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Kawasakiklx's avatar
Kawasakiklx
Explorer
Apr 29, 2016

Help with camper electric jacks!

I need some pretty urgent help with my camper. I went to put down the front set of electric Atwood jacks on my camper this afternoon, and they worked intermittently. They didn't work at all at first, but then they started working, but were shorting on the bracket where they bolt to the camper.

Now, while putting a test light on the ground wire, when the jacks don't work, I have 12v at the camper frame. It is either working fine, sparking where bolts go into mount, or fully shorted to frame.

Please help!! What could cause this intermittent short?
Truck Campers

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  • Boatycall's avatar
    Boatycall
    Explorer
    Apr 29, 2016
    What that means is one of the two wires has lost it's connection to the jack, and your jacks are trying to get a ground via the frame, which they are not meant to because to go up they use one wire for hot, but to go down, they reverse polarity on the wires and the other wire then becomes hot.

    So -- you have one of the two wires disconnected. Jacks CANNOT be frame-grounded electrically. In one direction, they're trying to get a ground via the frame and work.... but in the other direction, they are now dead-shorting to the frame and causing sparks.
  • Kawasakiklx's avatar
    Kawasakiklx
    Explorer
    Apr 29, 2016
    Also! The rear jacks do not short and they work perfectly. To be clear, when the fronts work, they work fine (occasional sparks from frame). When they don't work I have a dead short to the frame.

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