Hi, I am new to this site and look forward to some help. I own a 2004 Fleetwood Tucson tent trailer. It has not been used for the last few years and I replaced the old battery, which was not taking a charge. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. I remember my old electrical rule that white is positive and black is negative, so I hooked up the new battery this way. Nothing seemed to work. Later, I discovered that on my model, the black wire is positive, so I reversed them. Still nothing. (The 110v. does work). I found the reverse battery fuse by my converter and checked it, but the fuse was still good. I am now wondering whether leaving the battery connected incorrectly for a period of time may have damaged my converter. Any thoughts?
Battery issues
- Thread starter Rvger
- Start date
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Look under tongue of trailer, ( Assuming battery mounted on tongue ), look for a 20 or 30 amp circuit breaker there?? It will be approximately 2" long and 3/4" wide.Trace hot line and see if it is farther down line? Also, hook something up to battery, if your void of voltmeter, see what it reads.
Thanks, joey. I know circuit breaker you are referring to. I saw it on a friend's trailer, but mine does not have that. But, the black wire from the battery does connect to a small rectangular box labelled "Short Stop T" and while the writing is rubbing off, it looks like it says 15 amp underneath that. The box is sealed so I assume I need to buy a replacement. From there it goes through a plastic tube along the frame and into the trailer. It did not dawn on me before (not a handy man!) but this must blown the circuit. I will replace it and see what happens.
Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
Short Stop is a brand name for a circuit breaker from Bussman. It should be resettable. Here is a similar one, but you can use any brand of 15A circuit breaker if you think it needs replacement.Any auto parts store should have them, or a Graingers or similar as well.
http://www.amazon.com/QUALITY-BUSSMANN-CIRCUIT-12V-Shipping/dp/B00DNH3DF6/ref=sr_1_4?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1374681531&sr=1-4&keywords=short+stop+15
http://www.amazon.com/QUALITY-BUSSMANN-CIRCUIT-12V-Shipping/dp/B00DNH3DF6/ref=sr_1_4?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1374681531&sr=1-4&keywords=short+stop+15
Ok, I replaced the circuit breaker box near the battery and tested the battery. It is OK. I also rechecked all the fuses in the fuse box and replaced the 30 amp reverse battery fuse. I found where the white wire attaches to the frame and the black wire, plus a wire from the emergency release unit, go through a plastic tube, through the inside of the frame and then into the box. I am not sure what else to try. Still no power.
Something, I think, is going on in convertor box. Regardless if battery bad, you should have 12vdc inside unit, when unit plugged in. Possible convertor not converting a/c to dc, likely even. How did you test the fuses at converter box?? With volt meter? Just want more info as I want to help.
Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
Time to start tracing. Start at the battery end with a VOM and measure voltage. Keep working on toward the power distribution panel until you find where the voltage is no longer available. It is often worthwhile to leap ahead and check voltage somewhere toward the middle, thus eliminating a lot of tests if you still have voltage at that point, but as soon as you find a "no voltage" condition, you have to go back to the last known good test point and work your way through it step by step.
Thanks for the suggestions. I pulled all the fuses (regular type also found in vehicles) and each looked like new. I have no experience with electricity nor any equipment to check it out. I did have a battery tester with a 12v setting, and it showed the battery as fully charged. It looks like I may be getting to the point of having to bring it in to a service department. We will be using the trailer beginning next week, but will make sure we have 110v hookups.
Alfa38User
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2007
- Posts
- 6,678
Looks may not cut it. Use a voltmeter/multimeter (VOM) and either measure the voltage on each side of the fuse or pull the fuse and measure the continuity using the ohmmeter function. As an alternative, a mechanics trouble light may be useful. Worst case, simply substitute a known good fuse.
You should take the time to lean to use a multimeter, they are not difficult to master, not expensive, and very useful around an RV.
