ZuniJayne
Well-known member
Greetings, gang!
I am sharing an experience I had with hooking up my new batteries so someone else might learn from it.
I got the two new T-105 6 volt golf cart batteries installed in the box on the trailer tongue. Diligently cleaned off all the battery cable terminals and replaced one obviously bad connection. Put all the cables back on the same way they were before. Checked the Link 10 meter - no 12 volt power in the TT.
I spent the next hour checking all the wiring from the batteries back into the TT. Nothing, zip, zilch, nada. Then I realize that the trailer is plugged into shore power, and still no lights. Converter problem? I check it. No power to it, but all fuses are fine. I thought converters mine is an iIntellipower 50 amp) were supposed to convert???
THEN I notice that the fridge, which was set to run on AC, is off. Yet when I check the outlet in back of the fridge, there is good AC. Now I am REALLY confused and thinking I fried the fridge somehow. Dollar signs fly past my eyes.
So I went back out to the batteries. Each had a 6.4 volt reading, but when I read across both batteries, I did NOT get 12 volts. How can that be, I ask, as the foot-long cable connecting the two was 4 gauge, professionally made with shrink tubing and everything. It still looks new!
A dim bulb lit up over my head. I removed the cable in question and checked its resistance. 0.00. then I wiggled it and checked again. BAD! I checked at various places along the cable and saw that it was bad in some places but not others. Since it was the only one I had at the time, I bent it to a shape where it had no resistance and put it back on the batteries. VOILA!!! I had 12v in the TT. To my surprise (and joy), when I turned the fridge back on to AC, it ran fine.
I'm still confused about that. Why wouldn't the fridge NOT run on AC if there was no 12V? It's a Dometic two-way. Is it made this way, or do I have another electrical problem to check out? Why would the converter NOT run 12v items in the TT if it was hooked to shore power? I saw in another thread that Bryan had finally found a grounding problem. Could this be a similar thing in my rig?
The moral of the story is: just because a battery cable or wire LOOKS fine, don't assume it is. ;D
I am sharing an experience I had with hooking up my new batteries so someone else might learn from it.
I got the two new T-105 6 volt golf cart batteries installed in the box on the trailer tongue. Diligently cleaned off all the battery cable terminals and replaced one obviously bad connection. Put all the cables back on the same way they were before. Checked the Link 10 meter - no 12 volt power in the TT.
I spent the next hour checking all the wiring from the batteries back into the TT. Nothing, zip, zilch, nada. Then I realize that the trailer is plugged into shore power, and still no lights. Converter problem? I check it. No power to it, but all fuses are fine. I thought converters mine is an iIntellipower 50 amp) were supposed to convert???
THEN I notice that the fridge, which was set to run on AC, is off. Yet when I check the outlet in back of the fridge, there is good AC. Now I am REALLY confused and thinking I fried the fridge somehow. Dollar signs fly past my eyes.
So I went back out to the batteries. Each had a 6.4 volt reading, but when I read across both batteries, I did NOT get 12 volts. How can that be, I ask, as the foot-long cable connecting the two was 4 gauge, professionally made with shrink tubing and everything. It still looks new!
A dim bulb lit up over my head. I removed the cable in question and checked its resistance. 0.00. then I wiggled it and checked again. BAD! I checked at various places along the cable and saw that it was bad in some places but not others. Since it was the only one I had at the time, I bent it to a shape where it had no resistance and put it back on the batteries. VOILA!!! I had 12v in the TT. To my surprise (and joy), when I turned the fridge back on to AC, it ran fine.
I'm still confused about that. Why wouldn't the fridge NOT run on AC if there was no 12V? It's a Dometic two-way. Is it made this way, or do I have another electrical problem to check out? Why would the converter NOT run 12v items in the TT if it was hooked to shore power? I saw in another thread that Bryan had finally found a grounding problem. Could this be a similar thing in my rig?
The moral of the story is: just because a battery cable or wire LOOKS fine, don't assume it is. ;D