Electric Front Jack

[Brittany Dogs]

Well here's a tip that falls into the category of "don't do this."

I have an electric front jack on the tongue. I love it and find it a worthwhile option. From day#1 I protected this jack with a black bag made for this exact purpose. It has a nice drawstring opening and you basically put the bag over the jack and draw the string tight so that the wind does not blow it off. The bag was purchased at Camping World.

When I come back from camping, the TrailManor unit goes into the garage and the trailer gets a bath as well as the coolers and anything else that needs cleaning. The last step for me after the cleanup is to put the battery minder on the Bergman connector using the adapter I made and that brings the batteries up to full charge and floats once the last little bit of charging is done.

This time was different. The battery minder was not going from red to green after sever days of charging. Most times the batteries need so little of a top off that the minder often goes green in a matter of 4-8 hours. This time after several days it was still red.

Did I accidentally leave the refrigerator on DC? Nope, I did that once and I'll never make that mistake again.

I would turn on an outside light on the trailer and the bulb was bright so I didn't have a large current draw draining the batteries way,way down but figured something still must have been left on.

So during winterizing yesterday, (a short year for camping and I'm sad) I went searching for the current draw.

The propane detector is off on my unit when the bathroom wall is down, so that's not it. A check of current draw was saying 1.2 amps. Ahhh, clue, that's typically a light. The oven light was off, so that's not it.

So I started pulling fuses. The last of all the fuses was the front electric jack and the current dropped to almost nothing once I pulled that fuse.

Dog gone it, the front jack light was accidentally left on and never noticed under that black weather protection bag. The bezel for the lamp was slightly burned and melted a bit. We never used the light and well, time to put electrical tape on the switch to keep it from being flipped on again.

So if you use one of those black bags, and if your front jack has a light on it, I suggest taping it in the off position.

 

[Icon-KEY]

Glad you found the source, nicely written.

 

[tentcamper]

Glade you found it. I have found a few time I have left the LED lights on the jack on. I don't notice it until it's night because they are not that bright.

If you'r keeping it in the garage, why put the bag on the jack??

 

[moaboy]

Read like a real mystery! Thanks.
Do you have a cut off switch on your electrical line?

 

[RottieMom-TMO]

Moaboy, what do you mean by cut-off switch?

 

[funpilot]

I see a battery cut off switch often mentioned. Is it easy to install? Is there a brand that you would recommend? Thanks

Ignore...saw videos. Too easy. This video I liked because it showed a way to do it without putting holes in the trailer.

 

[Bailey'sMom]

I knew what it was right away. From experience.

While I don't cover my electric jack I have found many times that I accidentally turned on the light. In fact it just happened again yesterday. Each time I think, "gee, I really should tape that to the off position" yet I still haven't done it. One of these days I will.

Got a kick out of your post.

 

[tentcamper]

I have only had a need to used the jack lights once. Not sure they are of any value. But they are a nice marking gimmick.

 

[Redtail cruiser]

Cmboyd & funpilot, there is a variety of products on the market that can be integrated into your 12volt electrical system to serve as a cut off switch.

I used a simple 20 amp rated light switch, which I placed inside a weather proof electrical box with a weather proof switch cover. I simply mounted the box to the inside of the tongue frame next to the battery boxes. I then ran two #10 awg wires from the switch thru a weather tight cord grip connector into the battery box with battery ring connectors on the wires. My TM has two 6volt golf cart batteries wired in series, so I removed the wire that went from the positive side of battery one to the negative side of battery two and replaced it with the two new wires from my cut off switch. Now when I park the trailer for any extended time, I turn the switch off and save the battery charge.

 

[RottieMom-TMO]

Tim, thx for explaining the cut-off switch.

 

[Brittany Dogs]

I have a knife switch on the battery set but it is only used for the long term winter storage. During the camping season I need to keep a float on the batteries. Mine are stored in back and I have no access to them when the unit is closed.

I just keep the bag on the jack head at all times regardless if the unit is going down the road or in my garage.

Yeah, that light switch needs a tape-down alright.

 

[rumbleweed]

If your battery is mounted in the rear of the camper, and you are using the battery minder on the Bargman, you might be disappointed in the results as the wiring between the battery and the minder needs to be relatively short to properly sense the battery voltage.

Edit: As noted in these two posts
. . http://www.trailmanorowners.com/forum/showthread.php?p=118154&#post118154
. . http://www.trailmanorowners.com/forum/showthread.php?p=118156&#post118156
the "long wire" issue does not arise in the specific case of the Battery Tender. Other trickle chargers or battery minders may be different.

 

[tentcamper]

My battery minder came with a small wire harness with a quick connect connection that I always leave connected to the battery. The connection end hangs under the camper and it's a quick plug in of the charger when I get home.

 

[Brittany Dogs]

I do not dispute the voltage drop of the added length of cable. Although the good news is, from the Bergman to the battery the wire is 10 or 12 gauge which is slightly better for resistance.

The Battery Minder is relatively low current and after several hours, it will go to the float mode. So while I agree the sense circuit might be skewed for when to float, it's not like I am overcharging the battery set nor undercharging by any significant degree.

The concern would be if the Battery Minder never senses the voltage level of the battery properly and just keeps on charging. That's not happening in my setup.

 

[shebantam]

When we got to the campground the tongue jack wold not work, blown fuse, looked kinda corroded.

I just got back home was going to jack it up and take it off the truck...tongue jack not working again...this is getting old. Well I am getting old, putting up the table, climbing under, swinging the leaves out of the way and opening the converter box. swinging back the leaves, climbing out from under the table, and putting it back against the wall.

Second fuse in a week. I am ready to pull out the electric jack and buying a good old fashioned hand crank jack.

No the light is NOT on, I am not over cranking the jack, when it was up I let go of the switch.
there was an extra 15 amp fuse and a puller in the converter box, so I am wondering if the previous owner had a problem like this before.
This jack did not come with a bag when I bought the camper.

Any ideas? should I go ahead and buy a regulat drank jack like all m other trailers had?

 

[Redtail cruiser]

Paula, my electric tongue jack came with a manual crank which has a half inch SAE socket. When the jack acts up, I use a three eights inch by six inch long extention with a half inch socket in my 18 volt battery drill. This works great when the jack won't.

 

[Padgett]

I have both (and a tow valet I need to install).

 

[ThePair]

For those with the batteries in the back of the TM (SL models), you can add a cut off switch like I did, inside the rear bumper compartment. I just drilled a hole through the floor of the trunk space into the bumper, ran the wires down, and wired in a marine battery cut-off (for waterproof-ness). Works great -- when I park the TM in my garage, the tail end is by the door, so I can just lift the bumper lid and cut the battery. When I need to pull it out, the very first thing I do is raise the garage door and re-connect the battery.

 

[Bill]

Good work! Sounds remarkably like post #32 here, which works very well.

http://www.trailmanorowners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16026

The tail end of your trailer is by the door? I don't have that luxury, so I have to remember to throw the switch before pulling in, and again after I pull out.

Bill

 

[Padgett]

I do the reverse, the cutoffs are in the rear storage area & have a junction box for a float charger under the bumper cover. The electric tongue jack is run by a multifunction jump box I always carry.