Drove Home 8 hours and battery is only showing half charge

[mrpettit]

I have a 2012 Flying Cloud. I'm new to all of this.

A couple of questions on the battery. I just had it hooked up over the Thanksgiving weekend. I then drove home 8 hours. It is 40 degrees. Everything was off last night in the store mode. I checked the battery today on the status monitor and it was showing half a charge.

Is this just due to the colder weather? Shouldn't the batteries be virtually 100% charged?

Going the other direction I took the A/S from storage and drove it 8 hours and thought it would get a charge from my F150 yet when I checked the status it just showed 1/2 to 3/4 charge. Now perhaps the status indicator never shows higher than this, but I'm wondering if something isn't working properly.

I figured my battery would get more of a charge from my F150 hookup and also wouldn't drain anything sitting over night in the store mode.

[Bill M.]

You really do not get much of a charge while pulling the trailer. Explanations are that the wires between the truck and the trailer are too long and too small to maintain enough voltage differential to charge. And that the voltage regulator in the truck sees the charged starting battery in the truck so it tapers down to keep from overcharging that. Bottom line is I have never been able to do more than about a 1/2 or 3/4 charge while driving no matter how far.

As far as loosing charge while stored. I expect there is a small draw from some type of gas detector. It is not uncommon to have the water pump cycle if it is on. There are lights in the storage compartments that can be on. Did you use the jack in the cold to raise and lower it? Was the fridge on? Water heater? Little indicator lights on the dash?

On my older trailer the status monitor seems to show a little low. The only way I can keep it green is if I am actually hooked to power. I bought a little digital voltmeter that plugs into a 12 volt socket to keep plugged in the the bathroom to check the battery status. I would try one of those and check the actual battery voltage.

Is it a new battery/batteries or the one/ones that came from the factory in the trailer. If they have not been replaced the original batteries would be beyond where I would expect them to be good by now.

[wahoonc]

For some reason 4 amps sticks in my mind as the amount of charge going through to the trailer. Also with colder temps the usable capacity of the battery drops, but it will take a charge better.

Aaron

[dznf0g]

I measured mine and found with a Chev 2500HD I got 10 effective amps to the batteries. It was close to 14 amps total, but you are feeding any "on"items as well, like the fridge, radio head, propane detector, etc.

[lsbrodsky]

Do not know about your TV but with Tow/Haul on my Chevy the alternator runs at a higher voltage providing more charge to the trailer. Otherwise, I would suspect not much charging while towing.
Larry

[dznf0g]

Originally Posted by dznf0g

I measured mine and found with a Chev 2500HD I got 10 effective amps to the batteries. It was close to 14 amps total, but you are feeding any "on"items as well, like the fridge, radio head, propane detector, etc.

This was without TH mode engaged. No need with a diesel in the flatlands.

[Bruce B]

My 2010 F-150 has the tow package and was not delivered with the trailer charge relay installed. The relay came with the truck but had to be installed in the relay box on top near the radiator before the truck would provide charging to the trailer All the rest of the trailer wiring worked fine without it. There is a blurb in the owners manual on the subject...
My battery (a 210 amp hour group 4D) will go from 50% to full in an 8 hour drive easy. I use a real battery monitor rather than a volt meter to determine the state of charge though...
When the trailer battery is below 70% and it is hooked up to the running truck I have seen 18 amps going into the battery...
Bruce

[dznf0g]

As do I Bruce, and your findings are close to mine, you may be closer to 13 amps if you "re installed" 105Ah to the batts. The Tri-metric does count up from where you start by showing Ah from full.

[polarlyse]

Awhile back we had parked our AS while visiting a friend in South Carolina. We had left only the refrig. on with some food in it. Sometime during the 4 days the batteries went dead due to the refrig. draw. We hooked up thinking things would be OK with the charge from the truck. I stopped a few times to check the status of the refrig. and found that it took about 4 hrs. driving for enough charge to just get the refrigerator going. Just to give you an idea of how little charge is produced while driving. More recently we were dry camping in Glacier NP. With careful use of electricity we were OK for 4 days. That was with new batteries.

[Bruce B]

Originally Posted by dznf0g

As do I Bruce, and your findings are close to mine, you may be closer to 13 amps if you "re installed" 105Ah to the batts. The Tri-metric does count up from where you start by showing Ah from full.

I am guessing the difference is in the size of my battery. The 4D is a big honking battery! The acceptance rate drops very quickly after the 80% point as do all batteries so that is why I specified that the battery had to be below about 70% to see that rate.

The other thing I forgot to mention is that my battery is a Lifeline AGM. Again higher acceptance rates than conventional lead acid batteries.

Cheers,
Bruce

[dznf0g]

Gotcha Bruce, but it still indicates a higher current delivery by the truck than I saw, unless my L/A batteries wouldn't "drink" all the available juice the truck was delivering. But I guess the bottom line is how much can you put in per hour of driving after normal dry camping. In my case I can put in an average of 10Ah per hour of driving. How's that for a stat from the Dept. of Redundancy Dept.?

[ROBERT CROSS]

Our batteries were fully charged when we arrived in Simi Valley....

Bob

[dznf0g]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

Our batteries were fully charged when we arrived in Simi Valley....

Bob

From Buffalo?

[Bruce B]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

Our batteries were fully charged when we arrived in Simi Valley....

Bob

Isn't Simi Valley a lot of driving hours away from NY? I just googled Zanadude... Something about liking Olivia Newton John...I am confused! Glad you have full batteries though.
Bruce

[mrpettit]

I have wondered if my F150 didn't have the tow relay charge installed.

How do I determine if it is installed? Sounds like I need a real battery monitor or will a volt meter work. I have neither so am looking for recommendations.

[Bruce B]

Originally Posted by mrpettit

I have wondered if my F150 didn't have the tow relay charge installed.

How do I determine if it is installed? Sounds like I need a real battery monitor or will a volt meter work. I have neither so am looking for recommendations.

What year, model and engine F-150? As I said, mine is a 2010. The owners manual showed the location of the relay and mentioned that it had to be installed. The truck came with a bag that included the relay and a small jumper harness when new.

If you want to know if it is installed and working simply check trailer battery voltage when hooked up ready to tow and with the tow vehicle not running. Measure the trailer battery voltage, start the truck and measure the voltage again. It should go up to about the same voltage as the truck battery (actually just a bit less as there is voltage drop in the circuit). Let's say that the trailer battery is well charged and you measure 13.0 volts at the trailer, when running the truck the voltage should still move up into the 13.5 to 13.8 range after starting the truck. As long as you see the voltage go up the relay is installed and working.

The purpose of the relay is to prevent the trailer from connecting to the truck battery when the truck is not running (thus charging) so that you can not inadvertently draw down the truck battery as you draw down the trailer battery.
Think of it as a one way door for electricity to he trailer.

Bruce

[RV Doctor]

Many tow vehicle manufacturers provide battery charging to the socket which the trailer cable plugs into... however, many have not ENABLED the sockets +12 volt charge pin to actually charge the trailer battery. Ford is one of these... in order to get +12 volt battery charging actually at the socket, there is a fuse/relay kit which is purchased (From Ford) and installed... some, like mid-2000's GM full-size pickups had the power cable disconnected at the under-hood power center and some, just require a fuse... there is no rhyme or reason to it.

The easiest way to know if your battery is getting charged by the tow vehicle is to disconnect the negative or (-) terminal from all batteries while plugged into the TV and unplugged from shore power. If you get lights in the trailer when plugged into the TV, you are good. If not, look at the fuses (circuit breakers and relays fail rarely) as they blow a lot more frequently than you would think. Keep some spares on hand.

Many of my customers want faster battery charging without the use of a generator or solar... we have found that running a heavier 8 AWG (gauge) cable (with auto-resetting circuit breaker) really improves the charge rate. If you are not electrically proficient, consult an approved RV technician or automotive electrical professional.

[tjdonahoe]

When dry camping in the mountains for 4 days drive home, 375 miles my batteries are still low on charge...that is with the dodge diesel...

[68 Overlander]

Originally Posted by mrpettit

I have a 2012 Flying Cloud. I'm new to all of this.

A couple of questions on the battery. I just had it hooked up over the Thanksgiving weekend. I then drove home 8 hours. It is 40 degrees. Everything was off last night in the store mode. I checked the battery today on the status monitor and it was showing half a charge.

Is this just due to the colder weather? Shouldn't the batteries be virtually 100% charged?

Going the other direction I took the A/S from storage and drove it 8 hours and thought it would get a charge from my F150 yet when I checked the status it just showed 1/2 to 3/4 charge. Now perhaps the status indicator never shows higher than this, but I'm wondering if something isn't working properly.

I figured my battery would get more of a charge from my F150 hookup and also wouldn't drain anything sitting over night in the store mode.

Your alternator is actually not a bad charger and would likely have brought you back to near full charge after that length of a trip. I would start with your truck owners manual and make sure that 30 amp "trailer charge" fuse is not blown in the fuse box under the hood.

[paiceman]

On the F150s there is a fuse box up front in the engine compartment near the radiator. I would check the fuse, so noted in your owners manual, for the "charge wire" which runs from the fuse back to the seven point hook up.