Piece from Battery and not sure what it is?

[kadekalb]

Two issues:

1. We had a battery issue at a State Campground and a fellow camper came to our rescue and got us up and running again. We had a green connector with a fuse attached that he took off and said, "You don't need that". We have a 2004 Jayco Jay Feather.

We hung on to it since we didn't know what it was or why it was originally installed with our battery if it wasn't needed. Images are attached.

2. When preparing for our season, we put our battery in incorrectly (now WE know, white is positive and black is negative). Since then we've are having electrical problems - with electric hookup we only have microwave and A/C working and electrical outlets. No lights, no refrigerator. Had to change out just one fuse on the panel for refrigerator/furnace. Still nothing changed. Any ideas?

Thanks for your help.

[Grumpy]

You probably blew the main fuse in the converter. There is one that protects for reverse polarity.

[kadekalb]

Originally Posted by Grumpy

You probably blew the main fuse in the converter. There is one that protects for reverse polarity.

Any idea where I would find that fuse? In panel I have three circuit breakers plus several fuses. Only one fuse was bad and that's been replaced. Could a circuit breaker be bad?

[Macrosill]

Usually there are 2 fused for reverse polarity protection.

These fuses will not be in the fuse panel. They will be on the charger/converter. You have to find the charger/converter and look for 2 fuses near the input conductors.

As for the "you don't need this" fuse, you might look deeper for that one. What size is the fuse? Unless a previous owner did some re-wiring I suspect that fuse may be something you do need. Maybe that is the fuse that provides power to the converter? Is it a 30 amp fuse? Maybe the guy replaced that fuse holder with a new one?

[kadekalb]

Thank you! We did find the two 30 AMP fuses located on the charger/converter and replaced those. (They were really nasty) Tighten everything up and still no luck. We hooked up the battery with the "don't need this" piece and it really made no difference that we could tell.

The microwave, electrical outlets and A/C works while plugged into electric. No lights, no radio and no fridge. While on battery, lights work (which is normal). Although I think we could change the fridge over to propane while on battery...if that is the case...we can't do that while on battery.

We have a friend, who is a certified electrician, look over everything and he is stumped. Made an appointment with our local RV dealership for tomorrow. Fingers crossed he knows the issue...we leave Friday for an extended camping trip!

[AggMan1]

The piece is a fuse holder and you do need it. i made the same mistake in connecting the battery this season on my X19H Hybrid. Now having 12 volt problems.

I can run on shore power if the fuse holder next to the battery has failed. If i put the 30 amp fuse in the fuse holder and then plug shore power in the fuse will burn up in about 3 seconds and the shore power will work. I have the battery connected properly now as my tongue jack works fine but i have no 1 volt power in the trailer.

There was a post from WrightsCornerCamper but I'm unable to to find the second fuse that he speaks about that is inside the trailer between the dinette and the front storage area.

I would certainly be interested what you find out as i'm stumped as well.

[kadekalb]

Originally Posted by AggMan1

The piece is a fuse holder and you do need it. i made the same mistake in connecting the battery this season on my X19H Hybrid. Now having 12 volt problems.

I can run on shore power if the fuse holder next to the battery has failed. If i put the 30 amp fuse in the fuse holder and then plug shore power in the fuse will burn up in about 3 seconds and the shore power will work. I have the battery connected properly now as my tongue jack works fine but i have no 1 volt power in the trailer.

There was a post from WrightsCornerCamper but I'm unable to to find the second fuse that he speaks about that is inside the trailer between the dinette and the front storage area.

I would certainly be interested what you find out as i'm stumped as well.

We found the fuses (30 amp) that were blown due to the incorrect installation of the battery. They were on the converter that was hidden behind a panel just inside the entrance to our trailer. Those were replaced and everything now works.

The "extra" piece that I included was to put on the battery so that 30 amp fuse will blow if the battery is installed incorrectly. That way we don't have to go through the hidden panel to change those fuses. We have marked the battery so this doesn't happen again but we put the "extra" piece on just in case our memories get worse!

Not sure this helps you but wanted to share with you what we learned.

Just arrived home from Colorado Springs. What a beautiful part of our country. We enjoyed every minute and the weather was wonderful!

[Jagiven]

Originally Posted by kadekalb

We found the fuses (30 amp) that were blown due to the incorrect installation of the battery. They were on the converter that was hidden behind a panel just inside the entrance to our trailer. Those were replaced and everything now works.

The "extra" piece that I included was to put on the battery so that 30 amp fuse will blow if the battery is installed incorrectly. That way we don't have to go through the hidden panel to change those fuses. We have marked the battery so this doesn't happen again but we put the "extra" piece on just in case our memories get worse!

Not sure this helps you but wanted to share with you what we learned.

Just arrived home from Colorado Springs. What a beautiful part of our country. We enjoyed every minute and the weather was wonderful!

Glad you had a good trip. So your in Little Falls, is that Minnesota? If so that is where my parents now live.

That extra piece, make sure to re install it. It does not protect against reverse polarity, but it will protect the wiring and from a potential electrical fire between the battery to the converter panel. Mine is connected to the positive cable right before the battery. When I store my TT, I pull the fuse, and this keeps the battery for being fully discharged by the parasite power drains.

I labeled my battery wires. All I used was a piece of yellow electrical tape, and put a "+" or "-" symbol on each wire. Each spring it make re-connection quick and easy.

Happy Camping

[RogerR]

I am not sure that is a fuse holder. It kind of looks like an in-line breaker. Some of the breakers even have an auto-reset. I had one on a camper where the tongue jack would blow the fuse if you went to far and the motor ran to hard. Kind of handy because on that model the battery was very hard to get to. I don't know all the reliability issues, etc. but it worked for me.

I put red tape an inch before max and stopped the excessive power use that way on my tongue jack.