new owner on maiden voyage...electrical noob

We are currently on our first trip with our new to us 2619. I am plugged into a 30 amp box at a state park and know the box is hot as I tested it with a voltmeter and I can get our roof ac to go on.

But my question is shouldn't it also be charging my 12 volt battery? When I hit the switch under the sink for a system test the charge light isn't lit and my battery is at fair (hasn't moved since I plugged in yesterday)


Is there something I need to do to get it to charge off the 30 amp line? I am also not sure how this system works. When I disconnected my 12 volt yesterday to confirm the onboard lights were running on shore power they did not work. Even though I was plugged in the lights did not work until I reconnected the battery.

Any help you all can provide would be much appreciated.

[Redtail Cruiser]

I'm no TM expert, but I do believe that the lights are 12 volt only, they don't operate on 120 volt power. How old are your batteries ? Sounds like they may be getting tired and may need to be replaced. When you get back home test them or have them tested.

[Bill]

There is a problem associated with the converter circuit. The converter changes 120 VAC to 12 VDC to charge the battery, and to run the interior lights and other 12-volt loads. If shore power is connected, and you disconnect the TM battery, the lights should continue to work, powered by the converter. If the lights don't work, this is consistent with the battery not charging. When you check the lights to see if they operate, be sure to check one of the lights in the front shell, not the rear shell.

First thing to check. In the converter / power distribution box, there are a few household-type circuit breakers - the black ones with the snap handles. You problaby have four of them, but maybe 3 and maybe 5. One of these carries AC power to the converter - it should be labelled. Make sure this breaker is ON. To ensure that it is on, you need to snap it to the OFF position, then snap it to the ON position. You must go to OFF first - it is not sufficient just to go directly to ON. Once you have done this, try your lights without the battery again.

If your lights still don't come on and the battery still doesn't charge, there are two other possibilities that come quickly to mind.

One of the 12-volt fuses may have blown popped. These are the colored plastic slabs, located near the circuit breakers, and there are more than a dozen of them. I would suggest pulling them out, one at a time, examining each, and replacing it if it is good. You will see a metal half-loop buried in the plastic of each one of these fuses. If the loop is complete, the fuse is good. If the loop is interrupted, the fuse is bad. If you find a bad one, new ones are cheap at WalMart, any hardware store, or any auto parts store. Take the old one with you to be sure you get the right new one.

If neither of these is the problem, there may be something wrong with the converter itself. Troubleshooting there is harder, and possibly beyond your skills.

Let us know what you find.

Bill

Thanks a ton guys. Unfortunately I hav not solved this yet.

I checked all 4 circuit breakers and they were not tripped (I did go ahead and flip them all off and back on to confirm). I also pulled all fuses and checked them....none blown.

Here is the other strange thing. There are two small reading lights in the front shell above one of the beds. They are silver with toggle switches on them. They will not turn on at all (even when I am plugged into 30 amp and have th battery connected).

The fridge is running on AC and is working great too so again I know there is power to the trailer from the box.

Ay other thoughts?

[ELM-JLM]

The switch for those lights is in the skylight on the right as you face them!

Did you check the 40 Amp Reverse polarity fuse? Its between the breakers and the fuses! I had the same problem and it was caused by that fuse! I used a 30 Amp fuse till I was able to get replacement 40's!

Originally Posted by ELM-JLM

The switch for those lights is in the skylight on the right as you face them!

Did you check the 40 Amp Reverse polarity fuse? Its between the breakers and the fuses! I had the same problem and it was caused by that fuse! I used a 30 Amp fuse till I was able to get replacement 40's!

Well, the reading light problem solved. That's a strange spot for those lights...but THANKS!

I pulled both 40 amp fuses and they are both fine.

Still no lights anywhere in the trailer when battery is disconnected. And still holding at "fair" on the monitor.

Ay other thoughts.

Btw, I really appreciate you guys. Awesome resource for a noob.

PS...so if I understand right now the battery is indeed powering the lights? I've been not using them much as I'm afraid I will run the battery down.

Pps thisis how the battery is wired. The ground wire and black are on positive and white is on negative. Fuse on ground wire is ok as well. Is this all correct?

[ELM-JLM]

My problems began on the Al-Can Highway in The Yukon Territory after the trailer going airborne once! The connector came loose and arced to cause the fuse to blow! I bought a small battery charger in Whitehorse and connected it to the 110 outlet on the door side then to the batteries! I used it at each overnight stop with shore power till I found the bad fuse! It actually worked very well! LOL!

[Bill]

Originally Posted by dnurk01

thisis how the battery is wired. The ground wire and black are on positive and white is on negative. Fuse on ground wire is ok as well. Is this all correct?

I'm a little confused by this battery wiring, and your converter may be, as well.

In every TM I have seen, the fuse is in the black wire, which is the (positive) main power wire to everything in the TM. Both the white wire (the negative power wire) and the ground (bare or green) are on the negative side of the battery.

It appears from your photo that the infamous gremlin named "Someone" installed a replacement fuse in one of the wires, and then reassembled everything incorrectly.

Can you confirm which wire is ground by seeing the actual physical connection to the trailer ground? It appears that you have two black wires going to the battery positive post - a heavy wire going directly to the battery post, and a lightweight wire going through Someone's fuse to the positive post. You also have a heavy white wire going to battery negative. If I am seeing all that correctly, then the two heavy wires are positioned OK, but the fuse should be in the heavy black wire. And the ground wire, wherever it is, should be going, unfused, to the battery negative post along with the heavy white.

Bill

Originally Posted by Bill

I'm a little confused by this battery wiring, and your converter may be, as well.

In every TM I have seen, the fuse is in the black wire, which is the (positive) main power wire to everything in the TM. Both the white wire (the negative power wire) and the ground (bare or green) are on the negative side of the battery.

It appears from your photo that the infamous gremlin named "Someone" installed a replacement fuse in one of the wires, and then reassembled everything incorrectly.

Can you confirm which wire is ground by seeing the actual physical connection to the trailer ground? It appears that you have two black wires going to the battery positive post - a heavy wire going directly to the battery post, and a lightweight wire going through Someone's fuse to the positive post. You also have a heavy white wire going to battery negative. If I am seeing all that correctly, then the two heavy wires are positioned OK, but the fuse should be in the heavy black wire. And the ground wire, wherever it is, should be going, unfused, to the battery negative post along with the heavy white.

Bill

Yep, something is seriously messed up here. The big fat white wire is actually a short piece of wire that is directly bolted to the trailer frame. So that white wire is essentially the ground.

The black wire on the positive terminal appears to run up to the electric tongue jack. The wierd franken-wire that is green and white with a fuse in it actually turns into a small gauge black wire after that white spliced in section and runs back into a plastic corrugated conduit sleeve and back into the trailer.

So now I'm completed confused as to what is what and where things should be.

I guess this is the downside to buying used. But hopefully we can get it figured out.

Thanks again Bill. Appreciate you helping me troubleshoot this.

[Bill]

OK, we are homing in on it, and we will get there - no worries. Your answers make some sense - now we will have to make more sense of them.

"The big fat white wire on the negative terminal runs directly to ground, so it is the ground wire." OK, no problem here. But there needs to be a separate wire, also heavy (#10), nominally white, from battery negative post to the negative connection in the converter, probably a buss bar) in the converter. Can you tell me the make and model of your converter? I will try to find a picture or drawing of where this connection should go.

"The franken-wire with the fuse in it becomes a small-gauge black wire that goes into a sleeve and back to the trailer." This is the main wire carrying power to all the trailer loads - lights, water pump, and so forth. It should be heavy gauge. I can't imagine why anyuone would replace the original fat black wire with a skinny one. However, aside from the fact that it is much too small, it should let you run a couple lights. The fuse should be 30-amp - check it to make sure it is the right value, and it is good.

"The fat black wire on the positive post runs to the electric jack." This is the larger of the two black wires? No problem here, although there has to be a fuse for the jack somewhere. Since I don't have an electric jack, I don't know where the fuse is. Maybe someone else can chime in, or you can look up your jack online by make and model, and get an installation manual.

Assuming that the 30-amp fuse is good, I'm having trouble explaining what you are seeing. Unfortunately, I fear for the converter. If you disconnect the battery by removing both wires from the positive post, and if you plug in shore power, and if you are sure shore power is reaching the TM, and if you try a number of interior lights in the front half of the trailer (not the rear half), and if all the fuses related to lights are good, then the lights should light. If they don't, the converter is not generating 12 VDC power. Either shore power is not entering the converter (but you say you checked all the circuit breakers), or the converter has a fault.

Using your voltmeter on a DC-volts scale, are you able to measure voltage at the fuse box? Easiest way to do this - clip the black lead of your voltmeter on any convenient ground, then pull any of the fuses, then use the red lead of the voltmeter to look for voltage on either of the recessed contacts where the fuse plugs in.

Don't give up. And send me the converter make/model info if you can.

Bill

EDIT: a new thought. As I think you understand by now, the battery has a negative post, and the converter has a negative post, and these must be tired together with a piece of heavy wire (nominally white #10). In addition, this common connection must be tied to the trailer frame (ground). I bet this connection - negative wires to trailer frame - is missing. Let me think about how to confirm or deny this.