Electrical questions on 2006 3023

I have a few electical questions after spending all day with my newly acquired 3023..
At front of trailer in 12V battery area, I have two black wires that are not connected to the battery but appear they should be. Connected to the battery there are 2 main wires (+ and - that look to be about 10 gauge) that run back and enter the trailer below the sink area and seem to carry the power to the 12v systems. There is also another negative battery wire grounded to the frame at front. The two unconnected wires are slightly smaller gauge and run alongside the main power cable that comes from the TV hookup (these three are joined with cable ties along lower outside of traielr frame). ALL wires appear to enter the trailer through the same hole near the sink. Any idea what these two wires are for? The end of one of these mystery wires is exposed (insulation stripped) as if it should be connected to something. The other one is simply snipped off at the end. There aren't any obvious items in the trailer without power but I'm new to TMs.

Also, we had the TM hooked up to the 110v home power using an adaptor today. At some point, a fan (or something that sounded like a fan) started running up near the breaker panel (lower bathroom wall). It also looked like the small light furthest to the left on the front of this breaker panel was also illuminated (overload?). Any idea what was making this fan noise and why? Thanks.

The noise coming from the fuse panel is probably the fan on the converter. It will go on and off to cool the converter as required.

As to what the other wires are or were for ????? Get a wiring diagram from your manual and trace the circuits to see what should be connected and what was installed for some unknown purpose by the previous owner.

Is the wiring to your breakaway switch ok? Just a thought. It wouldn't be good to have those cut off.

Have fun, Peter

[ShrimpBurrito]

Brian - Are these 2 wires not connected to the battery connected to the Bargman connector that you plug into the TV?

That fan is normal; it turns on to cool the converter when it gets warm. The converter gets warm when it's putting out a fair amount of power, which it quickly does when you're using alot of DC appliances, but especially so when it is charging the batteries.

Perhaps someone else can comment on the light. I don't have a light on my breaker panel (to my recollection, and I've been over it pretty good).

Dave

[scrubjaysnest]

If you have a WEFC converter they use red LEDS to indicate a blown fuse. As for the two black wires near the battery sounds like something the previous owner hooked up/disconnected. Since they are the same color and size your only recourse is to follow them to were their other ends are. We will need more details to help you with this.

[rvcycleguy]

could be wires left over from a powered jack/hitch post?

rv

[MudDog]

Originally Posted by rvcycleguy

could be wires left over from a powered jack/hitch post?

rv

That was my first thought as well - Did the previous owner decide to keep an electric tongue jack and cut the wires?

Often the jack will be connected to the battery with a direct, short + wire with in-line fuse (the ground is thru the frame).

But I believe TM wired a fuse back in the fuse panel for the jack as well...so this would require a wire from the jack to the fuse panel and a wire coming back from the fuse panel to the battery....wonder if this is also causing your blown fuse indicator on the panel.

You'll have to trace the wires or get out a meter to be sure. If you have manual or the fuse panel is labeled you should be able to match the led to which fuse is blown.

Ok, sounds like the extra wires at front were from some sort of add on. The snipped wire appears to be grounded. I'll trace them when I have time but just wanted to make sure they weren't a standard set of wires that controlled something important.
Glad to hear the converter fan running is normal. I'll keep an eye on that panel but no breakers/fuses were blown. It just appeared that one of the small LEDs on the front left of the panel was lit Green. Thanks for the great info! Another two days of working (and learning) on the TM and we will be ready for our maiden voyage next weekend to a local state park!

[Bill]

Brian -

For a short time, which included at least some of the 2006 models, TM used a converter from American Enterprises. I had one in my unit. It was kind of a crummy converter, so TM switched to WFCO. As I recall, the American Enterprises unit had two or three little LED lights in a line on the front panel, inside the door. I've switched out my converter, so I've lost track of what the lights meant on the AE unit, but you should be able to find out on the instruction sheet in the blue book, or on the AE web site. But "green" did not mean "bad".

Bill