Got Juice with No Battery

[Mustang65]

Can you send us a picture of your batteries with cables connected

Thanks
Don
My Registry

RVing with SOLAR

[NismoGriff]

Originally Posted by Blaine

NismoGriff:. Yes just one battery, hooking up the positive from either the tongue jack or the trailer positive cable, or both I can turn on 12v lights in the trailer and they light up. Not the tail lights, although I did replace one earlier this summer.
I do notice when I connect the positive side there are "mini" Sparks when lightly touching. Is this normal? Again, the negative post is bare.

We are missing something blatantly obvious or there is some weird stuff going on here. With no return path to the battery ground and nothing else hooked up, what you are describing is seemingly impossible.

[NismoGriff]

Originally Posted by Mustang65

Can you send us a picture of your batteries with cables connected

Thanks
Don
My Registry

RVing with SOLAR

Yes, this could definitely help shed some light.

[Isaacs]

Wow, I gotta see how this one plays out--you may have just solved the world's energy problems!

The tail lights should have nothing to do with what's going on; they get their power from the TV.

The small sparks you see are normal, probably just the draw from the propane detector and radio memory.

Is it possible there is something metal touching the negative when you close a door or cover?

When an RV is in storage it's advisable to have some sort of power source to keep the batteries from going dead. Are you sure there's not a small solar panel on the roof somewhere that the previous owner installed? It may not be visible without a ladder.

[Blaine]

Ok, I figured it out... last week when I double checked it, I disconnected both positive cables including the jumper, but must have left the jumper cable between the negatives. No success. So when I triple checked it tonight, I stared at the wiring for about 15 minutes and followed the path of electricity. I followed the ground cable from the frame of the trailer to the knife switch, which also led to the jumper cable to the other battery. So the jumper cable for the negs was on the wrong side of the knife switch, providing continuous ground to the other battery. I apologize for wasting your time.

[oldmanAZ]

I can't speak for everyone, but I don't believe it was a waste of time.

You solved the problem and told us what you found. It's a win win.

[NismoGriff]

Originally Posted by oldmanAZ

I can't speak for everyone, but I don't believe it was a waste of time.

You solved the problem and told us what you found. It's a win win.

Neither do I, although I was looking forward to the discovery of a new source of free power

[Blaine]

Thank you, it was like a puzzle. LoL

[Blaine]

Thanks, I was hoping for another source of power as well. I'm relieved to figure out what the problem was though.

[Camper_bob]

Definitely not a waste of time. I'm glad you got it fixed, and I'm glad it was something simple!

[RVhiker]

And special thanks for posting the resolution. Often times there is a forum posting that is intriguing and that generates many suggestions -- but we don't hear back what the answer is. Thanks!!

By the way: if you relocate the knife switch so that the batteries are disconnected, be sure to close the switch when towing or your breakaway switch will not be powered and would not cause a breakaway trailer to slow down. This is the reason that I prefer the battery cut off switch to be on a positive wire that cuts off current to the internal trailer lights and other devices that I want to turn off; this leaves the breakaway switch powered at all times.