Hi all,
The camper we bought few weeks back is getting ready for its maiden voyage this weekend! PO never replaced the battery in 6 years he owned it - he did tell me that. I took out the battery to Advanced Auto and had them charge overnight and nothing - it is dead and cannot be revived . I knew that, but took a chance, anyway. I got myself a new battery last night and haven't put that on yet. Need your expert advice and suggestions on dos and don'ts on a couple of things before I put it on:
* Should I just hook it up the way it was before? It had two black wires connected to the positive end and two white wires connected to the negative end. That's it. Not sure about grounding - do I need anything else?
* After hooking up the battery, how do I know it is working correctly? Should the inside lights will lit when I turn on the light switches?
* Lastly, I know (PO told me) the fridge is 3-way. So, it should work on a 12-v battery. What do I need to do to put the fridge to run on battery (to check and also keep our food cold when we drive) to campsite (about 2 hrs drive). I know that the fridge should also run on propane, but I also do not know how.
* This is the battery I got, hope this will work? AutoCraft Marine Battery, Group Size 24M, 800 CCA.
I know when I hooked up my camper to electricity at home, the lights, AC, and the fridge worked. I know that the AC would not run on battery, but everything else should, right?
I do not want to 'mess' things up by incorrectly hooking up the battery just before our first trip. But I know that the battery is important for the breakaway switch. I think I can separate out the the breakaway switch and just connect that and leave the other connections off (our campsite - as I was told - has full hook ups), for now. Since the previous battery was complete dead - probably has been for a couple of years, I wouldn't know if the PO had it hooked up correctly or not. (he never cared for the battery and probably didn't know that without a working battery the breakaway switch wouldn't work either)!
So, any and all suggestions and help would be immensely appreciated and million thanks to you all, in advance!
By the way, my camper is 2002 Coleman Cheyenne.
MC
The camper we bought few weeks back is getting ready for its maiden voyage this weekend! PO never replaced the battery in 6 years he owned it - he did tell me that. I took out the battery to Advanced Auto and had them charge overnight and nothing - it is dead and cannot be revived . I knew that, but took a chance, anyway. I got myself a new battery last night and haven't put that on yet. Need your expert advice and suggestions on dos and don'ts on a couple of things before I put it on:
* Should I just hook it up the way it was before? It had two black wires connected to the positive end and two white wires connected to the negative end. That's it. Not sure about grounding - do I need anything else?
* After hooking up the battery, how do I know it is working correctly? Should the inside lights will lit when I turn on the light switches?
* Lastly, I know (PO told me) the fridge is 3-way. So, it should work on a 12-v battery. What do I need to do to put the fridge to run on battery (to check and also keep our food cold when we drive) to campsite (about 2 hrs drive). I know that the fridge should also run on propane, but I also do not know how.
* This is the battery I got, hope this will work? AutoCraft Marine Battery, Group Size 24M, 800 CCA.
I know when I hooked up my camper to electricity at home, the lights, AC, and the fridge worked. I know that the AC would not run on battery, but everything else should, right?
I do not want to 'mess' things up by incorrectly hooking up the battery just before our first trip. But I know that the battery is important for the breakaway switch. I think I can separate out the the breakaway switch and just connect that and leave the other connections off (our campsite - as I was told - has full hook ups), for now. Since the previous battery was complete dead - probably has been for a couple of years, I wouldn't know if the PO had it hooked up correctly or not. (he never cared for the battery and probably didn't know that without a working battery the breakaway switch wouldn't work either)!
So, any and all suggestions and help would be immensely appreciated and million thanks to you all, in advance!
By the way, my camper is 2002 Coleman Cheyenne.
MC