Coleman 8.1 battery won't hold charge

[rd85338]

Hi, we recently purchased a Coleman 8.1 camper and have camped 6 weekends with it so far.  We purchased new in August, and had the battery box and all wiring complete when purchased.

We plug in the camper at home, and have it setup to charge while traveling.  I check the battery before we leave and have a full charge.

  I have noticed that the battery will not hold a charge now while at a campsite, the plug in light/fan will start dimming and be close to dead within 2 hours.  The usb are similar and can't charge a phone.

Has anyone else been having problems with the battery holding charge when new?  I am hoping it's just a faulty battery and can replace but wanted to hear if others have similar issues....we already gave up on the sink like most have, shame if I have to start replacing the electronics after 2 months of use.

Thanks

Rob

[david]

How do you know your battery is fully charged? If plugged in at home the voltage as measured at the battery terminals should read 13.0 to 13.5 volts if fully charged. How do you know your trailer is charging it while underway. Should read about the same when hooked up to the trailer.

With no charging source hooked up your battery should read about 12.6 volts after resting for a few hours.

Otherwise it is a bad battery, so replace it. Make sure you replace it with a true deep cycle battery like an Interstate with cell caps for checking/adding water. If you need more capacity than a single Group 27 can supply, then consider using two 6V golf cart batteries wired in series.

David

[admin]

It certainly sounds like a battery issue, but that seems awfully quick for the battery to be dead. Now if I recall the standard fan/light combos draw a surprising amount of amps so it's not out of the ordinary for them to be drawing your battery down, I just can't imagine it happening in only 2 hours.
Like David suggested I would start taking some measurements of the voltage while charging, while at rest, and maybe even while in use. If it is a bad battery I would assume you could get a replacement under warranty.

Also I would check to make sure something isnt shorting out, or accidentally left on. Maybe something else is drawing down the battery while your not using it?

-Sean

[whoofit]

Not sure what you mean by close to dead but if your fans and lights are dimming real badly it is probable that the battery is toasted. Only question, like David and Sean said, is if you put a good battery in there will you toast that one too? Is your charge system/routine working as expected?

A mounted monitor of some sort is mandatory in my opinion. This could be a simple voltage readout or a full blown VI unit with shunt. I prefer the latter as we operate in some very cold conditions where battery capacities can vary as much as 50% based on temperature. In order to fully charge a lead acid battery at our temperatures a much higher voltage is required in the coldest months.

Knowing your battery is real important. A monitor makes this easier.