Hello all. I am new to all travel trailer everything. We are selling our house and we bought an old 1971 RV. Thought it would be easy to fix up. But Has been so difficult. We cannot understand these wires they have in here. We can plug in to an RV location, and things work. We hooked up propane and fridge and stove work. We have plenty of recourses to live off without plug in but cannot seem to hook anything up. We’ve been without power and water for sometime. We have solar panels, a solar generator a deep cycle marine battery and cannot at all hook any of them up to the trailer. All brake lights, turning lights etc work, and I’ve connected Solar to battery and that’s it. Please please someone help. If you can that would be amazing. Thanks all ??

Do you have a multimeter that you can use? Typically you can pick up a cheap meter at HarborFreight for about $8. A meter would make it much easier to see if there is power in the battery and where that power stops before you can use it in the trailer.Check on the tongue of the trailer and follow the wires from the battery positive post to where it goes into the trailer. Is there a fuse or a small metal box (circuit breaker) on that wire? If so you need to see if the power is getting through it. Check that the battery negative post is connected to the trailer frame.

There should be a converter with a 12-volt DC distribution panel. It is commonly located behind metal plate adjacent to the 120-volt AC circuit breakers.That is where the majority of the 12-volt electrical comes to gether.

Learning is hard sometimes. Your 115 volt outlets will only work when trailer is plugged into external power. The rest of the trailer runs on 12 volt or gas. The fridge may or may not. Older trailers did not come with inverters to make 115 volts when not plugged into external power. It sounds like it is working the way it should. What are you trying to do differently?

Hi thank you for taking the time to help so yes I have a multi meter, and see the fuse panel but the wiring is something else in there. I’ve tried all the wires into the fuse panels but nothing worked. So I unplugged them. I followed the wires from outside and connected frame negative to Meg battery still nothing. I will try multimeter way to see where I’m not getting power. And yes learning is very hard sometimes. I was trying to lean by trial and error but I think I’ve tried almost everything. I will try and post pictures because sometimes I cannot explain what I’m trying to say.

There should be a fuse adjacent to the battery. It should or could be by where the umbilical cord connects to rig's wiring and battery along frame ril.

Travel Trailer electrical | Good Sam Community

nickthehunter
Nomad II
Jun 24, 2023
To start with, it seems you are saying when plugged in everything works, when not plugged in nothing works. That tells me you don’t have a fully charged battery hooked up correctly. No battery = no power (when not plugged in).
Secondly anything that is 120 volt won’t work when not plugged in (microwave, air conditioner, wall outlets, some fridges, etc.).
Carbuster99
Explorer
Jun 24, 2023
enblethen
Nomad
Jun 24, 2023
There should be a fuse adjacent to the battery. It should or could be by where the umbilical cord connects to rig's wiring and battery along frame ril.
Carbuster99
Explorer
Jun 24, 2023
Hi thank you for taking the time to help so yes I have a multi meter, and see the fuse panel but the wiring is something else in there. I’ve tried all the wires into the fuse panels but nothing worked. So I unplugged them. I followed the wires from outside and connected frame negative to Meg battery still nothing. I will try multimeter way to see where I’m not getting power. And yes learning is very hard sometimes. I was trying to lean by trial and error but I think I’ve tried almost everything. I will try and post pictures because sometimes I cannot explain what I’m trying to say.
agwill
Explorer
Jun 24, 2023
Learning is hard sometimes. Your 115 volt outlets will only work when trailer is plugged into external power. The rest of the trailer runs on 12 volt or gas. The fridge may or may not. Older trailers did not come with inverters to make 115 volts when not plugged into external power. It sounds like it is working the way it should. What are you trying to do differently?
enblethen
Nomad
Jun 24, 2023
There should be a converter with a 12-volt DC distribution panel. It is commonly located behind metal plate adjacent to the 120-volt AC circuit breakers.
That is where the majority of the 12-volt electrical comes to gether.
opnspaces
Navigator II
Jun 24, 2023
Do you have a multimeter that you can use? Typically you can pick up a cheap meter at HarborFreight for about $8. A meter would make it much easier to see if there is power in the battery and where that power stops before you can use it in the trailer.

Check on the tongue of the trailer and follow the wires from the battery positive post to where it goes into the trailer. Is there a fuse or a small metal box (circuit breaker) on that wire? If so you need to see if the power is getting through it.

Check that the battery negative post is connected to the trailer frame.

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