by Tracy
(Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
I have a 2005 Fleetwood Utah that I recently bought privately from Craig's List. All appeared to be working well until I took it on the road to a horse show last weekend (very dry camping) and tried to use the 12V battery as the power source. I thought I had messed up the charging before I left home, or perhaps the battery was too old to work properly, so I bought a new battery (the correct deep cycle type).
Unfortunately a friend connected it for me and switched the polarity of the terminal connections. Of course the reverse polarity fuse on the converter blew. I corrected the connection and replaced the fuse and tried to power up again, but nothing happened. Even the low voltage indicator light did not illuminate.
However, if I plug into my car through the trailer connection, all is well and everything works.
Does this sound like a wiring issue before the trailer battery and car battery wiring converge or has something happened to my converter?
I'd love to hear your opinion as I've tried to make a service appointment at local RV repair shops and have to wait over a month.
Tracy
ANSWER Greetings Tracy thanks for submitting your question on our Ask An RV Question Page.
My gut instinct tells me that the converter is damaged. But here are a few things to look at in your tent trailer to narrow it down to the converter.
1. First double check all breakers and fuses in your trailer.
2. Look at all the wiring and connections around your converter, does any of it look burnt or damaged? If so, you may have to repair the wiring.
3. Check all the cables and wires running off of your battery, does any of that wiring look damaged? Do any of the wires or cables coming off of the battery have an in-line fuse?
If all of the above checks out OK then you have done all you can do. I would not advise you to start tearing apart the converter. You need a qualified technician to take it from here.
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Happy RVing
RVing Al