Electric Jack / Stabilizers - Potentially Dead Battery

[newbold1]

My old travel trailer had a manual jack and manual stabilizers. If the battery on the trailer had gone dead it didn't affect anything with my ability to hitch up, pull it home, and charge everything up using my 30 amp service at my house.

My new travel trailer has a powered jack and stabilizers. Since this is new to me I have what is probably just a rookie question. If I should happen to go get the new trailer out of storage and find that the battery is dead, will I get power when connecting up to my truck that will then allow me to get the jack and stabilizers to move electrically?

I hate to think one day I might be all set to take the trailer out only to find that I am stuck because I have no power. I know that I can pull the fuse on the battery cables to avoid the battery draining down but I can easily see forgetting and coming back to a dead battery the next time we are ready to go.

[tnchuck100]

Yes, when you plug the trailer into the TV connector your power jack should work.

If your trailer has been in storage for over a month with the battery connected there is a good chance it will be dead. The propane detector will eventually drain the battery. Completely draining the battery shortens its life considerably. When you store the trailer for an extended time you should remove the battery.

[chipper]

I fully agree with Chuck.

My Jayco Manual state: When storing your trailer, it is recommended that the battery be unhooked to avoid draining the battery.

To add, even without a battery in place, there should be a way to manually crank the jack and stabilizers.

[newbold1]

I bought and installed an isolator switch. Now I can cut the positive cable with a flip of a switch and stop all power usage entirely. Between trips I hope that this will allow the batteries to stay charged up enough. I have two batteries that I've wired together in parallel so I have a bit more juice. I am thinking / hoping that during longer periods of storage I might be able to get a large solar panel and use that as a trickle charge source to keep the batteries up when the trailer is sitting for any significant length of time. That would be easier than taking those batteries out if it will work okay.

[tlhdoc]

A solar panel sounds like a great idea.

[dmax_83]

As others have mentioned, the tongue jack has a crank for such purposes and the stabilizer jacks are not needed when the unit is in storage and not occupied.

[Crabman]

I installed this, just flip the switch on or off as needed:

[Quantum]

I have been looking for a switch like that. Where did you buy that Crabman?

[Crabman]

I got that on ebay 3 years ago, not sure if they are available there anymore or not but I`m sure someone must be selling them.

[newbold1]

That's similar to what I purchased. I bought mine at a local auto parts store. It was a pretty inexpensive solution to cutting off all the power without having to disconnect cables or pulling fuses.

[RoyBraddy]

These are popular battery disconnect switches. Just search for the popular BATTERY DISCONNECT SWICTH on GOOGLE and when it loads up select "IMAGES" and you will then view many choices all in one location. Just click on the one you like to get the source information.

I have heard this style switch contacts is prone to arcing over when switch is used under load. The ones i have seen have the neat feature of removing the RED KNOB to keep someone from using it. Of course in my case I would be the one to lose the red knob hehe...

I have multiple batteries in my battery bank and I use the BLUE SEA style four position Battery Disconnect switch for each two battery groups. If i switch them all to OFF then it disconnects all of my batteries. This is probably an over-kill if you just have one battery


Roy Ken

[newbold1]

The first switch RoyBraddy shows is the one I bought. I wonder if I were to wrap the contact points up in some think layering of electrical tape would help to prevent any arcing under load. I figure I will try that since I can't see it would hurt to do that in order to better insulate the contacts from one another.

[chipper]

Originally Posted by newbold1

I wonder if I were to wrap the contact points up in some think layering of electrical tape would help to prevent any arcing under load. I figure I will try that since I can't see it would hurt to do that in order to better insulate the contacts from one another.

Heat Shrink.
Large electrical and electronic retailer sell the Heavy Duty heat shrink. Check out this site for example.

[chipper]

This is what's on my Jayco toy hauler.

[newbold1]

Originally Posted by chipper

Heat Shrink.
Large electrical and electronic retailer sell the Heavy Duty heat shrink. Check out this site for example.

Perfect... thanks!