Electrical Issue

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northern_matt

New member
Joined
Jul 7, 2015
Posts
1
Hi,
I am new to the pop up camper world, so I purchased a used 2004 Coleman Tacoma. It was in great condition except I noticed an issue with the interior lights the first time I used them. It had a old, non deep cycle battery, with a auto resetting inline circuit breaker spliced into the neg (black) wire disconnected. I connected this to the battery and the lights turned on but were dim and soon faded after 5 mins use.

I realized this is not the correct type of battery and would also most likely be dead, so I replaced it with a brand new deep cycle RV/Marine battery.

I plugged the trailer into my house on 120V line, the outlets all function, as does the refrigerator and pump, but the interior over head lights and only light exterior do not work unless I have the battery connected.

My thought is that the converter isn't working properly or at all? Or does the battery always have to be connected to have interior light function, will this drain my battery?

Thanks,
Matt
 
Hi Matt, welcome to The RV Forum!

What is the make and model of your converter?  It's a little confusing that some 12 volt items work (water pump) while the others don't.  2004 is a little late for this, but some converters had an internal relay that switched some loads directly to the converter when you were connected to power and switched them to the battery when you weren't.

If you have a relay style converter the internal relay could be dirty, blocking the flow of electricity into the switched circuits when you're connected to power.

Newer converters don't have the relay - they leave everything connected to the battery all the time and just supply enough power to keep the battery charged when you're connected to shore power.
 
A lot of popups do not even HAVE converters.. IF it does odds are it is part of the power distribution panel.

In this type of set up both circuit breakers and Fuses hide behind the same door which may say PARALLEX or WFCO on it. (Among other names)  make and model of box will help us to advise.

The best converters are Progressive Dynamics with charge wizard and even on that trailer this is what I would advise for a replacement/upgread

IF you do not currently have a converter then a 9245 would be a first class choice.
If you DO have an existing converter but not working.. First check the converter fuses (may or may not be the two end fuses on the main board) Then consider a 4600 series as a replacement.

Battery: You do not have a Deep Cycle/Marine/RV.. You ahve a MARINE/deep cycle rv.. I realize this looks like the same thing but note the case.. That is a starting battery just like the one you took out with only lip service paid to the deep cycle... Next time look for a Trolling/Deep Cycle battery  or a 12 volt Golf Car battery.. Both are becomming more popular and both are DEEP CYCLE batteries.... This is one of two reasons why many RV's have GC-2 (six volt) Golf Car battery pairs

DEEP CYCLE
Low Cost (Due to the great number they make every year for the golf cars at golf courses which buy 'em by the pallet load)
And way easier to wrangle (Lift and install) than a 4D (What two GC-2 in series are equal to).
 
Matt says his pump works without the battery and the pump is 12v, so presumably he has some sort of converter. Likely built into or adjacent to the 120v power panel.

Matt - is there a brand name & model number on the panel that has the 120v breaker(s) or 12v fuses? That would help diagnosis.
 
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