Battery switch stops working after a few days.

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teodoro65

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Sep 22, 2014
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I installed a battery switch so I can disconnect the battery when the camper is in storage in between trips. Problem is, my second switch just died, and I can't explain why. I thought the first one was faulty, so I replaced it. But the same thing happened to the second one. When I store the camper the switch was working fine. I disconnected it and left. Couple of weeks later, when I went back to get it, the switch would not turn the battery on.

This is the actual switch I've been using: http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/CTI0/85988/N0362.oap?ck=Search_battery+switches_-1_-1&keyword=battery+switches

What could be causing this?
 
What happens to the switch? Does show signs of melting?moisture? Dirt?  there really is not much to these switchs and would mostly fail from overload rather than from sitting in off position.
 
Just to verify the obvious, are you sure the battery hasn't died?  Did you use a voltmeter to verify that the switch is where the voltage is being lost? 
 
@redbarber The battery was fully charged (good idea covering all possibilities, though). As soon as I bypassed the switch, I was back to normal.

@Sam!  There are no signs of dirt of anything abnormal I can tell from the outside. I did read that it is not waterproof, so maybe water got in and messed it up? The link with product info does say that it is not waterproof, although it looks pretty water tight when you look at it.

Does it matter if the switch acts on the positive terminal vs. the negative one? I think I had it connected to positive.
 
It should not matter if installed on positive or negative. only other thing to make sure is to use a holding wrench on the base while tightening the wires to it. and it's 100A rating should be sufficient.
 
Connecting to the negative will reduce but not eliminate the possibility of arcing inside the switch. The negative terminal is the preffered side for light duty use such as this switch with a 100 amp load limit. I'm not sure exactly what type of "camper" you have, but if you're starting a genset, some other engine or doing a lot of microwaving you might be drawing more than 100 amps @ 12v which could be damaging the switches.

In the marine world we switch the positive side but use much beefier switches. Like this one rated at 365 amps. http://www.amazon.com/Perko-8501DP-Marine-Battery-Selector/dp/B00144B6AE

Ken
 
At a guess, the switch is arcing when you open it (disconnect power), so doesn't work when you go back to re-connect. Turn the new one off, then turn on again after a minute. If it has already failed, that's the answer. If not, something must be happening after you leave, but nothing should affect an open switch except water or maybe "critter" intrusion that creates an arc across the open terminals.  Maybe disassemble the failed switch to see what is wrong?
 
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