Need help troubleshooting 2 electrical issues

[Horsmanicus]

Hi All,

I'm looking for some help troubleshooting 2 seperate electrical issues.

2007 Jay Series 806 pop-up bought used last summer. I've been slowly fixing small issues and cleaning up some needed maintenance.

1. Lights flickering on and off on house power.

Lately when I walk around in or shake the trailer sometimes the lights flicker on and off. Through process of elimination and trial/error I've isolated the 14 amp fuse for the lights/plugs as the culprit. At first I thought it was a bad breaker because when I tapped on the fuse box covering it would cause the lights to flick on and off but after opening up the face cover and looking closer I could see a blue spark flickering ocassionally at the bottom of the 15 amp fuse. If I push on it and hold it firm it won't flicker or create the arc. This only happens for the one fuse. The fuse hasn't blown. Does anyone with more knowledge with me know if this is a issue with a) the fuse; b) the fuse board; or c) the wiring to the fuse board? What is most likely given your experience?


2. I can't for the life of me get the lights and plugs in the trailer to run off battery power (or anything for that matter, not even the CO2/propane alarm). At first I thought it was the battery but I took it out and charged it up on a smart charger showing a good battery and 12 volt load. Any secret here? A switch? A hidden in-line fuse?

P

[Sn33kR]

1) My guess from your description is the fuse holder portion of the box, you should be able to kill all power to the box and then a simple squeeze with some needle nose to just tighten the connection a fraction.....be careful not to go too far and have it loosen more though......


2) My second guess is there is a switch you haven't found. if you have a good battery and the supply wires are connected......

[CoachPosey]

Check your fuse panel with a VOM to check the voltage from the battery to the panel. If you have a converter, check it both off and on to ensure the functionality of the converter. If no converter, check the screws in the board for tightness and use die electric grease on the connections.

[Isaacs]

Originally Posted by Sn33kR

1) My guess from your description is the fuse holder portion of the box, you should be able to kill all power to the box and then a simple squeeze with some needle nose to just tighten the connection a fraction.....be careful not to go too far and have it loosen more though......


2) My second guess is there is a switch you haven't found. if you have a good battery and the supply wires are connected......

X2 on the fuse holder.

There should be a fuse somewhere for that battery. Perhaps a little rubber thingy close to the battery; maybe inside the battery box.

This may not be your problem but you should be aware that there is probably some kind of switch somewhere that kills power to the overhead lights (and other things?) when the camper is lowered. This is to prevent a fire in case you inadvertently left a light on which would rest upon a bed or your canvas. In the case of my old popup, the switch was located on the fold down sink.

[Horsmanicus]

Originally Posted by Isaacs

X2 on the fuse holder.

There should be a fuse somewhere for that battery. Perhaps a little rubber thingy close to the battery; maybe inside the battery box.

This may not be your problem but you should be aware that there is probably some kind of switch somewhere that kills power to the overhead lights (and other things?) when the camper is lowered. This is to prevent a fire in case you inadvertently left a light on which would rest upon a bed or your canvas. In the case of my old popup, the switch was located on the fold down sink.

An I correct in assuming this would also kill AC power to the overhead lights and I can therefore eliminate this as a cause?

[Horsmanicus]

Originally Posted by CoachPosey

Check your fuse panel with a VOM to check the voltage from the battery to the panel. If you have a converter, check it both off and on to ensure the functionality of the converter. If no converter, check the screws in the board for tightness and use die electric grease on the connections.

Anyone know off hand if I have a converter (assume I do) and where it is located?

[us71na]

Originally Posted by Horsmanicus

2. I can't for the life of me get the lights and plugs in the trailer to run off battery power (or anything for that matter, not even the CO2/propane alarm). At first I thought it was the battery but I took it out and charged it up on a smart charger showing a good battery and 12 volt load. Any secret here? A switch? A hidden in-line fuse?

P

If these are household type plugs, they don't run off the battery......You need to plug the trailer into 120 volts.

[RetiredOne]

You have a 2007 rig. Have you climbed underneath and checked all your negative ground connections?

Many people have reported, that after a handful of years, their ground connections to the chassis corrode away, and this will cause all types of voltage issues and flickering.

[Isaacs]

Originally Posted by Horsmanicus

An I correct in assuming this would also kill AC power to the overhead lights and I can therefore eliminate this as a cause?

Your overhead lights run on 12V DC which should come from either your converter or battery. Your converter will probably be under a seat somewhere near your fuse box. The 30 amp cable that you use to plug in to 120V power will be hooked to it, possibly through the fuse box. You should have both 120V breakers for your receptacles and 12V fuses for everything else.

The kill switch will probably just be 12V.

[Fire_Instructor]

Check the switch in the pop-up mechanism that detects if the roof is up or down. When down, it acts as a disconnect. When up, if it had a fold of canvas or anything else touching it, it can cause the power to flicker.

[Horsmanicus]

Thanks so far for all the helpful comments! I have resolved problem 2 (battery power). After some crawling around I located my in-line fuse holder off the battery and determined there was no fuse in it. Now with a fuse and a good cleaning and greasing the battery service is working great.

I will concentrate on checking the fuse holder for the 15 amp light fuse and kill switch this weekend when i go after problem 1.

[JFlightRisk]

Originally Posted by Horsmanicus

Thanks so far for all the helpful comments! I have resolved problem 2 (battery power). After some crawling around I located my in-line fuse holder off the battery and determined there was no fuse in it. Now with a fuse and a good cleaning and greasing the battery service is working great.

I will concentrate on checking the fuse holder for the 15 amp light fuse and kill switch this weekend when i go after problem 1.

Your power panel will be on the face of a lower cabinet, or dinette booth storage panel. Look for a black or brown plastic device, with a door that'll open up for fuses and breakers.

There will be a safety cutoff switch somewhere, so you can't close it up with ceiling lights on. It's a fire safety feature. It will be connected to something that gets moved during the set up. We had a SOB pop up, and it actuated when a bed end was pulled out/pushed in. It'll take a bit of investigating.

[joe w]

The 30A charging circuit fuse keeps blowing on my 2019 212 QB. Where do I start looking??

[Isaacs]

Originally Posted by joe w

The 30A charging circuit fuse keeps blowing on my 2019 212 QB. Where do I start looking??

You've just asked a new question in an old thread. I suggest you start a new thread so more people will see it.