New to me 17 CS no power on battery

maddmike

I literally just paid the previous owner, hooked it up to my TV and got it home. It has been sitting since new and I couldn’t get anything to come on just on battery. 

Once I plug it in, it lights up like a Christmas tree. Yes, I made sure the battery is in the on position. Just wanted to make sure there was nothing else I was missing that I should be flipping on. There is also another set of battery leads. I’m assuming that they are for the solar panels?

Since I plan on camping this weekend, I ordered the Amazon special https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00S1RT58C

Please let me know if there is something obvious that I’m missing. Thanks!

Vikings

Check in-line battery fuse...should be in tub area near battery on one of the main leads to battery.

But battery could be totally gone...frozen last winter, now shorted out between plates maybe?
 
Not sure about extra battery leads...from factory they have two wires on each post.  Two main ones, plus two that go to Zamp port.   If you have 3 sets...well yes prior owner added something that is no longer there.  

4ncar

While disconnected from shore power...are you getting a reading on the battery monitor?

Sharon_is_SAM

@maddmike, the second set of battery cables is for the solar port on the front tub.  Ditto what 4ncar said.  Let us know what you find.  Under the circumstances that you acquired the Tab, the battery was probably not maintained.

maddmike

So, both of the lead should be attached to the battery. I’ll attach them today. I know for sure the battery was not maintained. I asked the widow I bought it from if she had it on a trickle charger. I got the deer in the headlights look. 

I have a trickle charger and I’ll put it on that. I do have a spare battery in my boat that I can try to hook up. 

maddmike

4ncar said:

While disconnected from shore power...are you getting a reading on the battery monitor?

Excuse my ignorance but is there a battery monitor somewhere I should be looking at? Are you referring to the panel inside that states the voltage and the tank percentages? If so it is blacked out unless on shore power. 

Sharon_is_SAM

That is called the SeeLevel battery and tank monitor.  Well, there you have it.  If you can’t get your battery monitor to even display, the battery is likely toast.  If the converter can’t charge the battery while on ac, I suspect you will not have any better luck with the trickle charger.  Did you check the battery fluid?

ColoradoJon

That monitor that is blacked out should work equally as well on battery power.  If it is blacked out, then your battery is completely dead!

maddmike

So, in the daylight I can see that the second set of terminals go to the Zamp solar leads. 

The terminals on the lead connected to the battery were extremely corroded and not well attached so I cleaned them up with a wire brush and have the battery on a trickle charger. It is probably dead but it can sit there on charge and it won’t hurt it. Now to go figure out the tank flushing. 

Sharon_is_SAM

So, if you plan to use a non-Zamp solar, you can just change the solar leads at the battery.  The polarity on the Zamp products are reversed.

ScottG

In addition to the fuse Vikings mentioned, there are also two in the converter's 12V fuse panel. IIRC, one is a 30A fuse labelled "battery charger" and the other is a 40A fuse labelled "reverse polarity protection" (or something similar). If either of those fuses are blown the battery will not deliver power to the converter.

It's worth checking. However, If I was a gamblin' man I'd cast my lot in with the "battery is toast" crowd!

rkj__

SAM said:

So, if you plan to use a non-Zamp solar, you can just change the solar leads at the battery.  The polarity on the Zamp products are reversed.

That makes sense.  I've seen a number of posts about buying a polarity reversing adapter for the Zamp plug, but that seem unnecessary, when you can reverse the leads at the battery. 

ScottG

rkj__ said:

SAM said:

So, if you plan to use a non-Zamp solar, you can just change the solar leads at the battery.  The polarity on the Zamp products are reversed.

That makes sense.  I've seen a number of posts about buying a polarity reversing adapter for the Zamp plug, but that seem unnecessary, when you can reverse the leads at the battery. 

You might have to replace the ring terminals in order to do this. Mine came with two different sizes as the posts on the battery are often two different sizes (presumably to prevent accidentally swapping the polarity).

If you do flip the wires, make sure you take off the "Zamp Ready" sticker!

In my case, my Renogy kit didn't even have any SAE quick connectors. Since I had to splice in my own, I just spliced it to match Zamp's polarity.

maddmike

New battery comes in Friday however, I am planning on leaving on Friday. In addition, the generator I ordered does not arrive till Tuesday of next week.

I guess I will borrow a battery from the boat if I hit the road before the battery comes in. Most trailer batteries seem to be bigger than the little thing that came with the Tab. I'm assuming when people upgrade they modify the the battery box to accommodate the larger battery.

IslandJo

My 2018 has a battery disconnect knob in the diamond box where the battery is, mounted on the trailer side. I don't know if the 2017 has one or not. It prevents the trailer from using battery power when not in use. It's either turned to red(off) or Green(on). Make sure it's turned to the green area.

maddmike

IslandJo said:

My 2018 has a battery disconnect knob in the diamond box where the battery is, mounted on the trailer side. I don't know if the 2017 has one or not. It prevents the trailer from using battery power when not in use. It's either turned to red(off) or Green(on). Make sure it's turned to the green area.

Thanks. It is on. See my first post.

maddmike

So, who bet that the battery was dead--I'm collecting .
I left it on a trickle charger for a day, cleaned the connectors with a wire brush, put some dialectic grease on them, and the battery works like a charm.

I have no idea if it was totally dead or if the lifespan is diminished but it seems to work now. I did buy a generator as I have a baby and need to have the ability to control the temp if it gets too hot but for now, it seems we are good with the OEM battery.

Vikings

Excellent results!!!

Sharon_is_SAM

Maybe...monitor it to see how long it keeps a charge.  Good luck and have fun!

ScottG

What SAM said. I'm holdin' onto my greenbacks...for now.

But good luck. I'm happy to lose that bet if it means you get a good battery!  :-)

maddmike

I had it running for about two hours last night in my driveway with lights, pump, and AC blower as I tooled around in the garage. After that, I switched to the new generator so that I would run the AC and driveway test that.

How long will a battery typically last with LED lights and fan on? Would be good to know as I can test if my battery is holding a normal charge. Maybe tonight I will run it longer.

pthomas745

You can read all of these posts about power management in the Tab.  Look closely at the spreadsheet that describes power usage of the various components.  The LED lights use very little power, the fan uses about an amp an hour.

You will learn how to think about how many amps does my battery have, how many amps does this item use, how many amps do I estimate I have left, etc.

https://jenngrover.com/2016/01/guilty-as-charged-rv-battery-use-management-part-ii/

Sharon_is_SAM

How many amps is your battery?  Have you checked the voltage on the SeeLevel after resting the battery?

ScottG

maddmike said:

I had it running for about two hours last night in my driveway with lights, pump, and AC blower as I tooled around in the garage. After that, I switched to the new generator so that I would run the AC and driveway test that.

How long will a battery typically last with LED lights and fan on? Would be good to know as I can test if my battery is holding a normal charge. Maybe tonight I will run it longer.

Lots of variables there.

I usually judged based on how well the unloaded battery takes and holds a charge. After a full charge--and some time for the "surface charge" to dissipate--a good battery should settle in at >12.6V. Completely disconnected it should retain that charge for several days or weeks.

An ailing battery with won't charge up fully, or the charge will drop rather quickly. The sicker the battery, the more obvious these effects will be.

I had one that was so bad I could watch the charge dissipate in real time after I took it off the charger. It would eventually settle in at ~10V. Serious toast.

maddmike

So, I got home and realized that after playing with the generator, I never plugged the trailer back in so it has been running the fan and some lights since last night so almost 24 hours. Battery is reading 12.2. 

rkj__

maddmike said:

So, I got home and realized that after playing with the generator, I never plugged the trailer back in so it has been running the fan and some lights since last night so almost 24 hours. Battery is reading 12.2. 

Sounds like the battery is doing ok then. 

maddmike

So, weekend camping was a success. Ran on battery all weekend and everything on the T@B worked as it should. The only technical difficulty was the generator I purchased which refused to operate with any load at all.

Battery held up for three days running all systems and the fan. Just couldn't run the AC or the toaster.

rkj__

I’m glad to hear your trip went well. 

You may wish to get a camp toaster.  They allow you to make toast over the propane stove burner. 

maddmike

We were right on the beach and the wind was incredible. I could hardly grill the fish with charcoal and the stove was a struggle. I ended up using a frying pan to make toast. Still glad the kitchen is outside though as the only place for day-to-day stuff such as clothes and baby toys is where the indoor kitchen would be. I forgot about those camp toasters.

ColleenD2

What a great community we have here! I love it!

Ratkity

@maddmike what generator did you buy? If you are using a surge protector (like the Progressive one), you need a "loopback" plug or ditch the surge protector when using the generator.