HELP! 12 volt Breaker in Travelmaster 1987

[Valere_Nadeau]

Hello! I'm new to Rving as well as «foruming»!
I have a big problem: my 12 volt circuit does not work and it means NO hot water (wether I'm docking or not), NO heating (even when docking), no lights in the bathroom. Many have suggested that I check the fuse box but I did not find anything wrong. I was told to check the breaker, but am not able to even locate the thing. Of course, my Class C 1987 travelmaster did not come with a maintenance guide; it was lost many owners ago I guess... Can someone help me? I live in my RV and intend to do so untill mid-november, but it's getting VERY COLD here in Montreal!

Thanx so much!

[wa8yxm]

Though voltmeters are very good and useful devices in fact I have several, I think you will find the device linked to below to be rather handy.

Start with your house batteries... Make sure the light is bright when connected to teh positive and negative posts. If dim, recharge.

Move clip to chassis (Any unpainted metal part) and touch the positive post.. Still bright .. Good

Now move out along the positive wire(s) When you find a device, touch the terminal that the wire from teh battery is hooked to, Bright=good
Touch the other terminal of the same size.. Bright, GOOD, Dark, problem found.


When you no longer see the light, problem found.

HINT: every time you move the ground clip touch the last known good point to insure you have a good ground.

Test lamp on E-bay

Note: You can get one today at most auto parts stores/departments, hardware and such no need to wait for shipping.

[Hurricaner]

If the lights are working than the battery and converter are too. You need to locate the 12 volt fuse panel and check the fuses. I suspect the one feeding your heater and water heater are blown. The panel should be fairly easy to find as they usually don't hide them.


Sam

[Swamp_Man]

Sounds like a power problem to the converter. Look in the electrical box and see if one of the circuit breakers is mark converter. If not, cycle each of the circuit breakers off then back on. Sometimes one will trip but not all of the way with the handle.

Next, do you see any kind of change in the intensity of the lights when the camper is plugged into shore power? If you do, it usually indicates the converter is putting out power to the batteries. If you don't then you may have a converter problem.

When you get the voltage/multi meter, check the volt at the battery. Should be in the high 12's if the battery is charged. What bothers me is that you have some 12 volt items which work and so that don't. First thing to do then is to check the grounds on the batteries. Near the house battery the black cable from the battery goes to a connection with the frame. Check this connection to may sure it is clean and tight. Clean the connection if you have any doubt.

[Jozzieo]

Check the 'Key' that shuts down 12 volts to the unit. It is a master switch, usually red, turns on-off Don't know where it would be on your unit.
Good luck, don't freeze on us 🙂

[MrWizard]

batteries don't recharge by themselves

you use 12v power you have to charge the house battery
single battery you should charge everyday..
don't wait for everything to quit working, your killing the battery so that it won't recharge to full power

you can plug in to recharge
you can run the engine..it will recharge if the wiring is correct
you can buy a generator to use instead of campground power
but you must charge that single battery "often"
you should get the info from the converter
thats the box with the circuit breakers and the 12v fuses
and post it here
we can tell you wether or not you might need to get a automotive battery charger to do a faster recharge from generator power

[Valere_Nadeau]

Whoah! Thanks a whole lot for your answers guys! That's a lot of things to verify! I will follow all of your advices and get a voltmeter/multimeter. But to answer a few of your questions:when I first bought the motorhome, everything was in order. The heater would function fine on my auxilliary (deep charge) battery wich is brand new. I have had to recharge it recently, because the heater and the hot water tank drain a lot of power.I occasionally get a chance to go to a camping where I can plug everything, and I would get the luxury of having heat and hot water. The circuit have shut down recently.I still have my ceiling lights and water pump functioning, so that's why I suspect a faulty circuit rather than a discharged battery. I looked for the GCFI outlet; I do have one in the bathroom area, but it doesn't have any reset button on it. I'll check the converter, which seems to be under my bed... maybe one of my puppies ate a wwire under the dash... you know how puppies are! So lots of homework for me to do, and I suspect lots more questions for you all. Thanks again! (And thank god for my Coleman Mr. Heater!)

[tenbear]

Its possible that your converter circuit breaker has tripped and your battery is fully discharged. The converter converts 120vac to 12vdc and the circuit breaker is one of the main 120v circuit breakers.

Off course, maybe your converter isn't working. You may need a multimeter to do some trouble shooting if it's anything but a tripped circuit breaker.

[westend]

Check by the engine and chassis battery for a circuit breaker or a battery isolation switch. Most newer Class C RV's have an isolation switch that separates house batteries and the vehicles starting batteries. We do not know if you have one or not.
If you have house batteries, there should also be a circuit breaker or fuse close to those batteries.

[stickdog]

We need more information other than things don't work. Did the water heater work recently and just now fail, if so were you running it on electric or gas?
Do you have house batteries and are they charged? If not it could be a dead converter, batteries won't recharge without one.

[1492]

Welcome to the Forums! 🙂 Tech Issues would be the best forum to answer RV electrical questions.






Moved from Forum Technical Support

[enblethen]

A circuit breaker is normally used for 120 volt AC systems. 12 volt circuits are protected by fuses in most cases.
Do you have a volt meter? Check for 12 volts in the DC power section. It is normally located behind a small dead front plate next to the 120 Volt circuit breakers. Look near the floor in hall way or around the base of the bed.
Does any of the 120 volt receptacles work? Could be a tripped GFCI receptacle. They are the 120 volt receptacle that has two small buttons. Try pushing the resets.