Travel trailer electical issue

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

bvs0004

New member
Joined
Jan 23, 2013
Posts
2
Hi,

I'm new here, my name is Brad.  We enjoy camping in our travel trailer often.  When we went to a State Park last weekend, after plugging in to the pedestal, our interior (and porch) lights would go off and come back on.  They did this for more than an hour.  The time intervals varied.  I did determine that these were all on one 15 amp breaker that was not tripping.  If I turned the breaker off and then on, the lights would come back on, then go off again.  The converter fan would usually run for a couple of seconds each time this happened.  Eventually, the problem resolved (for no apparent reason).  I thought it might be the campground power, but it did it again when I got home and seems to have resolved after 30 minutes, or so.  Could it be a prong on my 30 amp plug, or a bad breaker?  The trailer is about 5 years old.

Thanks.
 
Welcome to RVF!

My first guess would be a loose wire or a ground problem.

If you can isolate it even further some how might help.
Was it only the 12VDC side of the camper? 
Were any 120VAC items effected?
These may narrow it to which side of the electrical system to start looking.

I would check all the wiring connections in the electrical box for a loose screw and go from there.

Give us any more info you can and keep us posted.  There is a wealth of knowledge available to you here. ;)
 
It was only the lights, which I believe are all 12VDC.  Everything that was plugged into an outlet stayed on.  When I flipped the 15 amp breaker inside the trailer, the lights would come back on for a few seconds, then go back off.  I also pulled all of the 12VDC fuses and the little red light next to them would illuminate, all of the red lights were otherwise off (I assume this meant these fuses were ok).  The fuses did not look blown.  One of the prongs on my trailer plug looked a little corroded, although it wasn't loose.  That's why I wondered if that may have something to do with it.  I'll check when I get home, but the problem seems to resolve after some time (maybe 30 minutes to an hour).
 
Is it possible that your battery was totally drained before connecting to shore power? If so, it could be the converter was doing all it could just to put juice back into the battery and momentarily tripping out on the DC side.
 
You mentioned a breaker and fuses. 12 Volt power under these conditions is usually supplied by the batteries (and the converter if plugged in) through the fuses, as you found out. Throwing a breaker should only affect the 120V AC (from the pedestal). In doing so the power would be cut off to the converter causing it to shut down and leave all lights to be powered from the battery(ies) alone.

That said, the 15 amp breaker you mentioned should not affect the lights but..... since it likely affects the converter, BillB3857's suggestion may well be valid especially if the converter itself has a 12V auto resetting breaker built into its output design. Your trailer plug or the 15a C/B  should not be affecting anything if you heard the converter fan running. (Some converter fans run most of the time while in use, some only run when necessary). Check the fluid levels in the batteries, top up with distilled water if necessary, and then charge your batteries fully using a separate 12V charger and see if that happens again.

By using a multimeter, battery voltage can be used as a simple, but rough indicator of charge. Without any load or charger running (disconnected), a battery reading 11.5V or less is DEAD for all intents and purposes (but it may light a lamp somewhat). A 12.2V reading is a good charge. 13.2V to about 14.3V or so indicates that the battery when connected, is being charged from an outside source
 

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
134,554
Posts
1,431,390
Members
140,126
Latest member
The Flying Waltini
Back
Top Bottom