Help with barker tongue jack?

[ashmanbrian]

Installed 3000 pd barker jack on my x17z today. Scrapped the paint off the trailer to ground like it says. Connected to positive battery terminal. Only the light would come on, the up and down did nothing. How can I check the ground with circuit light tester? What would I touch to what?

Any suggestions? Thanks. Brian

[Camping Couple]

Originally Posted by ashmanbrian

Installed 3000 pd barker jack on my x17z today. Scrapped the paint off the trailer to ground like it says. Connected to positive battery terminal. Only the light would come on, the up and down did nothing. How can I check the ground with circuit light tester? What would I touch to what?

Any suggestions? Thanks. Brian

Need a little more info.....just because the light came on, your battery may not be fully charged. Try plugging into your shore power then try it again. Also, recheck your connections and make sure they are tight and clean. If that all checks out and still nothing, take the top off the jack and check those connections underneath the cover. Maybe a loose connection there.

[ashmanbrian]

Battery should be fully charged. Just got back from 4 hour drive camping trip last weekend. Pulled the fuse when I stored trailer. I don't have shore power option at storage place. Going to try sandpaper tomorrow on trailer ground an new wire connector. Will having car running and hooked to lights help with battery?

[andrewe]

I just replaced the cover on my Barker jack (damaged during shipping) and I noticed that a couple of the spade connections on the back of the switches were a little loose. A couple fell off while I was wrangling the cover into place. You might want to remove the cover (2 screws) and check for yourself. If a connector is loose just unplug it and give it a little squeeze with a pair of pliers.

[ashmanbrian]

Thanks everyone. Got it working this morning. 5 min. Fix. It was a connection inside that had come off. Took off cover as you suggested and there it was. Thanks again.

One last question.....I can leave it hooked to the battery w/o draining the battery, right? (I do take the fuse out that supplies TT with electricity)

[sailor]

Yes you can leave it hooked up. You also need a supply of 30 amp slo-blo fuses for the inline jack fuse. My Barker would sometimes blow the fuse. Be careful to not reverse the jack direction without letting it come to a complete stop. I think that caused the fuse to blow several times. Also, if you run the jack up or down to the end of the travel and the clutch slips, back it off in the opposite direction a bit. I had mine jamb in the up position. A Barker rep gave me that advice. They did send me a new post to solve the problem. I don't know if the newer ones have that issue, mine was new in about 2006.

[Jeff61]

The jack shouldn't drain your battery but the am- fm-cd clock radio sure will! Hint: when you are trying to use a test light and the only issue is a bad ground, connect to good frame ground and then probe to jack body. Activate whatever switch is in question. If the light comes on, your ground is open from the jack to the frame. If the light doesn't come on either power isn't present or the circuit is complete. Same thing holds true if you are using a VOM. Remember, if using a vom, if checking resistance, no power to circuit please or you will let the smoke out of the wires!