Battery Leads Arcing

bigfootford wrote:

Best read what I said!

CONTROLLER for the JACKS!

Best lighten up a bit too.
I took your "jacks" to mean power jacks; aka power outlets.
Sorry.

AidenJ wrote:

A friend of mine has the same model as mine only a year older has the same situation so I just assumed all N/L's with factory disconnect were wired the same. Other than a slow draw I don't see a problem.

Being in the electronics world for over 50 years I know that Murphy lurks!


My jack controller hung 1 time and I was glad that I had the main disconnect cutoff switch. That is when I installed the 75 amp switch. I can reach it from outside the camper. Just inside the door low enough to get at it.

Also electronic devices for the most part will last almost forever if there is no power applied.

Our Bfoot camper is 15 years old now.

Jim

bigfootford wrote:

AidenJ wrote:
I think you will find that the battery disconnect on the N/L does not affect the elec. jacks, but it does shut off the gas detector.

You should check that. Never seen any campers disconnect that did not disconnect everything.
What would happen if the jack controller malfunctioned and kept one or more jacks running?
That is not a good scenario if you can not quickly disconnect. If you find that the controller is hardwired to the battery I would promptly fix that!

I installed a jack kill switch so I can remove the power from the jacks when I do not use them. I do not like the idea of the jack controller having power all the time..... Would you?

Like this one, 75 amp:



http://www.repairconnector.com/products/Heavy-Duty-Push-Pull-75-Amp-Switch-SPST.html

Jim

A friend of mine has the same model as mine only a year older has the same situation so I just assumed all N/L's with factory disconnect were wired the same. Other than a slow draw I don't see a problem.

bodacious wrote:
Thanks to all who posted. I'm going with the capacitor charging/discharging theory. BTW my camper is a 2000 model and does not have a battery disconnect switch. I just disconnect the battery leads when not in use. Thinking of installing one that isolates the battery from EVERYTHING. For you who have a battery switch, is it on the positive or negative side of the battery?

Interesting that a 2000 camper does not have a battery disconnect but some MFG do not build in the interest of the consumer or how the rig will be used eh?

As for the Capacitor charge/discharge that is a correct statement, no theory.

The circuitry in the converter comes alive via the battery voltage when shore power is absent.
Not a big deal except for the fella that does not expect the SNAP of electrons all excited to go somewhere and party.... Actually the converter will draw a small amount of amps just sitting there watching the battery with no shore power applied.... Draining away the battery!

Jim

bodacious wrote:
Thanks to all who posted. I'm going with the capacitor charging/discharging theory. BTW my camper is a 2000 model and does not have a battery disconnect switch. I just disconnect the battery leads when not in use. Thinking of installing one that isolates the battery from EVERYTHING. For you who have a battery switch, is it on the positive or negative side of the battery?

Never saw a camper with neg disconnect...No harm in doing that though from a technical point of view...

My Austin Healy 3000 had neg disconnect from the factory...hahahaaaa

Jt

bodacious wrote:
I'm going with the capacitor charging/discharging theory...
For you who have a battery switch, is it on the positive or negative side of the battery?

In my TC I have a large inverter which is not connected to the camper's factory installed battery disconnect (the current draw is way too high). So, in order to prevent arcing & pitting when reconnecting the battery(s) after long term storage, I installed a pre-charge circuit which allows the inverters capacitors to charge before the battery disconnects are closed. The "circuit" is a simple momentary pushbutton (black button in photo below) and a 35 Ohm 50W resistor to limit current flow to the cap's.

BTW, my battery disconnect switches are on the positive side of the battery.

Cheers
-Mark

Thanks to all who posted. I'm going with the capacitor charging/discharging theory. BTW my camper is a 2000 model and does not have a battery disconnect switch. I just disconnect the battery leads when not in use. Thinking of installing one that isolates the battery from EVERYTHING. For you who have a battery switch, is it on the positive or negative side of the battery?

Vulcan Rider wrote:

bigfootford wrote:

What would happen if the jack controller malfunctioned and kept one or more jacks running?

I was about to say something similar about it not being good to leave the power outlets HOT but.....unless you were dense enough to leave something plugged in AND turned on, then why not ? It would give you a convenient place to plug in a battery tender without any additional wiring.

It would be a good idea for everyone to know how theirs actually work. The ones in my coach go OFF with the battery disconnect switch (EVERYTHING does). The ones in the truck cab, however, stay hot even when the ingnition is OFF.

Uh? You said " A controller" for 12 V power outlets ????

Never heard of such a thing; nor can I figure a reason for having one.
I assumed all would be "hard wired" with a fuse."

Best read what I said!

CONTROLLER for the JACKS!

Your post makes no sense to me. When you say Coach... I would assume it is not a camper with 4 electric jacks that are individually controlled with a remote via a Jack controller.

Jim

I'm with bigfootford. My 2016 Starcraft Launch came with a factory installed battery shutoff switch in the front storage compartment. But my slideout, tongue jack and breakaway brake switch get their power directly from the battery before the so called battery shutoff switch. Each has an inline 30 amp fuse.

I don't leave my battery installed when my trailer is in storage, but if I did, anyone could walk up to it and run the jack up or down, let alone a malfunction.

Actually, this came to light when I accidentally disconnected the breakaway switch and almost ran the battery down before I noticed it. Of course, I understand why the brakes need to be wired that way, but not the jack or slideout.

bigfootford wrote:

What would happen if the jack controller malfunctioned and kept one or more jacks running?

A "controller" for 12 V power outlets ????

Never heard of such a thing; nor can I figure a reason for having one.
I assumed all would be "hard wired" with a fuse.

I was about to say something similar about it not being good to leave the power outlets HOT but.....unless you were dense enough to leave something plugged in AND turned on, then why not ? It would give you a convenient place to plug in a battery tender without any additional wiring.

It would be a good idea for everyone to know how theirs actually work. The ones in my coach go OFF with the battery disconnect switch (EVERYTHING does). The ones in the truck cab, however, stay hot even when the ingnition is OFF.