lights on the side, back , the turn indicator lights .... The popup is still down and shut. This does not seem like normal behavior and do not remember seeing this last summer when connected to offshore power.

Any ideas where to start trouble shooting?
thank you.

Edit:
Just noticed the battery shows 5.0V, when battery is disconnected, the leads that did connect to battery show 0V. If everything works well shouldn't it read 14V when connected to onshore power?
With that in light...any ideas where to start troubleshooting.

Also, to test the batteries, can I buy a trickle charger, charge it overnight and check voltage and do specific gravity test OR do I need a heavy duty charger to charge them up before I do these tests?

Thanks again.
 
Odds are that your batteries are toast. Typically, if you have a converter/charger, when connected to shore power, the converter converts some of the ac electricity to dc to charge the batteries and produces enough dc to operate your dc lights. When not connected to a shore line, bad batteries won't produce enough dc current to operate your lights. Easiest way to be sure your batteries are bad is to take them to an auto parts store for free testing (Auto Zone, Advance Auto, etc.).

I don't know your popup, but it probably has one or more vampire drains on the batteries even when the RV is stored with the batteries connected.

There are several options for protecting your batteries when you store your RV. What I do is disconnect the negative post on each battery and hook them up to a 4 stage trickle charger. That way, I don't have to remove the batteries to store in the basement or garage and they are fully charged when I take the RV out of storage.
 
X's 2 on the toasted battery

But all the lights coming on is a bigger problem. As best to my knowledge the shore power and the turn signal wire should not cross paths.
 
Welcome to the Forum!

You can get a charger of any size to try to charge the battery - including a trickle charger.  They all do the same thing (basically) just some are faster than others.

I agree the battery is likely toast.  Make sure your replacement is a TRUE deep cycle, not a starting battery or marine battery.

One way the running lights can be turned on is if the proper contacts in the hitch wiring are shorted.  Contacts on a 6 or 7 pin connector include the battery (for charging from the tow vehicle while traveling) and the running lights, brakes, and turn signals.  Is the wiring harness high and dry?

You are correct that when a charger is working and shore power is present, it sends 13.5V or more to the battery.  Reading battery voltage in this situation will read the higher voltage.  Without shore power, the battery will read actual voltage under whatever load may be applied.
You are correct.

pcash007 said:
Just noticed the battery shows 5.0V, when battery is disconnected, the leads that did connect to battery show 0V. If everything works well shouldn't it read 14V when connected to onshore power?
With that in light...any ideas where to start troubleshooting.
Click to expand...

If the voltage from the converter at the battery is low, as you said, I am confused.  When you plugged the camper, you had 12V power from somewhere., and not from the battery.  I would start with rechecking the voltage at the battery with everything connected.
 
Assuming all normal lamps not LED's (LED would actually be diagnostic here)

Possibilities are two or more fold

Most PUP's have a flat 4 light connector as I recall but some have 7 pin round connectors same as larger trailers (I had a box of adapters for anything back in my TT days).

On the 7 poin round there are two side by side wires. One is marker/tail lights. the other is Battery.
They are opposite the keyway  They might be shorted

The other is a bad ground and everythign is feeding "Back" though the lights.  But I seriously doubt that one for marker/turn lights.

Some folks like to stick a fuse in the 7-pin to turn on all the lights (marker/tail/clerarance) I can see them adding a switch to do the job and save loosing the fuse.
 
Thank you guys for your answers and useful insights.....I don't necessarily like the answers but they are likely correct.

I'll start trouble shooting this weekend and will post more details.

One question, Anybody know, if these popups have a trip switch(automatic or manual) something that should shut off all the lights/electricity around when popup is closed? If there such a thing I'm wondering if that is the issue i.e. switch gone bad?


Thanks again.
 
pcash007 said:
One question, Anybody know, if these popups have a trip switch(automatic or manual) something that should shut off all the lights/electricity around when popup is closed? If there such a thing I'm wondering if that is the issue i.e. switch gone bad?
Click to expand...

If you can't find a manual switch, it probably doesn't have one. I suspect that most popups don't have one. However, you can purchase a simple battery cutoff switch. There are a number of different style of simple battery disconnect switches. Here's an example of a blade cutoff switch: https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Master-Disconnect-Switch-Doctor/dp/B078973R19/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1549052765&sr=8-3&keywords=battery+disconnect+switch+top+post
 
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