Charging Issues

[mattmilla]

I have a 2012 Jay flight 19' and used it a few weeks a go with no problems. Tried plugging in to do a small charge up before leaving on trip tomorrow am and have no power or charging with camper plugged into my house as I've always charged it. Any ideas of what to look for?

[RoyBraddy]

Kinda need more info.... Did you just now hook up the battery.... Is your BATTERY DISCONNECT SWITCH "ON" if you have one installed. Do you have ceiling lights when not connected to shore power... Do you have a mulitimeter to read the BAT CABLE connections of Converter/charger unit when connected to shore power...

This is a quick routine I do when troubleshooting battery problems...
Both the Battery circuit and the converter/charger circuit feed the 12VDC Power Distribution Panel where all of the 12VDC fuses are located.

Before I connect shore power I can switch in the BATTERY SWITCH and should be able to have ceiling lights working on my trailer. I can use my multimeter across the battery terminals and it will read 12.6VDC if the batteries are charged up. If the ceiling lights inside the trailer are working this tells me the INLINE FUSE next to the battery bank is GOOD as well as the two REVERSE POLARITY FUSES in the 12VDC Power Distribution Panel. These fuses will blow if I connect up my battery terminals in REVERSE.

If I am connecting the battery terminals I always find the word "NEG" or symbol "-" stamped on the battery case and make sure this is the battery cable coming from the trailer FRAME GROUND... All of this now confirms the battery bank is working and connected properly.

If I want to do a quick test to see if the Converter/Charger unit is working I will connect the Shore Power Cable to shore power and I should see an increase in DC VOLTAGE across the Battery terminals. It should read 13.6VDC if the Converter/charger unit is working. The ceiling lights in the trailer should also get brighter in the trailer as well.

If these tests doesn't work out like listed above then I double check the battery connection and make sure they are not reversed. If they are REVERSED than i correct that problem right away. Then I physically check the IN-LINE 12VDC fuse close to the battery terminal and make sure it is not blown. The I pop the cover for the 12VDC Power Distribution Panel and locate the two REVERSE POLARITY 12VDC fuse and make sure they are not blown. If all of these items are ok about the only thing left is a loose connection at the large cables at the Power distribution Panel and the cables going to the Battery Bank or the Battery terminals themself...

Most often these are the places you will find and correct the problem of the batteries not charging...

Roy Ken

[McMonk]

Totally agree with Roy, above...had a similar problem last year - discovered when we were in the bush and I happened to have a really, really dead battery. There are two in-line fuses right at the battery. Although protected in their factory 'rubber' sleeves, moisture had made its way in there and corroded the fuses. They weren't 'blown', but I had to remove them, clean the metal pins to remove the corrosion (small piece of sandpaper) and spray out the inserts with wd-40. Hooked back up to the truck, went for a drive to charge things up, and we were good-to-go.