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campingtrio View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: battery full but no power?
    Posted: 28 Mar 2021 at 5:18pm
Okay, sounds like good info.   There goes another weekend... :(  

Newb question though, what is the problem with the battery being "drained below acceptable levels" after 10-14 days?  We left our regular car battery without turning it over for about 6 weeks during COVID, and yeah, it was dead when we came out to use it, but a simple jumpstart seemed to get us back in shape and the battery seems fine now.  And we don't do any maintenance of our car battery and have had it for probably 4-5 years.   So wondering why the trailer car battery wouldn't just be fine again once we connect to shore power to charge it up?  (Someone is probably shaking their head out there with how clueless we are...remember, newbs).  

On another note, it was working fine on solar for a while today, and then we unplugged the solar and again it was working fine for a good while on battery (couple hours at least), and then we replugged the solar in to recharge it once it died...and then it started getting weird...the lights started rhythmically blinking while on battery.  So now I don't know if this thing is possessed or is that is what batteries do when they get close to end of life...


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jato View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Mar 2021 at 2:36pm
How old is your battery and if you have had it awhile, how have you been maintaining it?  As offgrid wisely stated above you need a multimeter.  Then you can check the voltage of your battery.  Firstly make certain that your electrolyte levels are full or nearly full, if one of those six cells is empty, your battery is likely toast.  Fill any low cells to full using distilled water.  Next check battery voltage using your multimeter - should read at least 12.2volts at the low end.  If it reads that low you need to put it on a trickle charger (2 amp is great) for at least 24 hours.  Read it again at that point, let it set for a few hours and then read again.   Those two readings should be nearly identical if the battery is good.  Also make sure the connections at the battery are tight using a wrench, getting it finger tight doesn't cut it here.

I just re-read your original post and am thinking out loud, how long did the battery sit being connected to the pod?  There are numerous phantom draws that will deplete the battery down below acceptable levels after 10-14 days.  If you don't plan on using it within a week either disconnect the ground (-) cable or hook up a disconnect switch so you can more easily turn off battery power when not using your r-pod.
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campingtrio View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Mar 2021 at 2:10pm
Well we plugged in shore power again and everything started working, so I'm guessing it's not a fuse.  And then we unplugged that and re-plugged in the solar, and everything was working again that way.  Unplugged the solar and within a minute or two everything stopped working, so you'd guess it's that the battery isn't holding a charge.  But what's weird is the control panel shows the battery now full.  
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offgrid View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Mar 2021 at 1:43pm
Sounds like a tripped bpreaker or blown fuse to me. Its possible that the solar controller got connected in reverse polarity and caused that. Check all the fuses carefully, starting with the two 40A ones. Also, if you don't already have one get a multimeter, they are invaluable in troubleshooting. You can use it to confirm where between the battery and the trailer loads you're losing voltage.
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campingtrio View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Mar 2021 at 1:24pm
Still kind of new to this whole thing so this might be a really dumb question (and I hope one with an exceptionally easy answer!)

Control panel shows battery as 3/4 full, but none of the normal basic onboard functions are working.  (lights, radio, etc.).  Don't see any fuses/circuit breakers blown or popped.  It was sitting for a couple months, but we did plug it in to shore power and turn everything on last weekend, and then unplugged shore power, and it seemed to be working fine on the battery.  

Yesterday, we tried plugging in a solar panel to the side solar panel for the first time, wondering if that might have done something unexpected?

Or is there an idiot switch somewhere we've forgotten to flip somewhere?  Ouch
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