Is my battery charging while plugged into shore power?

AlaskaDave

Just bought a 2010 T@B while driving home from Minnesota to Alaska, so we had a trial by fire on the road, camping from day one with no manuals. 

We tried hard to find campgrounds with plug-ins but that gets difficult in mid-October as most campgrounds close up.  We were pretty successful finding shore power until entering Canada from Montana.  We had no battery power even after a couple nights on shore power so I bought a 4 amp charger that finally showed a complete charge after about 16 hours of charging.  We still didn't have battery power then realized that a fuse was blown in the WFCO WF-8700 Power Center. Voila! Lights and heat!  Is that 20 amp fuse crucial to charging?

I'm not convinced that my battery is charging when plugged in to shore power.  How would I know?  I know I'm not charging while driving because I only have a 4-pin on our little Audi A3 Quattro (which pulled like a champ, btw). Should I be at full charge after a night on shore power?

Mouseketab

Yes, that fuse is critical to charging, and if your battery is deeply discharged, it is critical to have NOTHING running while it's charging with the converter. To test the state of your battery, get a voltmeter. Also, since you deeply discharged your battery, you might have it checked by an auto place.

Sharon_is_SAM

I think if you had a healthy battery and converter and only discharged to no more than 50%, it should recharge overnight on shorepower.  But, current TaB models use a different WFCO model than the converter in the 2010.  Not sure if you would benefit from a newer, better converter.  How old is the battery?  

ScottG

Based on your description, "that fuse" is what effectively connects your battery to your converter. If it is blown or removed, it's just like removing the positive lead from the battery--the converter can't charge the battery when on shore power, and the battery can't supply power to the converter when not on shore power. Exactly the symptoms you described!

BrianZ

@AlaskaDave, I'm wondering how your trailer brakes work with only a 4-pin.

Verna

@BrianZ, the Dutchman T@‘s have surge brakes.

AlaskaDave

The 4-pin connector is not compatible with trailer brakes or charging. We had no problem operating without trailer brakes although I drove very carefully until confident. We had zero sway even in high cross winds and heavy snow connected to a simple and wimpy Class I hitch that I bought from eTrailer and bolted on in about 20 minutes.

Marceline

AlaskaDave said:

The 4-pin connector is not compatible with trailer brakes or charging. We had no problem operating without trailer brakes although I drove very carefully until confident. We had zero sway even in high cross winds and heavy snow connected to a simple and wimpy Class I hitch that I bought from eTrailer and bolted on in about 20 minutes.

If you have a 2010 the trailer was built with surge brakes. If you don't feel them kick in when you brake hard you might want to have them checked.  

Mouseketab

Actually, his 2010 "might" have electric brakes. Some of the last units were put on T@DA frames. If his frame is a black box frame, then it does have electric brakes.

AlaskaDave

Mouseketab said:

Actually, his 2010 "might" have electric brakes. Some of the last units were put on T@DA frames. If his frame is a black box frame, then it does have electric brakes

It does indeed have a black box frame.  It also has a "Thor" emblem near the door.
If the surge brakes are the contraption up by the hitch, I do not have them.

Marceline

Mouseketab said:

Actually, his 2010 "might" have electric brakes. Some of the last units were put on T@DA frames. If his frame is a black box frame, then it does have electric brakes.

Interesting.  I didn’t know that. So they went to electric at the end of the Dutchman run, and then Pleasant Valley went back to surge, and then back to electric? 

Mouseketab

Yes, the last few of the 2010 Dutchmen's were a bit of Frankenstein units. They used whatever parts they had laying around. Apparently they had more T@B bodies than they had Al-Ko frames, and they had extra T@DA frames, so that's what they did.

Thor is the parent company of Dutchmen, so yes a Thor sticker was standard.