Electrical Issues

Since it is the lights and the refrigerator and they are most likely not receiving 12V from the same fuse/circuit, the only thing they have in common would be the ground bus.

When all else fails check to be sure the ground is making a good connection. Bad or weak ground makes for some funny things to happen.

Also, this is the first and only camper I have ever own or dealt with. I'm not a camper whiz by no stretch of the imagination, If I need to explain things in more detail please ask specific questions cause chances are I'm not sure what you are talking about, please speak in caveman terms!

I had also posted a seperate posting "Charging Problems" the isssues listed in that post might also be part of the same problem. A few people had asked for more info, hopefully between both posts I can get it all figured out.

Thanks for all the replies. So far I have traced all the wires from the battery back to the fuse/breaker box and made sure all connections were tight. As well as all other wires coming into the box. I checked the reading on the battery and was getting a variety of different numbers (mainly because I'm not sure how to use a meter)Either way, the numbers I got were 12v or 18v depending on what setting I had it on, neither numbers are within the range I was told (13v-14v) I apologize for not being better at describing these things, I know very little about electricity/electronics. If only it was a mechanical problem!

Dick_B wrote:
The fridge and lights work off the battery (12VDC). The outlets work off campground voltage (120VAC).
With that in mind try finding the fuse that controls the lights/refer and be sure the wires to it are tight. You might try installing another fuse of the same rating. When the lights go out test the voltage at both sides of the fuse. If there is voltage on both sides the fuse is good.
Also, our TT had a secret 12V circuit breakers located under the chassis. When it tripped one had to reset it by hand. We replaced it with one that will reset itself after tripping. Could your rig have the same thing? The symptoms point to something like that.

It's got to be the breaker in regards to the auto reset that some systems use.

It does sound like a loose connection. I would see a failure time as an opportunity to track it down using a voltmeter. Whole trying not to jiggle anything I would check to see of there is 12 V at the fuses, before the fuses, at the wire coming from the battery and so on.

It could very well be a ground connection problem so it might be necessary to attach a long wire to the battery negative and connect it tothe meter negative for all readings. If you find 12 V at the light bulb but it doesn't light up, then use the long wire to connect the meter positive lead to the light positive and check out the ground system with the meter negative lead. If it shows -12 on the battery negative but nothing on the metal chassis, the problem is the battery negative connection to the chassis. Just keep testing until you find the failure point. 12 V across a connection is a sure sign the connection is faulty. 12 V across a breaker or fuse means it is not letting any current through.

In my experience (I&C Tech for 15 years), an intermittent issue like yours will almost always be a loose/bad connection. I would start looking at the lugged connections to the refrigerator control board and work back to the converter.

The failure mode doesn't make much sense. Assuming there's ac power when failure occurs then 12V power is supplied from two independent sources: the battery and converter. That means a loose battery connection or loose converter connection will not cause a 12V power outage.

Still, I would examine the four 12V cables from converter and battery going into the 12V distribution panel. Are the set screws tight? Disconnect battery cable before checking.

Sal

Perry Ga Camper wrote:
I have a 2009 Holiday Rambler Travel Trailer. The issue I am having is periodically the lights and fridge will go out...

Sounds to me like an auto-reset circuit breaker. It gets hot and opens the circuit, cools down and closes the circuit.