Camper is completely dead... what did i do???

[braydenspoppa]

Hi everyone... I went on a weekend excursion about 2 months ago and accidentally left the battery on.  When I went to hitch up there was absolutely no power.  No problem.. the battery just needs to charge.  So I hitched up and left the truck running for about 20 minutes then I headed down the road.  20 minutes later to my destination and there is still absolutely no power.  The indicator inside the camper didn't even show it as being charged.  Is there a main breaker that could have tripped somewhere and I just don't know?  I checked all the breakers in the converter and they were all fine.

Thanks,
Andre

 

[SCR]

40 minutes of charging with the TV will not restore a battery when completely dead. In time the converter will charge the battery while plugged to 110v power. It will take 12 to 15 hours, perhaps longer, to completely recharge. I strongly suggest that you check the water level in the battery before and after a long charge cycle if it is not a maintenance free battery.

Do you have 12v power to lights when plugged in to 110v power?

 

[braydenspoppa]

i don't know.. i havent plugged it in.  Assuming I do.. this will charge the battery, correct?

I guess i thought that when it was plugged into a 12 volt source that the indicator light would at least come on.

Am I mistaken??

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Give us some clues - what year/make/model of camper is it?  Odds are your RV has a charging system built in, but some types may not. For example, some pop-ups and truck campers do not have their own charging system.

Don't know about your indicator light - depends on how it is wired and what it is supposed to indicate. It may come on only when your converter/charger is active (assuming you have one).

Plug it in and let us know what happens.

 

[braydenspoppa]

Hi Gary..
It's a 2008 Keystone Cougar 281BHS

I thought there would be a charging system... but maybe I'm wrong.  There is a converter.. It's above the fridge..... but again.. no indicator lights.

Thanks

by the way.. how do you like your Acadia?

 

[John From Detroit]

As others have said 40 miniutes on tow not going to do much.

Plug it in , in a day you should see some indication

If you don;'t then go looking for fuses and/or circuit breakers

Do a fuse search anyway.... You may have tripped a breaker or blown a fuse, a fully discharged battery can do that.

 

[carson]

Here is my contribution:

    If you left the battery on for 2 months, possible even have left a light or two on, then you can be assured that the battery will have completely discharged and sulfated. That's the end of the battery.

    I left 2 class 27 batteries on and lights for about 2 months (hospital stay) and there was no way to re-charge them. They wouldn't even show on the ammeter while attempting to charge.

  carson FL

 

[Lowell]

I also suspect that the battery is done.  I left a light on in our TT for a couple of weeks and the battery went dead.  I was able to get it to charge up again but it didn't hold a charge very long.  I had to replace the battery, even though it was only a few months old.

 

[SCR]

Ahh the link didn't work, deleted message contents

 

[Tom]

... the link didn't work, deleted message contents

What link were you trying to post? Here's how to post a link here in the forum.

 

[scottydl]

I also suspect that the battery is done.  I left a light on in our TT for a couple of weeks and the battery went dead.  I was able to get it to charge up again but it didn't hold a charge very long.  I had to replace the battery, even though it was only a few months old.

Similar situation here with my motorhome's chassis battery, which powers the propane detector and a few other RV features (meaning there is ALWAYS a drain on the battery, even when parked, unless it is disconnected or being charged).  I didn't realize this when first buying my coach, and killed several batteries.  Luckily they had full warranties and the swap-outs didn't cost me a dime, but it took me awhile to figure out.  Now I leave the battery connected to a trickle charger when camping, or disconnect it (with a spin-type terminal switch) anytime I'm parked.

 

[SCR]

What link were you trying to post? Here's how to post a link here in the forum.

Hi Tom

I got the link to properly post. However, the link was to a PDF file that did not load properly in my browser so I deleted the content of my message so as to not cause concern over the link. It seems that the specific PDF file could only be called from the page I found it on and not directly. It was a basic sort of RV Batteries 101 type information that I thought may be helpful to the OP.

Is it possible for me to delete my post completely in cases as this?

Some forums you can others you can't.

Stan

 

[Chet18013]

Allowing a battery to go totally dead will kill the battery about 75% of the time. Occasionally you will be lucky and it will come back. If you try to charge it with one of the newer style chargers that has a solid state controls, it wont charge it unless there is a little charge already present. I have successfully recovered a battery using a very old charger to force start a charge. Once the old charger gets a bit of a charge started then the newer electronically controlled chargers can sense the polarity of a correct connection and will finish the charge--that is if it will recover.

Chet

 

[Tom]

Is it possible for me to delete my post completely in cases as this?

Afraid not. We're set up so only staff can delete a post.