Why Won't My Tow Vehicle Charge My Fifth Wheel's House Batteries?

by Ron Huyck

I just bought a 1998 Travel Supreme 33 foot Fifth Wheel Travel Trailer. The slide out wouldn't work on Battery or the front jacks. I hooked it to my truck and it still didn't work I replaced the battery and it don't charge at all when hooked to the truck nothing still works. Where do I start? I charged the old battery and now it is fine.

Ron Huyck

ANSWER: Greetings Ron thanks for submitting your question on our Ask An RV Question Page.

I will tell you up front that this could be a wiring issue either in your tow vehicle or your 5th Wheel and you may end up having to take your trailer and tow vehicle in and have a Certified RV Technician track down and repair the problem. Unfortunately I do not have the space on this page to outline every possible causes of your problem.

That being said; there are a few simple things listed below that you can look at that might solve your problem.

1. Check for blown 12 volt fuses. Check the 12 volt auto type fuses in the electrical compartment of your 5th Wheel. Check for any blown fuses in your truck. Also check your truck and 5th wheel for any blown in-line fuses or fusible links.

2. Check the connection plugs from your truck to the 5th wheel. You are looking for any loose wires in

the plugs. Check the plugs for any corrosion and clean as needed.
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3. I am going to throw this one in as it may be the problem. The plug on your fifth wheel has a charging wire, but do you know for a fact that your truck is setup to charge your 5th wheel?

4. Check for any loose ground wires on the truck and the 5th Wheel.

5. Lastly check the connections to house batteries on your 5th wheel, are there any wires that are not connected to the batteries?

As I said at the beginning of my answer, there are several other things that could be causing your house batteries not to charge, but the steps above are the easiest for a do-it-yourselfer RVer to perform.

Hope this helps.

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Happy RVing

RVing Al

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