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GaryS1953's avatar
Jul 28, 2025
Solved

No 12 Volt without converter

So my recently acquired 2002 Jayco Qwest 253D fiver suddenly has absolutely no power when not connected to shore power.  Both batteries are showing 12.5 volts, so seem good, but not getting charged by converter.  All electric works fine with shore power, but no 12 volt at all without shore power.  All the regular 12 volt fuses are good.  There is no battery shut off switch as i haven’t gotten around to installing one yet.  Someone told me there is an automatic disconnect switch that might have gone bad, but i can’t locate one.  I’d appreciate any help anyone can provide.

Thanks!

  • If it was me I would take a picture of all the fuses so I know what goes where. Then pull them all out of the panel. Remove any and all screws and open up the panel so you can see the battery wires in the back. From there see if there is a hidden fuse. You should also see the larger wires that go up to the batteries. Put a meter on those wires and see if you get battery power there.

8 Replies

  • Gary, I recall some of your past posts and threads and from that, I can say with confidence you should not start “taking things apart.”

    The chance you have a dead short in the battery cables somewhere hidden is pretty low. 
    And yet to do any actual diagnosis….

    Cant help you until you help yourself some. Check continuity, grounds, reverse polarity, etc. so much to do before “taking things apart.”

    • GaryS1953's avatar
      GaryS1953
      Nomad

      Grit-dog - I appreciate your thoughts, and your not quite so subtle slam : )

      All good now, thanks!

       

  • If it was me I would take a picture of all the fuses so I know what goes where. Then pull them all out of the panel. Remove any and all screws and open up the panel so you can see the battery wires in the back. From there see if there is a hidden fuse. You should also see the larger wires that go up to the batteries. Put a meter on those wires and see if you get battery power there.

    • GaryS1953's avatar
      GaryS1953
      Nomad

      Open spaces - Your thought was exactly correct.  I’m always a little leery about taking stuff apart before being pretty sure that’s likely where the problem is.  Turns out there was indeed a 30 amp hidden fuse behind the panel.  All good now.  Thanks for your help.

  • If it’s the circuit breaker it should by most normal RVs, be accessible. Not likely it’s buried and inaccessible. 
    But again diagnose first. Continuity, charging voltage etc. 

  • Until you actually do a bit of basic diagnosis it’s hard to help. 
    Converter feeds power to the fuse panel and batteries simultaneously. Since converter is working, the problem is between the 2 ends of the battery cables. 

  • At the batteries trace the positive wire until it disappears into walls. Look for a small box (circuit breaker) with the wire going into and out of. You should get the same battery voltage on both terminals of that circuit breaker If no power out of the breaker use a screwdriver blade or a short piece of wire to allow power past the breaker as a test. 

    Here's a picture of a common inexpensive breaker that many RV's use. They are available at almost any auto parts store.

     

    • GaryS1953's avatar
      GaryS1953
      Nomad

      I think your answer is probably correct.  The problem is I’ve not found easy accesss to the wires once they leave the battery compartment.  Guess I gotta start taking things apart🙁.  Thanks!

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