Forum Discussion

fyrmnk's avatar
fyrmnk
Explorer
May 09, 2016

House Battery Electrical Issue

Hi, have an issue was wanting to get some input on. At the end of last season, I stopped by my camper and had it on house battery. Showed full power on the indicator, but when I turned on the pump, everything went out and had no power. Noted the positive battery cables were loose on the battery. Tightened them down, and still nothing. Noted a blown in-line fuse in the battery cable and put a new fuse in, and still nothing.

Going down this weekend to try to get it in service for the season. Any ideas on what else to look for? Could the loose battery connection have caused something else to blow? Thanks in advance.
  • Mandalay_Parr's avatar
    Mandalay_Parr
    Explorer
    May 09, 2016
    Loose battery cable should not cause any damage.
    Will need an electrical person to troubleshoot.
    Battery might be bad. Never know.
    If you were closer I would help you.
  • Sam_Spade's avatar
    Sam_Spade
    Explorer
    May 09, 2016
    By now you probably need a new set of batteries too.....in addition to whatever the original problem is/was.

    You should NOT let them sit in a discharged or unknown state over a long period of time like that.

    Let's hope that there is also a bad connection at the negative battery post or an intermediate cable. None of that explains the blown fuse though.

    At the very least you will need an external battery charger to get them back up to a known condition.

    Then you need a multi-meter and some time.......or a professional vehicle electrics mechanic.
  • fyrmnk's avatar
    fyrmnk
    Explorer
    May 09, 2016
    Thanks for the replies. It is a new battery and was fully charged. Battery was disconnected, I put the cable on when I arrived to use the pump, but the positive was inadvertently left loose. Also hooked jumper cables to it after it happened with no change in camper, no power to anything.

    Taking a multi-meter to troubleshoot, just wanted to see if anyone had experienced this or had other ideas. Thanks again.
  • jake2250's avatar
    jake2250
    Explorer
    May 10, 2016
    Might look to see if there is a fuse near your inverter or converter somewhere inside the trailer where the electrical panel is. I hooked the batteries up wrong once and it blew that fuse,, I was was behind the 12v panel. Mine was a resetable fuse.
  • bobndot's avatar
    bobndot
    Explorer II
    May 10, 2016
    Many times rv electrical issues are ground related. I had the main ground rust out on me and that caused all to go dead.
    Charge the battery independently from the coach to see if it accepts a charge and for how long. Let it sit for a day or so. Try to test it off the trailer . Hook up a light to it and see how it performs .
    You could have it load tested .
  • fyrmnk's avatar
    fyrmnk
    Explorer
    May 10, 2016
    jake2250 wrote:
    Might look to see if there is a fuse near your inverter or converter somewhere inside the trailer where the electrical panel is. I hooked the batteries up wrong once and it blew that fuse,, I was was behind the 12v panel. Mine was a resetable fuse.


    Thanks, will look at that as well. Checked all normal fuses in panel with none blown in the fuse block, but will do some more digging there as well if nothing else obvious shows up.
  • fyrmnk's avatar
    fyrmnk
    Explorer
    May 18, 2016
    Just an update, got to my camper and had just below 12V on house battery but only 1/10th of that on the 12V lug in the panel. Had good fuses after replacing the one blown one I found initially, but still no power at all in the camper on system panel or any other 12V items.

    Plugged into campground power, then unplugged and everything was working off house battery again. Apparently there's some kind of auto reset breaker on mine that reset due to plugging in momentarily?
  • westend's avatar
    westend
    Explorer
    May 19, 2016
    You probably have an auto reset breaker close to the tongue of your trailer. Look underneath on the frame for a junction box and follow the positive cable backwards.
  • fyrmnk's avatar
    fyrmnk
    Explorer
    May 19, 2016
    Yeah, must have. Drove me nuts trying to figure it out before I got a chance to plug it in and try that.

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