Why Won't My Flagstaff Camping Trailer Work On Batteries?

by Gregg
(Duluth, MN)

I have a 2003 flagstaff tent camper and the battery will not power the camper when the 110 volt is unplugged all power go out. The battery is fully charged and charges when the camper is plugged in. Is the inverter bad or is there a bad connection? Can you help?

Thanks

Gregg

ANSWER: Greetings Gregg thanks for submitting your question on our Ask An RV Question Page.

When you unplug your trailer from 120 volt electricity, your batteries will only operate the water pump, 12 volt lights, etc. The batteries will not provide 120 volt electricity unless your trailer is equipped with a 12 Volt Inverter. that converts 12 volt DC power to 120 Volt AC power. Traditionally inverters do not come as standard equipment on a tent trailer. So you need to confirm that your trailer is equipped with one.

If you are not getting any 12 volt power when not plugged into electric, then you have a problem with either the batteries or wiring. I would suggest looking for loose wiring going to and leaving the batteries. I would look for any blown fuses. I would also have the batteries checked even though you say they are getting a charge; you need to confirm that they are accepting and holding the charge.

You may end up having to take it in and have it looked at by a qualified RV Technician.

Hopefully the above information has been helpful to you.

Do you have any suggestions or comments on this topic? You can add them to this page by clicking on the "Click Here To Post Comments" link located near the bottom of this page.

Happy RVing

RVing Al

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starstarstarstarstar 		And our solution...
by: Kathy

After checking fuses, loose wires, ground wires, we found a teeny tiny reset switch where the battery wires enter the frame of our toy hauler. There is a silver electrical box, and nope, it was not inside on the inside of that box, it was underneath a conglomeration of 4 wires with yellow caps, that are NEXT to the electrical box. There is a screw that holds that conglomeration onto the frame and right above that screw is a teeny, tiny black reset button.

Ours was covered in dirt and missed by my husband the first 20 times he was under the trailer! He pushed this teeny tiny button and now EVERYTHING works on our brand new-fully charged batteries! It was NOT the converter! The dealer told us that if we did not see a big red power reset button inside our front door, then we didn't have a power reset switch, they were WRONG! We do have one, it's just teeny tiny and not convenient to get to!I'm writing this for anyone else who is having an issue with a brand new unit and no power on batteries alone, no blown fuses.
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starstarstarstarstar 		Solution to the "no 12V" problem
by: Anonymous

I had the same problem on my Viking trailer, and spent many hours trying to trace the wiring from the battery to the controller inside.

After all that fruitless effort, I found the problem. There is a fuse in a little housing near the front of the trailer. The housing was the size of the 4-pin flat trailer connector, normally used for utility trailers, etc. I assumed that's what it is, but in desperation pulled off the cover, and there was a 20 amp fuse, blown. Replacing the fuse solved the problem.

Maybe some of the problems others are having is the same. I strongly suggest checking all the wiring for anything that could be a fuse.
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starstarstarstarstar 		Camper Battery Power
by: HGRR

My camper used to lose 12 DC volt power when unplugged from the 110 volt AC supply. The problem turned out to be trash (dust, spider web?)in the contacts of the relay in the power supply/charger that switches from power supply to battery.

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