No 12VDC Power

[Rockwoody]

Stryker Toy Hauler ST-2916 - Having an electrical issue. TIA for any help! I put the battery back in after winter and plugged the trailer into shore power. Everything seemed okay for several days but now I can't get any 12VDC power so no lights, etc. even when plugged into shore power now. I pulled the power converter out and checked it, still getting 13.7VDC out of it. When I switch back to the battery, nothing, even though the battery has 12.6VDC. I'm not getting the battery power back to the electrical panel either. I checked the fuse at the batter and all is good. There is an "IGNITION PROTECTED" device at the batter that when the shore power is on, and the battery disconnect switch is on, that thing keeps clicking to cut the battery off. The 12VDC will come through and then stops? It resets itself and starts the cycle over again... Everything was working but nothing now. Any ideas? A short near the batter?

[Grit_dog]

cybersarg wrote:
I just had my Styker 2918 toy hauler serviced they had a white cable crimped with a red terminal connected to the POS, which caused me to not have battery power to the lights or jack. I traced this wire and found it to be a NEG grounded to the frame. When I switched it to NEG on the battery, power was restored. Everything works now. Take pictures of everything before you disconnect anything.

So ya they use all colors for whatever trace your wires and use a meter. Saved me couple hundred bucks and the hassle of dropping my rig off.

Either the neg side of the battery(s) was disconnected from ground, or your story is incorrect. Unless you left the part out about the melted, burnt up white cable that was live shorted to ground.

[cybersarg]

I just had my Styker 2918 toy hauler serviced they had a white cable crimped with a red terminal connected to the POS, which caused me to not have battery power to the lights or jack. I traced this wire and found it to be a NEG grounded to the frame. When I switched it to NEG on the battery, power was restored. Everything works now. Take pictures of everything before you disconnect anything.

So ya they use all colors for whatever trace your wires and use a meter. Saved me couple hundred bucks and the hassle of dropping my rig off.

[Rockwoody]

All good advise and makes sense!

[wa8yxm]

Rockwoody wrote:
You got to love RV manufacturers and their disregard to normal cable colors indicating +/-.

Actually that is not the case. You see the "black is negative/ground" is not a standard it is a TRADITION and one that is often violated for assorted reasons in electronics (NEVER trust color codes on military gear. in fact on military gear if a black wire enters a bundle of wires it may turn white before it exits or red, or yellow or green or _____)

But in HOUSE wiring Black is "HOT" and white is NEUTRAL (Hazard of cross training) and it is ELECTRICANS not Electronics Technicians who wire the RV's so hooking the White wire to teh "HOT" (Positive) makes absloute sense.

This is why you use a volt meter that indicates polarity or other polarity indicating device.

And a suggestion: Get two small cans of spray paint or two bottles of nail polish.. One black, one red

Red on the positive wires

Black on the negative IF doing this with spray don't be afraid to "over spray) onto the batteries...

Makes it so much easier next spring.> Re-paing before removal of batteries if needed. Colored tape or other indicators can also be used.

Tie all positive leads together and all negative as well (Except for the battery to battery jumpers) when removing batteries and insulate the positive (Wrap them in something even if it's just saran warp a few layers)

[BFL13]

beemerphile1 wrote:
RV standard is black-positive and white-negative.

True for some DC lights. Not always for battery wiring. Red for pos and white often seen. DC battery chargers often have red and black where red is pos. Converters often have blue pos and white

Then you get a new water heater for the stick house and forget to take the photo! Heater has red and black wires to go to the black and white for the house (old house) So the Rver thinks red is hot. But wait--- hmmm. Google! Yep. Everybody is on there with the same question 🙂 --which is hot, the red or the black? Answer -both are! 240 vs 220. So doesn't matter. I chose black to black and red to white.

So "standards" ? Look before you leap. 😞

[beemerphile1]

RV standard is black-positive and white-negative.

[wnjj]

Agree on pictures. I take them of everything before I disconnect or disassemble.

Also, black for positive is standard on most if not all RV’s. It follows the house 120V wiring idea of black for hot, white for neutral/common.

Fortunately it seems the only consequence was shorting positive to ground, which your clicking auto reset breaker was properly taking care of.

[opnspaces]

Glad you got it fixed and thanks for coming back and telling us what you found. I agree with the labeling of the wires, It's also helpful to just take a picture with your phone before you disconnect anything.

[Rockwoody]

Alright folks... boy do I feel dumb! My electrical master brother did a facetime with me this evening to find the issue. I had the positive and negative cables correctly hooked to the battery. What i didn't do correctly is that I installed two additional wires (white and black) to the positive battery terminal. It was supposed to be the white wire to the negative terminal and the black one to the positive terminal. You got to love RV manufacturers and their disregard to normal cable colors indicating +/-. Nonetheless this was 100% my fault! Still don't understand why the problem took several weeks to surface. The only thing I can come up with is that I did not turn the battery disconnect switch until recently. Label your wires when you remove them from the battery for a season. Thanks everyone for you advice and input!

[BFL13]

You mean "converter". You need the two RP fuses in the converter.

Not clear what the sequence was for the loss of power and the RP fuse being out of place. Did that happen after the several days or later when you took the unit out?

With the battery ok at 12.x volts, you can leave the converter off and just try to run the rig on battery to find the "open". Yes, start at the battery and work along with your meter until you find 12v on one side and nothing on the other side of a connection. (As time2roll always says on these occasions 🙂 )

The open could be along either the pos or neg path. Rain might get to the frame ground by the battery if exposed.

[Rockwoody]

Not RP and I just double checked. Was working fine for several days. I took the inverter out to check in my garage but then realized it had a "special" 120VAC plug so tested in back in-place plugged into the back of the electrical panel. All 120VAC power works when plugged into shore power.. no problem there. So here's two more pieces of information that may be relevant. 1)The fuse on the inverter... one 40 amp fuse was blown, the other 30 amp fuse was found laying on the ground next to the inverter. Did I knock the 30 amp one out? Possibly... you know how they throw these things together at the factory (workmanship is a four letter word to production!) Both fuses are supposed to be 40 amp. 2) It rained since all his started. Can I check the positive cable at the batter to ground and see if I get continuity? A possible short related to the rain? Trailer is less than a year old.

[ScottG]

BFL13 wrote:
He said it all worked for several days after he put the battery in so not RP.

I caught that but if by "all" he meant the (incondescent) lights were working, it could still be in backwards.

[BFL13]

He said it all worked for several days after he put the battery in so not RP.

When the converter passed its bench test, where did the 120v come from? Is there 120v to it when in the RV? Anything else 120v in the RV quit working? (As in you washed it and popped a GFCI getting the outside receptacle wet?)

Is the resetting CB the "battery fuse" near the battery on the pos wire?.. If not check that too.

[RoyB]

I always look for the - or NEG stamped on the battery case and make sure this is connected to frame ground. Trailers are normally BLACK for + and WHITE for - Frame Grounds but since those are also automotive cabling the color code might be RED for + Positive and - BLACK for Ground.

You may even find a RED WIRE connection on top of a BLACK WIRE Connection where the two worlds of TRAILERS and AUTOMOIVE items cross paths haha...

I had to replace my JENSEN CAR RADIO and right out of the box came with RED and BLACK WIRES... Where that connected to 12VDC was BLACK and WHITE color connections... Makes old timers turn over in their graves haha...

Finding the PLUS + and NEG - symbols stamped on the battery case helps me keep it straight for my setups...

If you find them reversed there are two FUSES in the power panel marked REVERSE POLARITY and are usually off to them selves like the the 40A fuses shown here. They will most likely be blown...


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Roy Ken