# Electrical Problems



## Reggie44 (Aug 12, 2005)

Hi everyone, our trailer has been plugged in for weeks (no time to camp). For some reason our batteries went dead and fridge shut down just over the weekend. I have checked power, breaker not blown, ac receptacles at 119 volts. I recharged both batteries and tried again but fridge is draining batteries and all fuses are good. I have turned off the fridge not sure what to do next. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for help. JR


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## H2oSprayer (Aug 5, 2006)

Reggie44 said:


> Hi everyone, our trailer has been plugged in for weeks (no time to camp). For some reason our batteries went dead and fridge shut down just over the weekend. I have checked power, breaker not blown, ac receptacles at 119 volts. I recharged both batteries and tried again but fridge is draining batteries and all fuses are good. I have turned off the fridge not sure what to do next. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for help. JR


I'm not sure I follow you Reggie. Are you trying to run the frig off of propane or shore power?


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## thefulminator (Aug 8, 2007)

Better check to see if your breakers are switched on. More than once, I've plugged in but forgotten to throw the breakers. The fride will ignite off battery power and the batteries won't charge.


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## Reggie44 (Aug 12, 2005)

Hi, sorry for the confusion we are plugged into shore power at our house. We are plugged into our RV 30 amp service that runs to our electrical panel in the basement. I have used a multi meter to check the RV electrical receptacle that we plug into 119.4 volts. I have checked the trailer's receptacles about the same voltage as the house recptacle. All the fuses seem to be ok in the trailer. Everything was dead like the breaker blew then the fridge drained the batteries. Except nothing blew, power going into the trailer seems fine, however the fridge seems to be killing the batteries. Historically when we are plugged in the batteries get trickle charged by the shore pwoer so when we go dry camping the batteries are 100%. Thanks again for trying to help JR


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## hautevue (Mar 8, 2009)

Hummm. Interesting problem.

Is the power converter working? The shore power seems ok, but if the converter's not putting out 12vdc, you can drain the batteries. The reefer works on either gas or 120 v ac. On gas, it uses a smidge of dc power unless you have the heater strip on. The heater strip draws several amps of DC and will kill batteries in a few days. Turn it off.

Converter: use your voltmeter and make sure you have 12 or 13 volts coming out of it. Even with dead batteries, when hooked to shore power you should have 12vdc at the lights inside. Do the inside lights work (on shore power) even if the bats are dead? If they do, then the converter is putting out its 12-13 volts. All the dc fuses ok? (Visual inspection for fried fuses.)

Circuit breaker that feeds the converter ok? That breaker gives shore power to the converter.

Check the main battery circuit breakers--there will be at least one (feeds the TT) and usually another one (feeds the slide-out motor). Both are usually near the batteries, are maybe 2 inches square, have big-a**ed wires attached (#8 or #6) and are encased is soft plastic for weatherproofing. Mine reset by just pushing down on the plastic. Check the voltage -- you should have 12 volts to ground on both sides of the breaker. One side comes from the batteries, the other side is the feed to the TT or the slide motor. If one side is dead when the batteries have a charge, the breaker is open.

Is there a battery cutoff switch that was left open? (That happened to me last year!!)

Battery terminal connectors clean and tight? No crud on the posts is there?

Others can chime in!!!


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## Reggie44 (Aug 12, 2005)

Hi Hautevue, thanks for the help. The lights did not work when batteries were dead or removed. Once recherged and put back in the lights worked.



*Converter: use your voltmeter and make sure you have 12 or 13 volts coming out of it.* Where is this located and how do I check it?



*Circuit breaker that feeds the converter ok? That breaker gives shore power to the converter.* Is this part of th front panel breakers? If so all breakers are fine



*Check the main battery circuit breakers--there will be at least one (feeds the TT)* Where is this located?

Sorry for the dumb questions but I know less than zero about electrical. Had to research internet to see if I could stick volt meter leads in receptacle. Plus Electricity scares the $%^* out of me. Thanks for the help I really appreciate it. JR


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## sdizzyday (Feb 13, 2008)

Reggie44 said:


> Hi Hautevue, thanks for the help. The lights did not work when batteries were dead or removed. Once recherged and put back in the lights worked.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


To access the converter, you need to remove the cover pannel where the breakers/fuses are. Then remove the screws that are holding the breaker/fuse/converter assembly. Once you do this, you can see the converter to test it.

The main battery fuses will be fine if the lights work on battery power.
Just use common sence when dealing with electricity.


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

Did you turn each breaker off and then back on just to make sure it didn't pop and just not move?


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## hautevue (Mar 8, 2009)

Reggie44 said:


> Hi Hautevue, thanks for the help. The lights did not work when batteries were dead or removed. Once recherged and put back in the lights worked.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


First, there are no dumb questions. The only dumb one is the one you don't ask! I depended heavily on this site to get me started--my TT that I bought in April '09 is the first one I've every owned. At the beginning, I didn't know the diff between black water and grey water! Talk about a newbie!!!









Electrical: At the front of the power panel, there will be a bunch of regular looking circuit breakers--they should be labeled, and one of them will feed the power converter that makes 12 volts dc out of 120 volts ac. Turn it off, then back on, to make sure it isn't tripped. When some breakers trip, the handle doesn't move much, so there is no readily apparent "look" that says, "I'm tripped." Check to see if you have lights.

If you have 12 volt lights when hooked to shore power and no batteries (either unhooked or dead), the converter is probably working fine. If you do not, bingo! The converter is not working. Not having batteries (in my unit) makes no difference with shore power--the converter powers the 12 volt circuits in the TT. So make sure the converter is working.

You can test by just turning a ceiling light on. The converter will power them. 
Since you noted that the ceiling lights did not work with the batts removed (or dead), the converter becomes suspect.

Now you should check the ground connections of the converter.

1. Unhook from shore power. Turn the batts off. 
2. Open the converter front by taking off the cover panel. Usually four screws. 
3. Using your flashlight, look along the floor towards the back of the converter. You should see a metal buss bar that will be around 4" to 6" long, about 3/8" on each side, and have a lot of screwheads with screws screwed into the buss bar. Under the screw heads will be a lot of white wires. (White is the TT code for the ground wire.) Using a not big screwdriver, tighten all the screw heads. Nicely tight but don't take a crying strain on them. This buss bar connects electrically all the ground wires from all the 12v dc circuits to ground. With normal use of the TT, sometimes these screws work loose.

You cannot get zapped doing this (nor damage TT circuits) since you have disconnected shore power (now no a/c to the TT) and disconnected the batteries (now no 12 volts dc anywhere).

After the screws are tight, put the converter covers back on. Now you can hook up the shore power cable and see if the converter provides 12vdc to power the lights. Do they work? If not, bingo! It's the converter...If they do, hummmm.

More comments and help from others, now!


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## ED_RN (Jun 25, 2006)

I agree. Throw all the breakers and reset them they don't always look like they tripped. Often that takes care of it. Learned that the first time I plugged the TT into a 15 amp circuit at home. I paid the electrian $50.00 and alot of pride to find that out. Not sure what trailer you have but most OB's if the batteries are dead and the converter is working you can will the fan in the converter running-loudly.


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## johnp (Mar 15, 2004)

There is a switch on the freezer door frame that controls the condensation on the door frames its a 12 volt heater if it is in the on position and your running of batteries only it will kill them. Shut it off.

John


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## Reggie44 (Aug 12, 2005)

Hi all thanks for the help. I disconnected all power opened up converter tightened all screws, flipped breakers on/off and checked all fuses again. Plugged power back in with no batteries connected. Ac 120 volts, no lights work. when toggle kitchen light furnace/ac beeps. Tried bathroom fan it turns slowly then gradually faster not as fast as normal almost like there is not enough power to run it properly, when I try a light the fan stops like power has been removed. So judging by what hautevue said my converter is shot?







I am quite certain that is not something I can fix. Does anybody have any ideas or am I out of luck and if so what would be a ballpark on repair cost. I should add I do not hear the fan running at all to cool things down inside the converter. The fridge does cool down when batteries are in place but does not work when batteries die. Thanks again for all your help and ideas. JR


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## H2oSprayer (Aug 5, 2006)

Reggie44 said:


> So judging by what hautevue said my converter is shot?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Be sure to check out this thread from California Jim--> 12v Converter Upgrade This is a great step by step account (including photos) from when he replaced his converter. Replacement may not be as bad as you think.


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

x2

I replaced the converter in my last trailer (I followed Jim's instructions). It was a couple hour job and that's mainly because I took my time. Let's assume a tech charges $100/hour. That would make it $200 plus equipment.

Before you go any further, I'm troubled on why the fridge wasn't running off of electric if you were plugged in.

Open the refrigerator cover on the outside of the trailer. The Fridge should be just plugged into a 120V outlet. With the trailer plugged in, check the outlet to make sure it has 120V.


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Nathan said:


> x2
> 
> I replaced the converter in my last trailer (I followed Jim's instructions). It was a couple hour job and that's mainly because I took my time. Let's assume a tech charges $100/hour. That would make it $200 plus equipment.
> 
> ...


Even with shore power you must have 12 vdc to run the control board for the fridge. If the converter is toast then the fridge will not work once the batteries die.

To check the converter output. It produces 3 different voltages.

13.2 - when there is no loads and the batteries are charged.

13.6 - low load or batteries are need some charge

14.2 - High loads or batteries are very low/dead

Go to the web site bestconverters.com for the best prices on a replaacement ocnverter.


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## Troy n Deb (Aug 31, 2009)

Are you sure Fridge switch is set to electric and not gas. Possible may have been bumped?


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## kananaskis (Sep 2, 2009)

Reggie44 said:


> Hi everyone, our trailer has been plugged in for weeks (no time to camp). For some reason our batteries went dead and fridge shut down just over the weekend. I have checked power, breaker not blown, ac receptacles at 119 volts. I recharged both batteries and tried again but fridge is draining batteries and all fuses are good. I have turned off the fridge not sure what to do next. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for help. JR


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## kananaskis (Sep 2, 2009)

I would try the switch in your freezer. It will drain your battery quickly.


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