Quote:
Originally Posted by Kmikesell
Well, when I got the TM out of storage to do a few fixes and put the batteries in (I take them out every winter to keep them from freezing, I live in UT) The two 6v batteries were reading 13.5 V. When getting ready to leave for the trip to TX there wasn't enough power to run the tongue jack. After an 14 hour trip to Albuquerque, the tongue jack worked fine.... Next day after another 14 hour drive the jack was a no go, and we had to use the manual crank. I had a blown fuse (Not sure what the fuse was for) but I replaced it, and all seemed right. Coming home after the eclipse, same problem. no juice and the batteries read 11.5 V.
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I suspect that you may have a few things going on here. Inop tongue jack is a common issue and not necessarily related to low voltage. The problem could be a bad ground, especially if you have a swing away tongue on your trailer. I solved that issue on my TM by running a ground strap from the frame, across the tongue hinge, to the tongue (about 8" long).
The other issue is that I think you may be measuring battery voltage while the batteries are charging, either by solar or other. If that's the case, the reading that you are getting (13.5V) is merely the surface voltage while charging which is not an indication of the state of charge of the entire battery. There is no way that you will get a reading of 13.5V while the batteries are at rest. The proper way to read battery voltage is while the battery has been at rest (no charge or discharge) for ~ 6hrs. Another way is to disconnect the charger and turn on a light for about 2-3 minutes. This dissipates the battery surface charge and gives you a more accurate state of charge for the battery.
Another good test is to check the voltage of each battery separately (at rest). If one battery reads lower than the other, the higher voltage battery is being drained by the lower voltage battery. Also, check the size of the jumper wire between the 2 batteries. It should be a 2/0 at minimum and 4/0 is better and that wire should be absolutely as short as possible and connections should be clean and tight.