Really weird power issue

[DerekandSarah]

Ok. Long description here, but I think it's neccesary. I was going through our Nomad 188B this morning, and when I plugged into the shore power at the house, I had no power to the trailer. Now, there is nothing wrong with the power source, that was the first thing I checkd. Checked the only GFCI outlet we have in the trailer, all good. So I checked the fuses. We have a fuse box that has LEDs that light up if the fuse is toast. No lights. Hmmmm. So I pulled the 30A fuse, and voila. We have lights, water pump, but no awning or slide controls. I put the 30A back in, and no more power. Bought new fuses, no change.

Now here is the weird part. I went to pull the 30A fuse, and it was hot.

I may need an adult on this one.......

[allen8106]

Wouldn't hurt to put some tape on those cable ends to prevent future issues!

[enblethen]

If you have to look at your watch to see if you need a drink, you don't need one! Bloody Mary?

[DerekandSarah]

It's 8 am here. I will wait an hour or two. 😉

[enblethen]

Thanks for the update!
Now you can have a good drink! Maybe have another one!

[DerekandSarah]

Thanks everyone. This turned out to be a case of me forgetting something simple. You were all right. I was grounding out badly. When I put the trailer in storage, I put the battery cables through the propane tank retention screw to keep them from dragging. Pulled them back to their proper spot, and problem solved! Simple fix, but it almost drove me to drink last night. Thanks again!

[enblethen]

Yes, isolate the battery cable as suggested by YC 1.
Or if it is the bat fuse, leave it out. Verify that your converter can operate properly without a battery.

[YC_1]

If the 30 amp fuse is actually a breaker and your battery positive cable is lying around shorted to ground your converter/charger is trying to charge the missing battery but is instead feeding that power to the shorted positive cable.

The breaker is probably cycling on and off enough to get hot. A fuse would burn open IF the short is a solid low resistance short but if the short is not making a good contact it could allow almost enough current to blow a fuse.

Pulling the fuse removed the short so to speak and allowed power to get to the other circuits.

There may not be enough power from your converter alone to run an awning or heavy current item. Your converter could be a real wimp and just big enough to charge the battery but not big enough to run any big loads.

The 30 amp fuse/breaker could be misleading however correct in that it is just that size to allow the battery to supply that much current FROM the battery and not sized for the charging ability.

That is probably not clear but in any case you will find the short on that positive cable somewhere.

[DerekandSarah]

I missed that part. The battery isn't on the trailer. Simply shore power.

[enblethen]

What does the 30 amp fuse power? I am guessing it is the battery circuit and the battery is shorted out.

[Home_Skillet]

You have a bad ground somewhere.
The power is back feeding through said 30A fuse.