Troubleshooting Battery Depletion in 2003 Sun Valley Roadrunner 130 Travel Trailer

Question:

I just bought a 03 roadrunner and went to a koa and plugged in, but the interior lights only ran off the battery. Eventually battery died and I had no lights. Shouldnt plug in charge battery? Is there a switch?

asked by: Debbie

Expert Reply:

Travel trailers like a 15-foot Sun Valley RoadRunner M-130 typically have an on-board battery that can receive a trickle charge from the tow vehicle 7-way's 12V feed. This will maintain a well-charged battery while you're en route to your destination but will not re-charge a depleted one.

The best way to ready the trailer for a trip is to use a shore-power charger like # CTEK56353. I have owned one of their chargers for about 6 years and mine has worked perfectly in my 24/7/365 application in my garage.

When plugged in to AC shore power at your campsite, whether 15-, 30- or 50-amp service, that power feed should operate all AC-powered devices in the trailer, like a microwave, but also feed power to your trailer's power converter.

The power converter takes in that AC power and converts it to DC which operates the DC powered items such as lights. That DC power is also routed to the trailer battery to re-charge it while you're at the campsite.

Your depleted battery issue could be due to any number of things, but most commonly the cause would be that either the battery itself is simply worn out and will no longer take/hold a full charge, or that the power converter unit in the trailer is malfunctioning and is not sending the DC power to the battery to charge it.

If the battery is original this is almost surely the issue, but even if it was replaced once, given that the trailer is 14-years-old, you could possibly still just need another new battery. You can have the battery tested. Often you can find a date code on the battery that will tell you if it is time for a new one.

If the battery tests out okay then I would next look to the power converter unit as the cause.