Help! I'm heading back out this weekend and need help with my electrical system in a 2 month old Scamp 13. Last weekend I ran the DC refrigerator all night (not plugged into my tow vehicle) On Saturday morning my battery was dead. I hooked it up and drove for several hours. It got up to 9 Volts on a plugin meter. On Sunday my Subaru was dead... needed a jump from AAA. Got home, hooked the trailer up to my 30 Amp and the battery charged up nicely (13.1V). I unplugged the trailer from the 30 Volt to see if it would hold a charge. My little meter read 12.9V after a day without being plugged into my 30 Amp outlet. The problem is that my dome lights (4 lights, all with LED's) will not work. The 15 and 30 amp fuses look good.
Any ideas? Does anyone have a diagram that tells me which fuse is which? Are there hidden fuses I need to check? Should I have been able to run DC refrigerator overnight on the bigger battery from Scamp?
Thanks...
Joe from Central Wisconsin
Non working dome lights: Check fuses for continuity one at a time with a meter. Sometimes a break is not obvious.
Dead battery from refrigerator: Use propane when not connected to AC. Use 12VDC only while driving, and then 2 hours on, 2 hours off is a good way to be sure batteries stay charged. Running the refrigerator on the battery for 5 hours or more will drain the battery below safe levels and may damage it beyond usefulness.
Dead car battery: The tow vehicle should be wired to the trailer so that the trailer gets power only when the tow vehicle is running to avoid the trailer draining your starting battery. Or unplug it when parked.
Lynn