chracatoa
Seattle
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Joined: 05/01/2012
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Is it dangerous? What if it dies when the gas is burning - how would it turn off?
2011 Toyota Sequoia Platinum 4WD 5.7L V8 (next one will be a 3/4, someday)
2012 Jayco Flight Swift 267BHS (5963lbs dry, 6650 wet)
Propride hitch (I had a Reese dual cam round bar WDH for 4 months)
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ArcticDodge
Sammamish, WA
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Joined: 05/02/2005
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The battery powers the electronics that control the fridge and the furnace. I'm guessing that if any device is currently on a ON cycle and the battery drops below required voltage during a duty cycle to operate the device will operate as normal until it's called on duty cycle is completed and the device would fail to start when the next cycle is called on. So, if the battery dies, so does everything else. I've only had this occur once in 12 years when the batteries got so old and I was not able to run the fridge. No worries.
2009 Komfort 256TS
2001 Dodge Ram 3500 QC 4x4 Cummins DRW
2005 Dodge Durango Limited AWD HEMI
2001 Sebring Convertible
1995 Miata M-Edition
2005 DRZ400
1 Wife  2 Boys UW & Bellevue College
1 Trixie (Bichon Frise)
Only 23 years to retirement!!!!
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path1
seattle
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Joined: 04/19/2012
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Quote:Question: dry camping, furnace or fridge on, battery dies
Never heard of it being a problem. And I've ran my battery down using the furnace dry camping more than I would like to admit.
(To cheap to buy new)
1990 37 ft 5th wheel that hasn't moved since 1996 (our best home)
1997 33 ft trailer (winter home in much warmer climate)
2005 25 ft M/H (our "stand up B" for traveling)
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Golden_HVAC
Fulltime, CA, USA
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Joined: 08/19/2003
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If the battery dies, the gas valve will not stay open, it is electricity that keeps it open. Under 10.5 volts, the furnace probably will not make the safety fan switch, and the gas valve will not even try to open.
Your RV takes a lot of power. If the battery will nt charge, then look at the battery charger / converter. If the battery will not hold a charge, it is time to replace it. If the battery will not last more than 1 year, you are not keeping it charged while in storage, and that needs to be fixed.
You can disconnect the battery while in storage, or install a solar panel, or leave the RV plugged in. But a discharged battery will require frequent replacement.
Changing to a pair of golf cart batteries will increase their lifespan, and capacity. it takes about 35 amp hours to run a RV 24 hours. that is just the refrigerator, CO meter and propane detector. Any more lights and furnace is more power, and will require recharging if you are camping more than a few nights in the RV.
A pair of 120 watt solar panels can recharge the battery enough to make up for the power consumed while camping.
Fred.
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powderman426
ohio
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Joined: 06/28/2010
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I borrowed a 40 watt panel for a dry camping trip and found it to be enough to keep my batteries charged using the frig and some lights. Also I recharged a trolling motor battery each day. No furnace as it was in the 90's.
Ron & Charlotte
WD8CBT since 1976
28' Prowler & 05 Ram QC LB
I started with nothing and I still have most of it left
I never fail, I just succeed in finding out what doesn't work
.JPG)
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1fastdad
mo.
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Joined: 08/27/2007
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In the repair manuals for these items the first thing it said to check is low voltage. If the voltage gets below 9v they will shut off.
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BobR
Aurora, Illinois
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Joined: 12/07/2001
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Golden HVAC wrote:If the battery dies, the gas valve will not stay open, it is electricity that keeps it open.
Correct advice. Federal law dictates solenoid must be fail safe.
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golf_bears
Rapid City, SD
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Joined: 02/01/2007
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When dry camping/boondocking what power source are you using now to recharge the battery or batteries? Are you using solar or generator or nothing?
If you have no way of recharging the batteries, you can't expect them to stay charged forever and things will start to shut down.
Also, have you recently checked the water level in your batteries?
If you have checked your water level and have a way to recharge the batteries and they still are discharging you either have a bad converter or bad batteries.
Give us more information and we’ll help you pin point the problem.
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chracatoa
Seattle
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I'm okay with shutting down. I just wanted to be sure it's shutting down safely. I like to hear the words "fail safe"!
Batteries are "new" (Trailer bought in May). I almost got rid of one because we wouldn't camp w/o hookups ever. I just came back from two trips w/o hookups back to back (friends had scheduled the trips - we learned the day before  .
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wa8yxm
Wherever I happen to park
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Joined: 07/04/2006
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chracatoa wrote:Is it dangerous? What if it dies when the gas is burning - how would it turn off?
That one is easy.. The gas valve is opened by a battery powered solenoid, If the battery dies, the valve closes, automatically, by a spring. It has no other choice.
Page 2 on the furnace: In the case of the furnace however the battery will not run down that far.. The fan blows air, the air flow hits a "Sail" which is connected to a device called a Sail Switch, as the battery dies the fan goes slower and slower and the switch no longer "Sails" enough so it opens, shutting off everything on the furnace EXCEPT the fault indicator. That includes the gas flow.
At this point the fridge still works.
So in both cases.. Do not worry about it, the battery has to be charged enough or it simply shuts off.
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