Power problem!

[sarah.overbay]

Good morning. I have been dealing with power issues in our 2012 jayflight TT. When connected to shore power I have power to outlets but nothing else has power. No fridge. No lights. We replaced a fuse outside connected to battery wiring and that seamed to do the trick we got power to everything prior to our trip. Now we are on a trip and the power problem seems to have come back. We have checked fuses at the power center all are good. No tripped breakers.

 

[norty1]

Have you measured the 12vdc from the battery?

 

[sarah.overbay]

Have you measured the 12vdc from the battery?

We charged the battery with a trickle charger at home before we replaced the battery fuse. So it took a charge but isn’t being charged or holding a charge.

 

[norty1]

I would have the battery tested at an auto supply store.

 

[Grumpy]

Sounds like the converter is not working. I would reset the breaker for the converter, off and on. It could be tripped, the handle just didn't go down.Did you test all the fuses or just look at them. They can also look good, but be blown.

You may need a new converter.

 

[Kevin Cooper]

If you brought the battery charger, connect it to the battery and plug it into the shore power. It may have enough power to get you back up and running. If not, disconnect the ground from the battery, hook the charger negative to the cable and the positive to the cable on the battery. The battery is going to be wanting the power. Or, if you can plug the TT back into your truck with engine running. Or if you have jumper cables, connect truck battery to house battery to charge it. Most likely converter issue.

 

[mrmom]

Sounds like something is blowing the fuse between the battery & the converter. Did you recheck the fuse near the battery? I am going with the assumption that that is a 30 amp fuse, did you replace it with a 30 amp? They also make a Slow-Blow version of the 30 amp fuse for use when you might have a momentary high draw situation, might be a better choice. If this were mine, I would replace the fuse on the main wire with an automatic resetting circuit breaker.
Whatever you decide on the fuse, you still need to check the battery & wiring, as others have said, to figure out why the fuse blows in the first place.

 

[Tadsher]

There are also 2 or 3 fuses for the 12 volts on the converter. The reverse polarity fuses (2 or 3) depending on the model and amperage of the converter could be blown. The picture below has a green circle showing where the fuses are.

 

[Jagiven]

What your describing are all 12v power issues. With no 12v power when connected to shore power, it sounds like a bad converter and a dead battery.

FYI there is one more fuse, at or near the battery, it protects the charge line. This does not sound like your issue.

 

[Tadsher]

What your describing are all 12v power issues. With no 12v power when connected to shore power, it sounds like a bad converter and a dead battery.

FYI there is one more fuse, at or near the battery, it protects the charge line. This does not sound like your issue.

The fuses I pointed out goes between the converter and the rest of the trailer/RV from the converter so if one of those fuses are blown no power will get to the trailer/RV. Those fuses protect the converter not anything else. Those fuses will make it appear that the converter is bad when it may not be. I found this out when I started the conversion/relocation of my 23B batteries from lead acid to LifePO4 batteries. The power lines from the converter after those fuses go to the battery where the camper power line also go and are all connected there.

 

[Tig]

I had a similar issue and it was my converter. The converter charges your battery so I just put a battery charger on the battery while camping and solved the issue for me until I could replace the converter.

The lights in my rig run off the 12v. It is strange that your fridge isn't working. My refrigerator plugs into an outlet. Do you have a generator as well? If yes, see if the fridge comes on when you run the generator. If it does, then the issue is your generator/shore power transfer switch. Mine burned up and was stuck on generator.

If your refrigerator plugs into an outlet and the outlet is good, you may have an issue with your electronic control board. Minus the cooling mechanism, the refrigerator power supply is pretty simple. Your 120 plug, plugs into the ECM that, in my case, switches between running propane or electric. Mine burned up from the transfer switch issue and I had to replace this with the transfer switch above.


These are just my best guesses based on what happened to me.

 

[JFlightRisk]

An absorption fridge requires both 120 v and 12 v. The fridge "eyebrow" control is powered by the 12 v side. The OP doesn't mention how old his battery is.

 

[Camper_bob]

I had a similar issue and it was my converter. The converter charges your battery so I just put a battery charger on the battery while camping and solved the issue for me until I could replace the converter.

The lights in my rig run off the 12v. It is strange that your fridge isn't working. My refrigerator plugs into an outlet. Do you have a generator as well? If yes, see if the fridge comes on when you run the generator. If it does, then the issue is your generator/shore power transfer switch. Mine burned up and was stuck on generator.

If your refrigerator plugs into an outlet and the outlet is good, you may have an issue with your electronic control board. Minus the cooling mechanism, the refrigerator power supply is pretty simple. Your 120 plug, plugs into the ECM that, in my case, switches between running propane or electric. Mine burned up from the transfer switch issue and I had to replace this with the transfer switch above.


These are just my best guesses based on what happened to me.

This is a trailer, so extremely unlikely there's a generator and transfer switch.

Fridge always needs 12V, but not always 120V. When using propane, it just needs 12V to run the controls and ignition.

In addition to checking your fuses, you should check your ground connection at the tongue.

But if you're not getting 12V (lights, fridge, etc) while plugged in to shore power, then the problem is at your converter. Start by cycling the breaker as outlined in post 5, and check the converter's fuses as in post 8.

Beyond that, you'll need a volt meter to diagnose issues. And really, you should use the ohm meter function to check fuses.

Have you disconnected the battery at any point? Are you certain you connected the cables to the correct terminals? This would immediately pop the reverse polarity fuse in the converter though.