Forum Discussion

LeoandLil's avatar
LeoandLil
Explorer
Apr 26, 2017

Power Tongue Jack LED light comes on after a rain

So I have an LCI/Lippert electric tongue jack with two switches: one for the small LED lights and one to raise and lower the jack. After a recent rainy night, I went out in the morning and found the LED lights ON even though the switch was OFF. This has happened twice now.

Fortunately, I keep my trailer here on my property and connected to 120VAC power, but if I had kept it in a storage lot I would have come back to a dead house battery and would not have any idea why. That would have been a tough troubleshooting task for sure.:h

Upon closer inspection I found that when the light switch is in the OFF position, it opens up a 1/32" gap along the top edge of the switch. And, it looks like they selected a switch designed to be an interior switch with no rain/moisture seal at all. I guess we have now answered the age-old question: How dumb can they be? :S

Anyway, if you have this type of jack and you can't figure out why your house battery keeps going dead, you might try disconnecting the LED switch and see it the problem goes away. Stay safe and Happy camping y'all!

10 Replies

  • Sjm9911's avatar
    Sjm9911
    Explorer
    Mar 17, 2022
    Use contact cleaner for boards and sensitive elecreical stuff, find a switch you can use that will have a watertight seal.
  • Skibane's avatar
    Skibane
    Explorer II
    Mar 17, 2022
    LastChance4us wrote:
    I had this problem and research it to find the true root cause. Remove the cover and carefully inspect the circuit board mount. I found that moisture is getting in between the circuit board and it’s plastic mount. The moisture sits right at the terminals that are the on off switch connector. I cleaned it, dried it and put a thine careful bead of sealant around this plastic rim and Vaseline on the terminal to resist moisture.


    WD-40 works beautifully for drying out electrical stuff (the "WD" part refers to "Water-Displacing").

    Silicone dielectric grease is another option for improving the long-term water resistance of the switch - It's thicker than Vaseline, and keeps its consistency even in very hot weather.
  • LastChance4us's avatar
    LastChance4us
    Explorer
    Mar 16, 2022
    I had this problem and research it to find the true root cause. Remove the cover and carefully inspect the circuit board mount. I found that moisture is getting in between the circuit board and it’s plastic mount. The moisture sits right at the terminals that are the on off switch connector. I cleaned it, dried it and put a thine careful bead of sealant around this plastic rim and Vaseline on the terminal to resist moisture.
  • 1995brave's avatar
    1995brave
    Nomad
    Apr 26, 2017
    Maybe you can replace it with one of these rocker switches.
    http://www.mpja.com/DPST-Rocker-Switch-with-Dust-Cover/productinfo/30052+SW/
  • SoundGuy's avatar
    SoundGuy
    Explorer
    Apr 26, 2017
    ScottG wrote:
    Is it a common toggle switch?


    No, the LCI tongue jack uses flat rocker switches like this which are clearly not weather tight or even weather resistant. :) I replaced my own LCI tongue jack with an UltraFab 3502 which does have sealed toggle switches. :)
  • ScottG's avatar
    ScottG
    Nomad
    Apr 26, 2017
    Is it a common toggle switch? If so you can get one of these Rubber covers for it and it will stay dry. I've had a couple on my jack (one for both the light and motor switch) for 13 years and they still works perfect.
  • SoundGuy's avatar
    SoundGuy
    Explorer
    Apr 26, 2017
    My tongue jack permanently wears a bag ...



    ... and when parked at home the entire tongue is covered as well to prevent sun fading of the black plastic parts.



    Never have had the issue the OP describes. :)
  • RoyB's avatar
    RoyB
    Explorer II
    Apr 26, 2017
    The LEDS operates with so little current that even a drop of water across the ON-OFF switch may pass enough current to make them come on... That has happened to me as well on one of my ceiling LED BOARDs I installed in my trailer. I actually had a pin hole through the roof right above my light fixture and I repaired it with a screw and sealeant screwed into the small hole. It was not a good seal... Then everytime we had a real long rain this would happen to me as well...

    Made me fix my small hole better haha...

    Perhaps you can spray something all around where the water may be coming into contact with the on-off switch or cover it with electric tape or heat shrink etc...

    Roy Ken
  • Trackrig's avatar
    Trackrig
    Explorer II
    Apr 26, 2017
    And another reason for a true battery disconnect switch.

    Bill

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