Electrical Troubleshooting Tips For Newbies

[jwvdkiv]

If if is on the 7 pin, I would want to know which pin. It probably won't be the charging wire. It will likely be on the marker light pin. Are your headlights on when you are trying to use it?

Great feedback! I was looking for an illuminated 12v indicator on the 7-pin tester.

Lights were on, yes.

I will check “marker light pin” next week when I’m at trailer and report findings.

Thank you for the reply.

 

[Finally Able]

Thank you JimD for your efforts in composing snd shsring this info. Just what I was looking for!

 

[birddog1-JAY]

i have a 2021 245rlsw and my last trip the living room area all of the led lights are dim and the bed room led lights are bright any suggestions where to look for this problem so half ae dim the other half works

 

[JimD]

i have a 2021 245rlsw and my last trip the living room area all of the led lights are dim and the bed room led lights are bright any suggestions where to look for this problem so half ae dim the other half works

My assumptions - each set of lights is on its own switch and there is no dimmer installed.

The string of lights will all be connected together and one LED should not affect any of the others. They should be connected in parallel which means you will have one 12 volt and one ground wire running the entire distance and each light will connect to these wires.

So, the problem would seem to be a low 12 volts feeding the string of lights. Just for the heck of it, pull the fuse for these lights and reinsert it. Maybe you will get lucky and there was a poor connection. This assumes there is a separate fuse for those lights.

The first test is measure the battery voltage just so you know what you are sending. I would then go to the switch that controls the weak bank and measure the 12 volts to some ground you can find. If the power reads good at the switch, you may have a problem with the ground connection to the string. I have no idea how they connect the grounds to the light strings.

If the 12 volts at the switch is low there may be a poor connection betwen the switch and the fuse panel.

Given this is a new unit, you may want to have it checked under warranty.

Good luck!

 

[JimD]

This is for those that downloaded version 1 of my troubleshooting doc. This was the original document posted at the start of this thread. It was greatly enhanced and released as version 2. If you came into the thread and didn't go through all the posts you didn't get the revised doc.

I have attached version 2 which gives tips for everything I could come up with.

 

[JFlightRisk]

Thanks Jim. I added a note to your first post to check your post #65 for the updated file.

 

[DrSmart]

Thank you again Jim for all your work in creating this guide and updating to version 2. So much information in easy to follow format. This is a must have for any RVer.

 

[JSC]

Prewired furrion camera

I have a 2020 Octane 222 xl that was "pre-wired" for the Furrion back up camera. So I installed the Furrion system but it didn't work. After 2 days of trouble shooting the problem and researching on line I figured it out. I pulled the whole mounting off the trailer and found no power going to the camera. The red wire from the camera was attached to an orange wire in the trailer but no power there. So to make a long story short, I gently started pulling the orange wire out of the trailer and it kept coming and coming untill it fell out. The end of the wire had a nice clean cut and apparently was never connected to anything. So I rewired it to run off of the trailer batteries with a switch inside the trailer so I can turn it on or off whenever I want. So much for pre-wiring.

 

[NGaCamperz]

I am grateful for your time and effort. I went to check on my TT in storage today. While the battery (on solar tender) is charged and would operate the jack, there was no power inside. I'll need to go back to do a thorough check. I'm hoping it's a ground or fuse.

 

[Louielagwanee]

Jim how I wished you were close by right now. We just purchased a
2004 Jayco Eagle 308FB. This is our first trip out with it n now find ourselves with no lights and no heat. Everything worked fine at home before we left. But now it seems the converter is not taking a charge and we can’t even located this converter.

 

[Little5ver]

Thanks
I could have used this earlier, just tracked down a loose wire on the battery shut off!

 

[jetlag]

This is for those that downloaded version 1 of my troubleshooting doc. This was the original document posted at the start of this thread. It was greatly enhanced and released as version 2. If you came into the thread and didn't go through all the posts you didn't get the revised doc.

I have attached version 2 which gives tips for everything I could come up with.

Jim,
you need to put together another document teaching me how to use this new fangled clamp on meter that someone here talked me into. It does AC/DC but it might as well be Chinese, lol. I can do basic stuff, and I mean basic with it, but the clamp portion totally eludes me.

 

[sgroij]

Thank helped a lot

 

[Julied]

Jim and anyone else. I have no 110 power. I have power at the post. I have changed fuses and breakers. I noticed I don’t have a slight glow in my fuse box that I did have. 26y hawk. Any ideas?

 

[JimD]

Jim and anyone else. I have no 110 power. I have power at the post. I have changed fuses and breakers. I noticed I don’t have a slight glow in my fuse box that I did have. 26y hawk. Any ideas?

For loss of 120 volts you can ignore all fuses as 120 volts is always protected by circuit breakers. If the power is good at the pedestal the power will go through the power cord and connect inside the rig. If you are set up for a generator the power cord will connect to a transfer switch which switches between shore power and generator power. That would be the place to check for power with a voltmeter.

If there is no transfer switch, the power will probably feed directly to the main breaker inside the rig. If you have 50 amp service it will connect to 2 separate breakers. Anyway, a voltmeter will tell you if it is getting inside the breaker box.

If power is present at the pedestal but not inside the rig then the power cord would be suspect. Not too common to fail, except maybe the plug-in part.

If you are uncomfortable measuring 120 volts have someone else poke around with the voltmeter. You can get shocked if you touch the wrong thing with a body part.

 

[TonyBowes]

Hi, can someone with a Swan outback (mine is a 2021 model) take a photo of their battery showing what cables are connected. Our battery was removed and when the battery was returned, I noticed (coupled with the positive cables), there was a black cable, which has confused me.

Thanks

 

[JimD]

Hi, can someone with a Swan outback (mine is a 2021 model) take a photo of their battery showing what cables are connected. Our battery was removed and when the battery was returned, I noticed (coupled with the positive cables), there was a black cable, which has confused me.

Thanks

Typically battery cables on a chassis battery will have one cable go to chassis ground (metal frame nearby) and the rest will go to the positive terminal.

 

[TonyBowes]

Thanks, but a photo would still be appreciated.

 

[JFlightRisk]

Hi, can someone with a Swan outback (mine is a 2021 model) take a photo of their battery showing what cables are connected. Our battery was removed and when the battery was returned, I noticed (coupled with the positive cables), there was a black cable, which has confused me.

Thanks

Your trailer isn't available in the US, so hopefully some of our members from Australia will chime in for you.

 

[ARoamer]

Hi, can someone with a Swan outback (mine is a 2021 model) take a photo of their battery showing what cables are connected. Our battery was removed and when the battery was returned, I noticed (coupled with the positive cables), there was a black cable, which has confused me.

Thanks

If possible, follow the cables back, the one with a breaker or a disconnect switch connected is your positive, the other connected to the frame is negative.

(the following statement is an attempt at humor, please disregard!)....

unless being in the southern hemisphere the Coriolis force makes electrons flow backwards..!