400 is not operating at all on battery power

gooddogs74

More drama...went to pick up camper.  New thicker wire and 40 amp circuit breaker installed.  Still no charged battery.  They said it was at 11%.  It apparently at some point had tripped the circuit breaker and nobody noticed until I got there.  So much for monitoring to make sure it was charging for 6 hours.  NuCamp has been called again and word is I may have a bad battery.  Marvin is supposed to talk with my service advisor tomorrow to see what to do.  Apparently the battery is warrantied by the battery manufacturer, so there may need to be some discussion there.  

I towed the camper home.  I had plans already to use it this weekend.  I will have electricity.  I have the fancy surge protector/EMS thingie.  I have availability of 50 amp hookups and I have a a50 to 30 amp converter.  I have propane. I now have a voltmeter and a BAL leveler.  And two levels.  And a fancy sewer hose.  I have verified the Alde is functional, although I'm not sure it is heating as fast as I would like.  I did turn on the propane with the electric for a short time and that seemed to help, but I don't have a good sense of how long the propane will last yet so I turned it off, turned down the thermostat and left it plugged into my house.  Will get down to 27 tonight.  I didn't fill with any water.  Oh, and I have a fever and chills.  But, I am going to my dog agility trial.  In the camper.  With no battery.  Arriving at 8 PM.  Driving myself.  If I can pull this off, everything else will seem easy.  Wish me luck.  In an emergency, I have a couple of friends there at the trial.  

dsfdogs

My goodness, you sure didn't need all this. I'm a newbie too, but with a 320 S. I'm sorry your dealer didn't ensure the battery was 100% before the walk through. Shame shame shame. Hopefully with your trailer plugged into a/c and your battery switch turned on and circuit breaker flipped, it will charge as you camp. Please be careful driving at night. Towing is new and stressful when sick. Good luck at the trials. Maybe we could see a pic of your pup? 

Mark_and_Sue

So after reading about this issue, I did contact NuCamp and they sent me the CB and wire. Said to contact the dealer. Said about 1.5 hour job. Has anyone done this install themselves? I’d love to do this myself. 

ericnliz

@gooddogs74, Best of luck to you at the dog trials & hope you're feeling better soon! Be safe out there!

atlasb

Ordered the Circuit breaker and wires form NU Camp.  Got them but no info as to how to install.  Any one for sure the route for new wire.  Will open things up when it warms up and replace the white and red wires and install the CB.

gooddogs74

Went and checked the 400 again today.  The voltmeter said 12.85 when the fridge wasn't running.   Was on about 12.56 when it was running.  Does that seem like it is holding a charge so far?  I have a copy of the chart from here for the battery but I believe it is for the 320.  If I remember correctly when I was plugged into shore power the voltmeter was reading 13.6.  Perhaps I should email NuCamp with this info?

sdenhof

New 400 owner here. Does the solar always provide a trickle charge or do I need to activate something? I am winterized.

jkjenn

gooddogs74 said:

Went and checked the 400 again today.  The voltmeter said 12.85 when the fridge wasn't running.   Was on about 12.56 when it was running.  Does that seem like it is holding a charge so far?  I have a copy of the chart from here for the battery but I believe it is for the 320.  If I remember correctly when I was plugged into shore power the voltmeter was reading 13.6.  Perhaps I should email NuCamp with this info?

You should always read about 16.6 on shore power. That is the voltage supply to the battery. 12.56 is between 90-100%charged, depending on the health of your battery. Unless you are using an advanced battery monitor, you have to unplug anything providing power to get an accurate state of charge.

jkjenn

sdenhof said:

New 400 owner here. Does the solar always provide a trickle charge or do I need to activate something? I am winterized.

Assuming you have the solar permanently installed, it would depend on how they wire the 400. If the solar goes straight to the battery, it should. If you have it wired to the battery on/off switch, the battery would have to be on to get a charge.