# Atwood 3500 And Dual 6 Volt Batteries.



## Herbicidal (Aug 29, 2003)

I just hooked up my new Atwood 3500 yesterday and tonight was the first time to try it out. It worked great on the RV pad next to the house! 3 bolts and a single wire hook up to the positive side of the nearest Trojan 6 volt battery. Easy as pie.









Then, I hooked up my truck to pull the Outback out front and I did connect the 7-pin trailer harness to the truck as it was getting near dark. Parked the Outback and pressed the button to lift her off the truck's hitch....and....nothing.







Checked the 30 amp fuse for the jack and it was burned out. Any ideas on why it popped? I'm thinking it happened when I connected the 7-pin harness to the truck, but since I could only find one spare 30 amp fuse, I didn't test my theory.









Thanks for the help.


----------



## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

No real clue. That is the same setup I have and I don't pop fuses when I plug in the Outback to the Suburban.


----------



## Herbicidal (Aug 29, 2003)

Thanks Keeper18, I'll double check which battery the + from the trailer is connected to, but I'm pretty sure it's the same one... In the meantime, I'll buy more fuses and only put one 'in the line' when the 7-pin harness is disconnected and I need to use the jack. Weird.


----------



## Herbicidal (Aug 29, 2003)

*Update:*

I e-mailed Atwood and received a response in less than 2 hours! However, he thinks I may have a short somewhere and suggested I switch out the 6 volt batteries for a single 12 volt.







After a few more e-mail exchanges and some schooling (him) about 6 volts vs. 12 volts, I will be testing the voltage to see if I have have 6 volts or 12 coming off the + lead on the battery I'm connected to. I would think 12 since the batteries are connected in series, but I don't know that for a fact.

If I don't figure it out tonight (we're off to the Redwoods in northern CA tomorrow morning), I'll leave the fuse out of the jack's harness unless I need to use it. And then, only when the 7-pin harness is disconnected. Hopefully only a temporary solution.


----------



## cookie9933 (Feb 26, 2005)

Keeper18's answer beat me to it and is right on the money. Since you need 12 volts, the only way to get it with two six volt batteries is to connect to the battery that's NOT directly grounded to the trailer's frame.

Bill


----------



## Herbicidal (Aug 29, 2003)

That's my concern at the moment. The ground is established through the 3 mounting bolts, now I need to double check which battery has the + from the trailer going to it so I get the full 12 volts to the jack.

Thanks again folks.


----------



## Bill H (Nov 25, 2006)

Herbicidal said:


> That's my concern at the moment. The ground is established through the 3 mounting bolts, now I need to double check which battery has the + from the trailer going to it so I get the full 12 volts to the jack.
> 
> Thanks again folks.


This is an easy one....... Did you connect the + Lead to the terminal that had the "Jumper" to the other battery? if so, your between batteries and only getting 6 volts.


----------



## Herbicidal (Aug 29, 2003)

You guys are da' bomb!







I had connected the power lead to the battery with the jumper cable on it, not the + lead for the trailer, so yeah, it was only getting 6 volts. Hey, it even works faster now and that little light is brighter!







The jack is great! I hooked up everything tonight when it was dark and it was a piece of cake. Push button up and push button down. Wheeeeee!

Well, I'm off to bed as 4:30 am will get here awful soon! Nighty night and thanks again.


----------



## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

Herbicidal said:


> You guys are da' bomb!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Had mine wired like that early this year....was informed by a few guys on this board it was wrong. You're right...it really cranks up fast with 12v vs. 6v.


----------



## evansfamilyfive (Aug 12, 2007)

Herbicidal said:


> I just hooked up my new Atwood 3500 yesterday and tonight was the first time to try it out. It worked great on the RV pad next to the house! 3 bolts and a single wire hook up to the positive side of the nearest Trojan 6 volt battery. Easy as pie.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


You have to hook up (2) 6-volt batteries in Parallel, sounds like you have them wired in series. In Parallel the voltage is doubled, thus giving you 12volts. In series you would still only have 6volts


----------



## W4DRR (May 17, 2005)

allthegoodnamesaretaken said:


> I just hooked up my new Atwood 3500 yesterday and tonight was the first time to try it out. It worked great on the RV pad next to the house! 3 bolts and a single wire hook up to the positive side of the nearest Trojan 6 volt battery. Easy as pie.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


You have to hook up (2) 6-volt batteries in Parallel, sounds like you have them wired in series. In Parallel the voltage is doubled, thus giving you 12volts. In series you would still only have 6volts
[/quote]

The batteries are wired correct. In Series will give 12V. Parallel will only be 6V. Trust me.

Bob


----------



## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

W4DRR said:


> I just hooked up my new Atwood 3500 yesterday and tonight was the first time to try it out. It worked great on the RV pad next to the house! 3 bolts and a single wire hook up to the positive side of the nearest Trojan 6 volt battery. Easy as pie.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


You have to hook up (2) 6-volt batteries in Parallel, sounds like you have them wired in series. In Parallel the voltage is doubled, thus giving you 12volts. In series you would still only have 6volts
[/quote]

The batteries are wired correct. In Series will give 12V. Parallel will only be 6V. Trust me.

Bob
[/quote]

Bob set me straight earlier this year with my 6v's wired wrong...I'd trust him when he says he has it wired correct.


----------



## Herbicidal (Aug 29, 2003)

We rolled in from our camping trip last night at 8:30pm. Yawn! Long day. The Atwood worked perfectly, no blown fuses. You should have seen the grin on my wife's face when she hooked up the trailer to the truck with a push of a button. Now I just need to show her how to do the WD bars!









When I initially hooked up the power lead for the Atwood, I followed the existing wire loom and zipped tied everything down nice and pretty. As it turned out, my brain was turned off and I didn't think about what + battery terminal I was connecting to. My bad.







So I had to undo all my nice work and run the power lead down the other side of the frame. Not quite as pretty, but it sure does work a whole lot better!


----------



## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

Sweet! Glad it was a simple fix


----------



## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

Glad things worked out for ya!


----------

