New battery...now what?

[Jjfester]

Hello- New to the airstream life and working on my 1975 27' overlander. I finally get a key made to the compartments, buy a beautiful new battery, hook it up- Nothing.

I first went back into the trailer and before trying anything, check the battery meter. It starts at good, quickly goes to fair where it lingers for a second, then drops to nothing. I'm puzzled...

Found the fuse panel and checked the fuses, they all appear good. The breakers I could get to (there is an annoying shelf right in the way in the bathroom) are all on.

In the compartment where the fuse panel is, under the gaucho, there is no univolt as i've seen in some photo's on here...would it be hidden somewhere else? Does it matter?

I'm lost. Unfortunately, I didn't remember my camera. Any thoughts?

[purman]

What are your battery cables hook too????

[McLogger]

I have a 73 Overlander. What is the layout of your trailer. I have twins in the middle and bath in the rear. My univolt is under the curbe side bed right next to the battery compartment? I hope this helps and it is very strange that no one else has responded to this yet?? feel free to pm me if needed.

[Jjfester]

Originally Posted by purman

What are your battery cables hook too????

From what my amateur eye could tell...the fuze panel. Then from there they went through a hole in the floor to, I assume, the breakers on the other side of the trailer?

[Jjfester]

Originally Posted by McLogger

I have a 73 Overlander. What is the layout of your trailer. I have twins in the middle and bath in the rear. My univolt is under the curbe side bed right next to the battery compartment? I hope this helps and it is very strange that no one else has responded to this yet?? feel free to pm me if needed.

Thats where I thought I would find the univolt too. I have a middle bed (full size?) and a rear bath. From other pictures I saw, it was curbe side in the same compartment as the fuzes.

[Zeppelinium]

Originally Posted by Jjfester

...In the compartment where the fuse panel is, under the gaucho, there is no univolt as i've seen in some photo's on here...would it be hidden somewhere else? Does it matter?

I'm lost. Unfortunately, I didn't remember my camera. Any thoughts?

My 1973 Overlander has two doors on the rear curb side. The battery is in the lower aft door and the Univolt is under the bed but aft of the access door, so it's hard to see.

The battery condition meter symptoms sounds like you are discharging the Univolt output filter capacitor when you push the button. My first thought is that you have a very high resistance connection from the battery into the rest of the 12V system. Look for a bad splice or terminal lug. So, yes, it is important to find the Univolt, since you'll have to trace all the connections from the battery into the system.

Zep

[68 Overlander]

Try connecting a battery charger to the new battery and see what happens.
Do you have any lights when connected to shore power?

[Dan@LED4RV]

Originally Posted by Jjfester

I finally get a key made to the compartments,

Keys for your unit are available.

Click here to see some more.

As well as many other parts.

Dan

[purman]

YES does your shore power work!!!????

[Jjfester]

Originally Posted by 68 Overlander

Try connecting a battery charger to the new battery and see what happens.
Do you have any lights when connected to shore power?

Originally Posted by purman

YES does your shore power work!!!????

Unfortunately it is still parked in the storage yard with no way to hook it up. I hope to have it home here next week when I can finally do some real learning...

So if theres no univolt, theres no power inside (on the battery)?

[silverleeper]

If you have no univolt it just means that you cant charge your 12v system when hooked up to shore power. Was the new battery fully charged? I would try fully charging the battery and hooking it up again. If you have a portable jump start for your car or if your willing use jumper cables and your truck to help the battery in the trailer you might get a longer lasting test of the system.

[68 Overlander]

Originally Posted by silverleeper

If you have no univolt it just means that you cant charge your 12v system when hooked up to shore power. Was the new battery fully charged? I would try fully charging the battery and hooking it up again. If you have a portable jump start for your car or if your willing use jumper cables and your truck to help the battery in the trailer you might get a longer lasting test of the system.

Solid answer. Simple stuff first.

[HowieE]

About the only thing I can think of that would pull a battery down that fast would be the brake away switch on the electric brakes.

In any case remove that battery and see if you can charge it with a battery charger. If it comes back to full charge pull all the fuses in the 12 system before you hook it up again. Your in trailer meter will be disconnected at this point. I would use a #14 wire to hook up one side of the battery. That way if you are drawing that much current it will melt the wire. before doing any damage inside.

If the wire holds put one fuse in at a time with someone keeping an eye on the #14 wire.

[vswingfield]

Originally Posted by HowieE

About the only thing I can think of that would pull a battery down that fast would be the brake away switch on the electric brakes.

In any case remove that battery and see if you can charge it with a battery charger. If it comes back to full charge pull all the fuses in the 12 system before you hook it up again. Your in trailer meter will be disconnected at this point. I would use a #14 wire to hook up one side of the battery. That way if you are drawing that much current it will melt the wire. before doing any damage inside.

If the wire holds put one fuse in at a time with someone keeping an eye on the #14 wire.

I would be concerned about a fire hazard from a melted wire. I would use a fuse holder for safety.

[Jjfester]

Thank you all for the suggestions. Once I have a day off to test them out, i'll repost to let you know how it goes.

[Diesel1]

Sounds like a bad connection. I would be highly suspect of the little meter on the airstream! My meter did the same thing when all lights worked good,so I would not place much stock in what it is telling you. Except the meter does show that a circuit exists. Check the cable ends where they attach to the battery. if they are the kind where the lead end bolts to the cable disassemble them and clean with a wire brush.