Plagued with problems this weekend - Completely clueless

[SLSAntigua]

Hi,

Was taking weekend trip to Hershey Park this weekend and from the moment I disconnected the power to the house, my troubles started. As soon as I disconnected shore power, the propane alarm went off. Went to turn on lights, no lights and alarm went off. Basically no power from battery. Shore power everything works fine. Connected battery charger, full green lights but still no power...has the battery discharged? I have not monitor or pump ability either Interstate battery, 8 years old. Time for replacement?

Second dilemma, since shore power worked, I could still use it. Brake controller is activating when not pressing the brake pedal on TV. Disconnected, reconnected. pushed the brake a few times it stopped but as soon as I pulled away and the next time I had to brake, brake controller remained on. Tekonesha brake controller. turned left of right and it world return to normal. a week prior I had an issue with the Cruise control on TV but only in the afternoon meaning, I could not turn it on. Does the controller think the brakes are on? is the controller going bad, is it the vehicle connector. This was our last trip for the season so we still made the 2 hour trip and had a great time aside from twisting my ankle.

Could the brake controller issue and battery issues be related?

[SLSAntigua]

To Answer RandK-M, If you mean increasing the controller brake power, yes. While in motion and not applying the brake at all, if I dialup the controller, it will increase the brake pressure and virtually slow me down and stop. Returning home from Hershey, had not choice but to turn it almost completely off. But sometimes if I made a left or right turn, it would go completely green. Which leads me to believe it could be connector.

[SLSAntigua]

Here is an update. I read through the manual and it states that if you disconnect the red cable on the battery, it resets the circuit in the front storage compartment that mbopp spoke of. (I guess since you really cannot get to it.) I tried that but the battery is completely shot. I tested the battery which had 0 CCAs where when new it had 500 CCAs. Got 7 years out of it and I guess it doesn't owe me anything since unbeknownst to me, I kept it plugged in when not in use.:S I posted a question on Etrailer about the brake controller and they responded stating that power is getting to the brake magnets and that I should check the red wire from the controller. Also thought about checking the trailer to TV connection as well. Noticed that on the GMs the connector box gives you a schematic on the lid indicating the function of each pin connection.

Thanks again for the replies!

[Padlin]

I would think you could check the circuit breaker that's in the box without actually getting to it. I don't know what wire it is across but if you could find out you could ohm it out from the 2 ends of said wire. Does anyone know if it's across the + or the - wire?

My trailer has no internal access to the cover.

[RandK-M]

To me, the brake issue seems like it's an electrical issue either with one of the two 7-way connectors or with the wiring to the connectors. The battery shouldn't make any difference whether or not the brakes work. Even if the battery isn't installed the brakes should work fine.

Of course, without the battery you don't have any break away safety so it needs to be there for safety.

Can you feel the brakes activate when you move the manual lever on the brake controller? If not, or it works sometimes, but not others, then it has to be an intermittent connection somewhere between the brake controller in the truck and the brakes themselves. The 7-way connectors being the most common. some trailers also have a plug on the trailer tongue that the other end of the 7-way connector cable plugs in to.

Ray

Ray

[SLSAntigua]

One, there does not appear to be a problem with the brake actuator. The break controller still shows that the brakes are on on occaision. Weird sometimes on and sometimes off. Can't tell since if you increase the how much brake to be applied sometimes it will slow the vehicle down and others it is like they are not being applied. both times I am not pressing the brake.

I am not sure of the voltage on the Battery since I haven't tested it. Thinking the battery was completely dead, I connected it to a Diehard trickle charger and it is showing fully charged. I checked fuses but I had no idea there was a box in the front compartment. I think I know what you are referring to. Getting to it is going to be fun. Is there an access to it from inside rv? I guess if that is tripped then putting a new battery in isn't really going to change anything?

[Padlin]

mbopp wrote:
215SSO? With an 8" wide door on the front pass-through? There's an electrical junction box on the floor inside the pass through, it's protected by a plastic cover. I hope your issue isn't in there since access to it is non-existant.
The fact that you have 12V on shore power means the converter (Elixir?) is still working. I'm wondering if a circuit breaker tripped in that pass-through junction box? What's the voltage on the battery?

That's where they hid the batteries circuit breaker.

[mbopp]

215SSO? With an 8" wide door on the front pass-through? There's an electrical junction box on the floor inside the pass through, it's protected by a plastic cover. I hope your issue isn't in there since access to it is non-existant.
The fact that you have 12V on shore power means the converter (Elixir?) is still working. I'm wondering if a circuit breaker tripped in that pass-through junction box? What's the voltage on the battery?

[Old-Biscuit]

SLSAntigua wrote:
First of all, thanks for all of the replies! 🙂 I checked all of the fuses. but never thought of the actuator was the problem. If that had been pulled out like on our last trip when I first noticed it, even after parking it, would it have killed the battery just sitting there?

IF the emergency brake switch pin was pulled out and left out the switch was closed so 12V power from your trailer battery was going to the trailer brake magnets continuously...full 12V until battery ran down or pin got put back in switch.

Full battery voltage will run that old battery down fairly quick and having full battery voltage on brake magnets can damage the magnets.
But that old battery probably ran down before magnets were hurt.
And converter while plugged into shore power just couldn't charge that dead battery....depending on converter it may have just shut down from over current.

New battery........check converter output when on shore power
And you might want to get a new emergency brake switch..contacts may be burnt/pitted from extended battery voltage

[naturist]

I had pretty much the same thing happen a couple years ago. I had kept the RV plugged in and the battery connected while at home, and eventually the battery reached the stage that it showed full charge on the RV's built-in tester, full 13 volts on a volt meter, but it was incapable of actually delivering any current. Throw on the light switch, the light came on for a split second and immediately went out.

The solution was twofold: (1) took the battery to an Autozone, and they tested it and confirmed it was in that condition, so I bought a new battery; (2) I no longer leave the RV plugged in with the battery connected. I now disconnect the battery and hook it up to a BatteryMinder when I'm not using it. If I need to go into the RV and need lights for a bit, I'll either reconnect the battery for a bit or plug it in and unplug it when I'm done in there.

[SLSAntigua]

First of all, thanks for all of the replies! 🙂 I checked all of the fuses. but never thought of the actuator was the problem. If that had been pulled out like on our last trip when I first noticed it, even after parking it, would it have killed the battery just sitting there?

[RoyB]

X2 on checking break-away cable operations. You may have accidentally pulled it out when setting up your trailer at the camp site. Each brake magnet will pull 3AMPS each from your battery setup when activated. This will have to be fixed before you get back on the road as well as it is a DOT requirement to have a working battery source to operate your trailer brakes in the case of a break-away action.

Roy Ken

[SAR_Tracker]

Follow the cable (non-electrical) that goes to the breakaway switch. Push in the part the cable is attached to - it may have been pulled out, thusly setting your brakes (as it should when activated), but killing your battery causing all the other problems.

[mayo30]

Your brake actuater on the trailer is pulled or defective and killer your battery also.

[TucsonJim]

Whenever you have low/no voltage problems, it can ripple through every system you have. But please remember that until you get if fixed, you should not tow. Your breakaway switch activated brakes require a well charged house battery. If you suffered a breakaway, your RV would go careening down the highway and not stop until it wreaked havoc along the way.