I have a 04 trail bay travel camper and I'm having some problems. I disconnected the battery and put it in the basement for charging after last year season. I plugged the camper into my 30amp plug and plugged it into my outlet in the house. I went into the camper to check to make sure everything is working before the season starts. Everything worked, lights,refrigerator,microwave,radio,ect. I replaced the overhead lights inside with LEDs and everything still was working. My wife wanted to see the new light the next day and when we got in the camper some of the accessories won't work. There was one set of overhead lights and two lamps that are plugged into outlets that came on but none of the other lights. The microwave and the coffee maker are working but the rest of the lights,radio,outside spotlights won't turn on. It sounds like the power converter is working because I hear a humming sound. I have checked all the fuse's and breakers, they all check out fine. Any help would be great, thank you

The microwave and coffee maker are on the 120V side of things, and the other items you list which aren't working are on the 12V side. The first thing I'd do is make sure your battery terminals are tight. If they are loose and not making good contact, it would cause your problems. Second, if the terminals are tight, I'd disconnect from shore power and use a volt meter to measure the battery voltage and make sure you have 12+VDC. It could bad battery. Also, while you're at it, plug back into shore power and see if the voltage at the battery terminals jumps back up to about 13.5VDC. This will let you know your converter is working correctly.

did you turn the battery disconnect on

When you put the battery back in... did you reverse the cables by chance?

TucsonJim wrote:The first thing I'd do is make sure your battery terminals are tight. If they are loose and not making good contact, it would cause your problems.:h. The OP said he removed the battery but nothing about reinstalling it. Obviously if there's no battery but some of the 12 vdc system still works with the trailer plugged into 120 vac shore power the converter itself has to be working. Who knows, perhaps a fuse or two has blown on the converter, perhaps he was careless and allowed the (disconnected) positive battery cable terminal to touch the frame of the trailer and short out. Without having more specific information about exactly what he did it's impossible to say what actually happened when we can't lay eyes on the situation. The solution is to grab a voltmeter and start probing but that won't do any good unless the OP has some degree of electrical knowledge and a grasp on how his trailer's electrical systems are designed to work. Meanwhile WAGs based on incomplete information are unlikely to help the OP to resolve this ... he needs to be more specific about exactly what he did and didn't do.

SoundGuy wrote:TucsonJim wrote:The first thing I'd do is make sure your battery terminals are tight. If they are loose and not making good contact, it would cause your problems.:h. The OP said he removed the battery but nothing about reinstalling it. Obviously if there's no battery but some of the 12 vdc system still works with the trailer plugged into 120 vac shore power the converter itself has to be working. Who knows, perhaps a fuse or two has blown on the converter, perhaps he was careless and allowed the (disconnected) positive battery cable terminal to touch the frame of the trailer and short out. Without having more specific information about exactly what he did it's impossible to say what actually happened when we can't lay eyes on the situation. The solution is to grab a voltmeter and start probing but that won't do any good unless the OP has some degree of electrical knowledge and a grasp on how his trailer's electrical systems are designed to work. Meanwhile WAGs based on incomplete information are unlikely to help the OP to resolve this ... he needs to be more specific about exactly what he did and didn't do.I agree and often there are unique things trailer specific on how things are wired up with little consistency between trailers or even manufacturers. Often high amperage items such as slides do not run thru the converter, but come directly off the battery thru a CB often mounted near the battery. The converter only supplies power to that ckt via the charge wire from the converter to the battery. I could see where lights and 12V items in a slide might also be powered from this same ckt. and hopefully they would also be fuzed at an appropriate level somewhere. Thus in this configuration you have to have either the battery installed or at least the cables going to the battery if more than one connected together to get power to that ckt from the converter. Larry

Some of my accessories are not working | Good Sam Community

Rjwarfield
Explorer
Feb 25, 2016
Ok, thanks again
YC_1
Nomad
Feb 25, 2016
Without a battery as a load your voltage might have been high enough to kill the led's. You do need a meter at this time to see what is going on. Or a simple 12 volt test light.
JWRoberts
Explorer
Feb 25, 2016
Chuck has provided your correct answer.
In addition, some cheaper converters rely on a battery for voltage regulation. If you have any converter output without the battery, 1t will far exceed your battery voltage.
Rjwarfield
Explorer
Feb 25, 2016
Ok, thank you all for the response. I didn't have the battery hooked up when I replaced the light bulbs. I just had it plugged in and everything worked. Maybe it was still holding power from some where? I will put the new battery in and see what happens. Thanks again
Chuck_thehammer
Explorer
Feb 25, 2016
converters are NOT your Fathers battery charger.

some NEED a battery connected.. for the converter to power ON...
others put out limited power without a battery connected..

even a bad connection at the battery or a bad cell in the battery can cause your issues.

my opinion.
LarryJM
Explorer II
Feb 25, 2016
SoundGuy wrote:
TucsonJim wrote:
The first thing I'd do is make sure your battery terminals are tight. If they are loose and not making good contact, it would cause your problems.

:h. The OP said he removed the battery but nothing about reinstalling it. Obviously if there's no battery but some of the 12 vdc system still works with the trailer plugged into 120 vac shore power the converter itself has to be working. Who knows, perhaps a fuse or two has blown on the converter, perhaps he was careless and allowed the (disconnected) positive battery cable terminal to touch the frame of the trailer and short out. Without having more specific information about exactly what he did it's impossible to say what actually happened when we can't lay eyes on the situation. The solution is to grab a voltmeter and start probing but that won't do any good unless the OP has some degree of electrical knowledge and a grasp on how his trailer's electrical systems are designed to work. Meanwhile WAGs based on incomplete information are unlikely to help the OP to resolve this ... he needs to be more specific about exactly what he did and didn't do.

I agree and often there are unique things trailer specific on how things are wired up with little consistency between trailers or even manufacturers. Often high amperage items such as slides do not run thru the converter, but come directly off the battery thru a CB often mounted near the battery. The converter only supplies power to that ckt via the charge wire from the converter to the battery. I could see where lights and 12V items in a slide might also be powered from this same ckt. and hopefully they would also be fuzed at an appropriate level somewhere. Thus in this configuration you have to have either the battery installed or at least the cables going to the battery if more than one connected together to get power to that ckt from the converter.

Larry
SoundGuy
Explorer
Feb 25, 2016
TucsonJim wrote:
The first thing I'd do is make sure your battery terminals are tight. If they are loose and not making good contact, it would cause your problems.

:h. The OP said he removed the battery but nothing about reinstalling it. Obviously if there's no battery but some of the 12 vdc system still works with the trailer plugged into 120 vac shore power the converter itself has to be working. Who knows, perhaps a fuse or two has blown on the converter, perhaps he was careless and allowed the (disconnected) positive battery cable terminal to touch the frame of the trailer and short out. Without having more specific information about exactly what he did it's impossible to say what actually happened when we can't lay eyes on the situation. The solution is to grab a voltmeter and start probing but that won't do any good unless the OP has some degree of electrical knowledge and a grasp on how his trailer's electrical systems are designed to work. Meanwhile WAGs based on incomplete information are unlikely to help the OP to resolve this ... he needs to be more specific about exactly what he did and didn't do.
AmericalVette
Explorer
Feb 25, 2016
When you put the battery back in... did you reverse the cables by chance?
newman_fulltime
Explorer II
Feb 25, 2016
did you turn the battery disconnect on
TucsonJim
Explorer II
Feb 25, 2016
The microwave and coffee maker are on the 120V side of things, and the other items you list which aren't working are on the 12V side. The first thing I'd do is make sure your battery terminals are tight. If they are loose and not making good contact, it would cause your problems. Second, if the terminals are tight, I'd disconnect from shore power and use a volt meter to measure the battery voltage and make sure you have 12+VDC. It could bad battery. Also, while you're at it, plug back into shore power and see if the voltage at the battery terminals jumps back up to about 13.5VDC. This will let you know your converter is working correctly.

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