Shoreline connected to 30A; 12V DC system not functioning

[wenzels2001]

New to this... 2005 Jayco Jayfeather EXP 21J. Recently had a 30 AMP circuit added to my home electric system. Plugged the camper in and all was working great. One week later... all 120V systems are working fine; outlets and microwave all good. 12V were working and now all are off; interior and exterior lighting, radio, refer... all non functional... battery is 1 year old and removed during winter storage. I'm assuming there is something going on with the power converter or possibly the inline fuse to battery lead? Any others with similar issues?

[curver900]

what is the battery voltage at rest from a voltmeter?


What is the voltage when plugged into shore power?


Is there an inline fuse at the battery? is it blown? mine was.. turns out it was the wrong amperage fuse...


after we know this we can go to the next phase...

[RoyBraddy]

When I see the words "REMOVED BATTERY" I always have to ask is the Battery Installed correctly. It is so easy to mix up the cables... What I do is find the word 'NEG" or the Symbol '-' stamped into the battery case and make sure this is the cable that goes to FRAME GROUND close to the battery...

In the RV TRAILER WORLD the battery cable colors are BLACK for Positive and WHITE for Negative... In the AUTOMOTIVE WORLD that all of us are very use to working with is RED is Positive and BLACK is NEGATIVE...

Also anything that has a in-line fuse etc most often is connected to the POSITIVE terminals...

If the battery has been REVERSED CONNECTED it will blow the REVERSE POLARITY fuses located in the CONVERTER/CHARGER unit... Looks for those as well...

Roy Ken

[JHerzog]

Originally Posted by wenzels2001

New to this... 2005 Jayco Jayfeather EXP 21J. Recently had a 30 AMP circuit added to my home electric system. Plugged the camper in and all was working great. One week later... all 120V systems are working fine; outlets and microwave all good. 12V were working and now all are off; interior and exterior lighting, radio, refer... all non functional... battery is 1 year old and removed during winter storage. I'm assuming there is something going on with the power converter or possibly the inline fuse to battery lead? Any others with similar issues?

My guess is 30 amp fuse between battery and camper.

[travelingjw]

2x on the 30 amp fuse, I always check this first. If not, then focus on battery cable connections.

[wenzels2001]

Battery in-line fuse is 30 amp and not blown. With fusion place volt meter reads zero with fuse removed volt meter reads zero ???

[wenzels2001]

Checked both 30A reverse polarity fuses in IOTA IDP30... both are okay. There are no tripped circuit breaker’s on the main panel and all fuses on the 12 V system are also OK including the heater / refer one. Now really puzzled.

[wenzels2001]

Originally Posted by curver900

what is the battery voltage at rest from a voltmeter?


What is the voltage when plugged into shore power?


Is there an inline fuse at the battery? is it blown? mine was.. turns out it was the wrong amperage fuse...


after we know this we can go to the next phase...

Scratch that previous answer… But I want today have a voltmeter on the wrong setting. With 30 amp fuse in line in good condition voltmeter reads 1.15 V, With 30 amp fuse removed and just testing battery terminals volt meter reads 1.57 V. Obviously the battery is done. Would that prevent the converter from charging? And how did it get so dead to begin with? Both 30 amp polarity fuses on the converter are fine. All other circuit breaker’s and fuses in the 12 V panel and the 120 V panel are working and in proper condition. Scratching my head again

[travelingjw]

Going back to the "removed battery for storage." Did you use a battery drip charger during storage? If not, the battery will be dead and probably cannot be recharged. Take it and have it tested; auto stores will do it for free.

[wenzels2001]

After confirming all breakers and fuses were good and battery was (very) dead, I installed a new on this evening. Everything, including heating system is functional... we'll see what happens overnight!

ONE FINAL QUESTION: SHOULDN'T THE CONVERTER POWER THE 12V SYSTEM WITHOUT THE NEED FOR A 12V DEEP CYCLE BATTERY INSTALLED WHEN CONNECTED TO THE 120V 30A SHORE LINE?