Battery Charging Problems

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   2014's only got the solar connection late in the production run. Very good odds you don't have one. They are on the outside wall of the pod, and clearly marked.

Yes, if you can only run 12v stuff from battery, and it's not being charged.. so far, has always been 40A fuses.

ZAMP port looks like this:

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furpod Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group - pHp Joined: 25 Jul 2011 Location: Central KY Online Status: Offline Posts: 6128	Topic: Battery Charging Problems Posted: 22 Jul 2015 at 10:30pm
	2014's only got the solar connection late in the production run. Very good odds you don't have one. They are on the outside wall of the pod, and clearly marked. Yes, if you can only run 12v stuff from battery, and it's not being charged.. so far, has always been 40A fuses. ZAMP port looks like this:

MPRpod Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 11 Apr 2015 Location: Golden, CO Online Status: Offline Posts: 10	Posted: 22 Jul 2015 at 10:15pm
	Thank you all! Things appears to be operating normally now that I have two new 40a fuses in. I managed to run the battery down to 11.9v but last I checked, it was up to 13.3v and still charging. I'm hoping not to have damaged yet another new battery. OBTW, the 25a fuse in the slot for the furnace turned out to be 7.5a once I put my reading glasses on. Sorry for the unnecessary question. For future reference, would it be fair to say that an indication of a faulty converter (or blown fuse) would be an inability to operate any 12v systems with only shore power to the pod (battery disconnected)? While I'm at it, I was searching for the solar connection I've seen referred to in other posts. I suspect it did not come with our 2014 177, but I may not be looking in the right place. Is it typically hidden somewhere?

techntrek Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group - pHp Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Location: MD Online Status: Offline Posts: 9062	Posted: 22 Jul 2015 at 9:48pm
	Another great resource: http://www.solar-electric.com/deep-cycle-battery-faq.html
	Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual

furpod Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group - pHp Joined: 25 Jul 2011 Location: Central KY Online Status: Offline Posts: 6128	Posted: 22 Jul 2015 at 4:20pm
	On line, "The 12v side of life" is great resource. Starting to get just a bit dated, but tons of good info on it.

john in idaho Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 04 Nov 2014 Location: Eagle Idaho Online Status: Offline Posts: 613	Posted: 22 Jul 2015 at 3:28pm
	If you can find a copy there is a book - not very thick- called "12 Volt Bible for Boats". a very good source of practical electricity info for dummies. I learned a lot.

CharlieM Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 23 Nov 2012 Location: N. Colorado Online Status: Offline Posts: 1797	Posted: 20 Jul 2015 at 9:27pm
	That all makes more sense now. The 40Amp fuses are there to prevent damage if/when the battery is connected backwards. They blow if the battery is reversed even for a second. They protect the converter and any electronics or appliances connected to the 12 volt system. If they are blown nothing will run from the battery AND the battery will not be charged by the converter. They should be replaced with equivalent fuses available from auto supply stores. Littlefuse is just one brand of many available. Make sure the battery is connected properly before replacing the fuses. All fuses should be replaced with the suggested size, including the furnace fuse. Again, these are available at auto supply stores. The fuses are there to protect the wiring and prevent fire. A 25A fuse in a 7.5A slot is a really bad idea. BTW, a good battery will read something greater than 13V when being charged. The converter will try to charge at 14.4 if the battery is really discharged. When the battery approaches full charge the converter will drop to 13.6 to complete the charge, then drop to 13.2 to maintain the charge. A battery voltage of 12.6-12.7 indicates a fully charged good battery that is not being charged.
	Charlie Northern Colorado OLD: 2013 RP-172, 2010 Honda Pilot 3.5L 4WD PRESENT: 2014 Camplite 21RBS, 2013 Supercharged Tacoma 4L V6 4WD

MPRpod Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 11 Apr 2015 Location: Golden, CO Online Status: Offline Posts: 10	Posted: 20 Jul 2015 at 7:54pm
	Thank you for the reply. To be more specific, the crimp is plastic and was cracked. I just taped around it to prevent any bare wire from being exposed. I mistakenly said I had zero volts, but I now recall I was using a battery level indicator and it was showing 0% charge. I will try your suggestion, however, to see if the connection is causing the sizzle. Back to the original charging problem, I think I may have figured it out with the help of this link: http://www.everything-about-rving.com/my-rvs-power-converter-is-not-charging-the-rv-house-batteries.html I discovered a number of interesting things. First, it appears the two 40a reverse polarity fuses are blown. Also, I found a 25a fuse in the slot labeled for the furnace that specified 7.5a. I'd appreciate help with the following: -Would the blown 40a fuses prevent the converter from charging the battery? (I'm guessing yes). -The label on the converter panel says "Replace fuse only with same Amperage Littelfuse Type 257". In looking for spares the other day, I couldn't find any 40a blade fuses to save my life. Do I really need to find this specific fuse that I guess is even harder to find or can I just continue looking for any 40a blade fuse? -Should I replace the 25a fuse in the furnace slot with the specified 7.5a fuse or is there a good reason for a 25a? Many thanks to anyone who can help!

CharlieM Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 23 Nov 2012 Location: N. Colorado Online Status: Offline Posts: 1797	Posted: 20 Jul 2015 at 4:28pm
	From your last comment it sounds like you may have a bad crimp connector. When you measured zero volts on the old battery, where were your voltmeter probes connected? Were they directly on the physical battery terminals themselves, or were they somewhere else on the wires or in the camper? By on the battery terminals I mean physically on the metal battery terminals, not the crimp connectors or the wires connected to them. It's almost impossible to have a true zero volt reading on a battery unless it's been sitting fully discharged for months. Try this: Clip the negative voltmeter lead to some clean metal point on the trailer frame or hitch. On the positive battery terminal hold the positive voltmeter lead probe directly on the metal of the crimp connector, not the battery terminal, and wiggle the positive battery lead. If the crimp connection is bad the voltmeter reading will vary around.
	Charlie Northern Colorado OLD: 2013 RP-172, 2010 Honda Pilot 3.5L 4WD PRESENT: 2014 Camplite 21RBS, 2013 Supercharged Tacoma 4L V6 4WD

MPRpod Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 11 Apr 2015 Location: Golden, CO Online Status: Offline Posts: 10	Posted: 20 Jul 2015 at 3:01pm
	I'm a newbie who can barely spell volts or amps and need help from the experts please. I recently replaced a new Exide battery with another new Exide battery because I thought the first was defective. Now, I'm beginning to think I've got something wrong with my Pod or the converter. After the first battery was installed for two weeks with shore power connected from a home outlet, the battery completely depleted to a zero volt reading on my voltmeter (not sure zero volts is possible, but it was sure dead). I exchanged the battery for a new one and installed it 3 weeks ago. The Pod has remained connected to shore power and the battery's been consistently reading 12.6 volts until today. Today's reading was 12.0 volts - so I removed the battery and have it charging on a tender before its damaged. None of the breakers are tripped and all AC and DC powered circuits appear to operate normally. Any ideas? Any way to check operation of the converter? If it's a faulty converter, how difficult would it be for me to replace? One oddball thing but may be unrelated: I taped up a broken plastic crimp on my positive battery lead the other day and noticed an sporadic electrical "sizzle" sound from the positive terminal when I reconnected the negative. The sound only happens when the positive lead is wiggled slightly. No sparks, clean terminals and leads, but not sure what this means. It hadn't made this sound prior to wrapping the crimp in electrical tape. Got the nephews here for a short trip in 2 days and hoping not to cancel on 'em...