Trouble shooting 12v lighting issues
I am looking for some help troubleshooting a 12v lighting issue in an older travel trailer.
I have a 33' travel trailer (built in 1988) parked on a remote property that I use to stay in while on the property. I have electric and water hookup on site and things have worked well for the past year, but I ran into some issues this weekend.
Everything seemed to be working fine (12v lighting, 110v outlets, fridge, water heater, etc.), but all 12v lighting suddenly died. All 110v items were still working, but all 12v circuits no longer worked. One note, I did convert all interior lighting to 12v LED RV lights when I bought the trailer a year ago. I checked all of the fuses and everything was good. A short while later, the lights came back on for a short time (less than a minute) and then went out again. They came back on a couple more times and finally came on, but were very dim and there wasn't enough power to trigger the valve on my water heater.
I don't know a lot about trailer wiring, but know the basics on automotive electrical. It appears that the previous owner had it wired so that the 12v battery was wired with a cut-off switch and the lighting was run directly off of the converter. The issues I noted above were the same with the battery on or off. I tested the voltage on the battery and even put it on a charger over night just to be sure, but there was no change to the lighting with the battery on or off.
Since this is affected all circuits, I am not sure if it is a converter issue, or possibly a ground issue? Can anyone suggest any troubleshooting tips to help me isolate the issue? If there is 12V at each fuse, should I assume the converter is fine (I still need to go back up with a meter to confirm this)? Also, I would think the lighting would work off of the battery even if the converter wasn't working (the battery was fully charged). There is a bunch of wiring coming out of the trailer next to the battery that is all bundled together with a large wire nut (both positive and ground it appears). This wiring continues to the battery as well. I don't know if this is how it should be wired or if the previous owner did this. Lastly, is there any easy way to connect to a known good ground to test the ground? If something chewed through the ground on one circuit, would that make all of the circuits have an issue?
I am trying to gather as much information as possible so I can make sure I take all of the proper tools with me the next time I go up. I was even thinking of taking a couple of small 12v batteries with me to try to do some testing to see if that fixes the issue.
Sorry for the long post. I'm just not sure where to start and I don't want to throw money at a new converter if that isn't the issue.
thanks,
Nick
I have a 33' travel trailer (built in 1988) parked on a remote property that I use to stay in while on the property. I have electric and water hookup on site and things have worked well for the past year, but I ran into some issues this weekend.
Everything seemed to be working fine (12v lighting, 110v outlets, fridge, water heater, etc.), but all 12v lighting suddenly died. All 110v items were still working, but all 12v circuits no longer worked. One note, I did convert all interior lighting to 12v LED RV lights when I bought the trailer a year ago. I checked all of the fuses and everything was good. A short while later, the lights came back on for a short time (less than a minute) and then went out again. They came back on a couple more times and finally came on, but were very dim and there wasn't enough power to trigger the valve on my water heater.
I don't know a lot about trailer wiring, but know the basics on automotive electrical. It appears that the previous owner had it wired so that the 12v battery was wired with a cut-off switch and the lighting was run directly off of the converter. The issues I noted above were the same with the battery on or off. I tested the voltage on the battery and even put it on a charger over night just to be sure, but there was no change to the lighting with the battery on or off.
Since this is affected all circuits, I am not sure if it is a converter issue, or possibly a ground issue? Can anyone suggest any troubleshooting tips to help me isolate the issue? If there is 12V at each fuse, should I assume the converter is fine (I still need to go back up with a meter to confirm this)? Also, I would think the lighting would work off of the battery even if the converter wasn't working (the battery was fully charged). There is a bunch of wiring coming out of the trailer next to the battery that is all bundled together with a large wire nut (both positive and ground it appears). This wiring continues to the battery as well. I don't know if this is how it should be wired or if the previous owner did this. Lastly, is there any easy way to connect to a known good ground to test the ground? If something chewed through the ground on one circuit, would that make all of the circuits have an issue?
I am trying to gather as much information as possible so I can make sure I take all of the proper tools with me the next time I go up. I was even thinking of taking a couple of small 12v batteries with me to try to do some testing to see if that fixes the issue.
Sorry for the long post. I'm just not sure where to start and I don't want to throw money at a new converter if that isn't the issue.
thanks,
Nick
