battery or power converter?

Jset · 05-06-2014, 08:49 AM

I have an old battery. It came with the trailer, so I don't know how old. The converter is probably the original. Last week, I was plugged into my house for a few days and once I flipped the breaker to disconnect the power, the radio display went out. The battery didn't either get a charge or keep a charge, and I was wondering if there is a way to know the difference. Oh, the trailer is a 2006 sport 197.

nylyon · 05-06-2014, 08:54 AM

If the battery's old, take it and get it tested. Many automotive places can do this for you (often no charge). Second, with it plugged in, measure the voltage at the battery. Then measure with it unplugged (assuming the battery is connected). If there's no difference then you have a wiring / fuse problem, or perhaps a disconnect which needs to be reset.

Jmooney · 05-06-2014, 10:39 AM

Check fuses

clutch · 05-06-2014, 10:26 PM

Is your radio 12v or 115v? Our radio is 115v and the display is off unless the trailer is plugged in to a power source.

Jset · 05-07-2014, 07:17 AM

I really don't know, all of this electrical stuff is kinda over my head at the moment. When I worked on submarines, they told me to keep to mechanical stuff and don't put a screw driver into an outlet. Anyway, the display is on whenever there is power in any form. If the battery has a charge and I'm not plugged in then it is on, if I am plugged in and no battery connected then it is on.

Jset · 05-07-2014, 07:19 AM

I checked my batter's charge yesterday. Unplugged from trailer it is 8.30, plugged to trailer with trailer plugged to house it is 8.31, and plugged to trailer with trailer not plugged to house 8.29

nylyon · 05-07-2014, 07:34 AM

Sounds to me like there's a fuse / wiring issue. I don't know how your trailer is wired, mine has a circuit breaker in the battery compartment. I would start checking from the battery back to the converter to see where there may be a disconnect. Checking fuses first would help too!

Jset · 05-07-2014, 07:40 AM

Besides the battery being deader then dead, why do you think there is a disconnect? It discharged when under a load and kinda charged when plugged into the house. Should there be more of a change?

Jset · 05-07-2014, 07:43 AM

I will check my fuses today. I just installed a battery disconnect switch, so I will bypass that and see if I got a bad switch. (I didn't mention that I had one because it seems to work just fine.)

nylyon · 05-07-2014, 07:51 AM

Right, with the trailer pugged in, the converter should be sending current to charge the battery. Since there was virtually no change, it doesn't appear that the battery is getting any voltage from the converter. Unless as mentioned above, the radio is 110V, the converter is working powering the radio.

Jmooney · 05-07-2014, 09:17 AM

sounds like there is definitively an "open" between the TT wiring and the battery.

Fuse
Disconnect switch
Broken wire
Bad wire termination
Poor ground connection.

Jset · 05-08-2014, 12:23 PM

ok so I looked at the fuse inside of the battery box. WOW!! I could of been in much worse shape! The fuse is melted! I don't know why, but the fuse that was in it is a 25. shouldn't it be a 30?
Looks like I have some wire work to do.
It was working before I installed the battery switch. I put it on the neg side. also, the fuse is on the neg side as well.
besides taking out the melted fuse holder, replacing it with a new one and putting in a 30 fuse, is there anything else I should look at?
what could of made this happen?

nylyon · 05-08-2014, 12:44 PM

I haven't looked at mine, but the fuse is on the negative side? I would think that it would be on the positive side, as would the disconnect be on the positive side? Where in proximity to the battery is the fuse, closer to the battery or panel? If it's closer to the battery, I would start to look for shorts between the panel and battery.

With it plugged in, check the voltage at the fuse.

Sorry.... inside battery box, doh!. Check voltage at the fuse, you should see it on the converter side of the fuse. Also check to be sure that things aren't reversed, in my opinion the fuse and disconnect "to me" should be on the positive side.

Negative should go to ground.

nylyon · 05-08-2014, 01:50 PM

So just checked mine. There's a black and white wire. Unlike regular automotive wiring where you have a black and red (with black being ground or negative) this is more like household wiring where white is neutral and black is hot. So be certain the wires are hooked up:

Black to the (+) Positive
White to the (-) Negative

The fuse and disconnect really should be on the positive side or black wire.

If they are reversed, this could be your issue. I believe that there are also fuses on the distribution panel which may blow if connected in reverse. Additionally, if you connected the vehicle to the trailer, check the vehicle's fuse for trailer charge.

Jset · 05-08-2014, 05:45 PM

ok, so is there suppost to be a 30 amp fuse there or is 25 amp the right one?
The positive is connected to a white wire. were there are 2-3 black wires all bundled together connected to a green wire that has the fuse in it then to the disconnect switch then to the battery. all within the battery box.
There isn't any other fuses that are blown.
I got this trailer last fall, and it worked fine how it was connected. about 2 weeks ago I connected the switch and now the fuse melted.
I read and read on here for which side to connect the switch and it is about 50/50 for both. so I went with the one that I would normally disconnect if I were to do it with wires rather than a switch. which would be the neg side.
I never disconnected the pos, so I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I didn't get the two mixed up.
I need to replace the fuse holder and wire before I hook it up again to get any readings.

Jmooney · 05-08-2014, 05:47 PM

X2. The fuse and disconnect switch should be on the positive side.

nylyon · 05-08-2014, 05:53 PM

Ok, so let's do another test. With the meter again, test the voltage between the positive terminal and a ground on the frame (NOT the negative side of the battery). Then do the same testing the negative side of the battery to the frame. If everything is hooked up properly you should get your 8V (or what ever your battery has for voltage now) from the positive side of the battery to the frame and 0 from the negative side to the frame. If the result is reversed, that's likely the issue. It's really important to be without a shadow of doubt that the battery is hooked up properly before you fix the fuse otherwise you could be looking at additional damage which you don't want. I don't know the size of the fuse you need, I suspect 25A is correct though.

Jset · 05-08-2014, 05:53 PM

How can I tell that the white wire should go to neg? should the converter be labeled so it will be easy to tell? I don't think it would be smart to just switch wires without checking something.

Jset · 05-08-2014, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nylyon

test the voltage between the positive terminal and a ground on the frame (NOT the negative side of the battery). Then do the same testing the negative side of the battery to the frame. .

I can do this without the neg post connected to a wire?

nylyon · 05-08-2014, 06:01 PM

If there's nothing connected to the negative post, the test won't work, you'll get zero volts on both.

Is the disconnect switch on the white wire or black?

If you can test for continuity, test the white wire to ground, then the black wire to ground.

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