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Time to read 4 min
Q: After I picked up my new camper I found the dual solar panels weren’t working, and even when I plugged in my portable solar panel it wouldn’t work either. What’s the issue?
A: It sounds like there was no diode or fuse between the panels on the camper. If one was faulty and they are not isolated it will prevent them all from working. In this situation disconnect all panels (there is likely a junction box where they join up) and reattach them one at a time until you find the faulty one. Leave it disconnected until you have time to replace it.
Q: I have an 80-litre upright fridge but it continually ices up on the back wall. How can I stop this?
A: Small uprights generally make their cold in the back wall and are so crammed with food that it cannot spread around the fridge interior. Items at the front will not be too cold. Have a small fan fitted to blow diagonally onto the centre of the rear wall. It will move the cold air away and prevent the icing.
Q: After I picked up my new camper I found the dual solar panels weren’t working, and even when I plugged in my portable solar panel it wouldn’t work either. What’s the issue?
A: It sounds like there was no diode or fuse between the panels on the camper. If one was faulty and they are not isolated it will prevent them all from working. In this situation disconnect all panels (there is likely a junction box where they join up) and reattach them one at a time until you find the faulty one. Leave it disconnected until you have time to replace it.
Q: My fridge constantly cycles at times and eats up electricity from the batteries. How can I prevent this?
A: This sounds like a temperature issue. If the fridge is located in the sun or the interior of a hot car, or even on very hot days of high ambient temperature, some fridges struggle to keep the interior cool and have to work constantly, especially upright designs. A wet towel on top will help greatly, or simply moving the fridge into the shade. Keep opening to a minimum, reduce internal air space with inflated wine cask bladders or similar, make sure door or lid seals are working well, or add an insulating cover.
Q: My batteries never seem to fully charge when on the road, and the problem has only got worse since I bought a new tow car. I have an Anderson plug to connect to the car’s alternator so they should charge when towing. Are they faulty?
A: The likely problem is a lack of current being provided from the car’s alternator. Your new tow vehicle likely has a “smart alternator”, which would only be delivering around 13.5 volts at best, and can be well below that and even not producing anything at all at idle. Alternators have never been designed to fully (100 per cent) recharge a car battery, much less a secondary battery in a caravan or camper. They are merely designed to replace charge lost during starting and to provide for other vehicle-only loads. Voltage losses, especially over the undersized cables often fitted to Anderson plugs, further exacerbate this. The only solution is to install a DC-DC charger which will accept voltage inputs as low as 9 or 10 volts and which can boost them to around 14.5 volts and manage them in a three-step charging process. This is the only way to adequately ensure you can replace all of the charge lost from your storage battery while camped.
Q: My tow rig’s braking efficiency has dropped, and I am feeling the tow vehicle veering to one side when stopping. I have had my car’s brakes checked and I am assured they are okay. Could the problem be in the camper’s brakes?
A: More than likely it is your camper’s brakes that are at fault. The reduced braking efficiency when towing tells us something isn’t working well, and the kicker is the tow vehicle is veering off line. This could suggest that the brakes on one side of your camper are not working, particularly if the veering is consistently in the same direction. When you apply the brakes they don’t work but the brakes on the other side do, causing the camper to impose a sideways load on the vehicle’s tow bar and producing the veering. We’d guess something like broken or damaged wire to the camper’s electric brakes on one side is the cause and is simply solved by replacing that wiring. Any brake shop should be able to effect a fix.
Q: I have had my new camper fitted with two 130 amp hour AGM batteries which are now just over 18 months old, but I have been told they are now effectively dead and need to be replaced. Surely they should last longer. I have a 100 watt solar panel on the roof to recharge them. Why have my batteries died so soon?
A: Without being able to test the batteries we’d guess it’s because you don’t have enough solar to maintain the batteries. 100 watts of solar is not sufficient to replace losses in a camper that, we assume, is running a fridge, lights and other loads. Fixed roof-mounted solar isn’t the most efficient and will only be operating at maximum for about an hour or two at midday on a sunny day, anyway. You should not take your AGM batteries (or other types other than lithium) below 50 per cent state of charge or you will be damaging them and shortening their life. You need to assess your power needs and have a system designed to suit, but at a guess you will need to have at least 300 watts on the roof. Also, ensure you stay away from shade and carry maybe an extra 100 watts of portable solar for cloudy days.
