Battery will not power inside lights

[BusyRetirees]

We have a 2014 Rockwood 8282ws. The other day the front or rear jacks would not retract. Found out it was the reset switch. Jacks then worked. Later on that day, we set up in a new park and noticed that although the jacks worked on the battery, the battery lights did not show up on the inside panel and the inside lights did not work. Everything except the lights worked off the battery. The next day the reset switch tripped and had to be reset. All fuses were checked and the battery was also checked. Complete loss as to what is going on. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

[ScottBrownstein]

Sounds like your disconnect switch. Most times Jacks go around it.

[bb920]

Or a fuse blew in you converter. So your batteries are not charging when attached to shore power

[BusyRetirees]

Originally Posted by bb920

Or a fuse blew in you converter. So your batteries are not charging when attached to shore power

I checked all the fuses and everything appears OK. I did notice that when I pulled out the fuses to check them, some of the lights (the one that show the fuse is dead) would come on and some would not. Maybe a short somewhere?

[TGR]

It does seem like an odd situation. Check to make sure all the wires to your battery are hooked up properly. Measure your battery voltage with a volt meter and try and charge your battery from shore power. Low voltage and poor connections can give very strange indications.

Do your symptoms change when connected to shore power? Do your lights work when connected to shore power? Have you charged your battery by hooking up to shore power?

It seems to me that your battery is not fully charged so you trip the circuit breaker when the current to the jacks goes too high because of the low voltage.

I suspect that not all “blown-fuse indicators” will light when you pull a fuse unless the circuit for that fuse is trying to draw current.

[BusyRetirees]

Originally Posted by TGR

It does seem like an odd situation. Check to make sure all the wires to your battery are hooked up properly. Measure your battery voltage with a volt meter and try and charge your battery from shore power. Low voltage and poor connections can give very strange indications. Battery is fully charged and all connections are secure. Battery will power front jacks but not lights.

Do your symptoms change when connected to shore power? Do your lights work when connected to shore power? Have you charged your battery by hooking up to shore power? Everything works when connected to shore power.

It seems to me that your battery is not fully charged so you trip the circuit breaker when the current to the jacks goes too high because of the low voltage. Checked both circuit breaker and tried only power to lights - no luck. Battery is fully charged.

I suspect that not all “blown-fuse indicators” will light when you pull a fuse unless the circuit for that fuse is trying to draw current.

It would appear that only those that draw power from the battery are the one that do not light. All others do which indicates that the battery power to DC powered items is interrupted somewhere.

The only thing I can think of is that one of the two circuit breakers near the battery cut off switch is defective. Now to find out which one. Thanks for your reply.

[TGR]

Check your converter's reverse polarity fuses (40 A.)

[Rich5117]

The circuit breakers on the main bus probably have a small black reset button unless they are auto resetting. Feel on the end of the breaker for the button. Had same thing happen.

[TGR]

The 12-volt battery on my Wildcat sends power to the converter and DC distribution panel inside the RV, near the converter, through a Battery Cutoff Switch. This DC distribution panel also has the AC circuit breakers and 12 VDC fuses for the lights and many other DC uses. With the cutoff switch open, my lights will only receive power from the converter when connected to shore power.

When the Battery Cutoff Switch is open, the interior lights can’t receive power from the battery and the battery won’t receive a charge from the converter. However, several circuits remain connect to battery power regardless of the Battery Cutoff Switch’s setting. The circuits that receive power even when the Battery Cutoff Switch is open, on my RV, are the slides, landing gear, rear stabilizers and outside “eyebrow” lights.

The component, besides wiring, that would prevent the battery power from going the DC distribution panel inside the RV are the battery disconnect switch and the reverse polarity fuses. These fuses are 40 A in my RV.

As I said earlier, check your reverse polarity fuses. If they are okay, perhaps the cutoff switch failed or isn’t properly closing. Next, check the wiring from the battery to the converter.

If the reverse polarity fuses are blown, double check the battery hookup is correct, as 12 VDC motors work with reverse polarity but run backwards.

[BusyRetirees]

I want to thank all those who replied to my thread. I tried all your suggestions and still no lights. I even changed the circuit breakers. No luck. While I am pulling my hair, skinning my knuckles, my better half is cruising the forums and comes out to ask me if I knew there was a circuit breaker beneath the tongue of the hitch. I knew there were two beside the battery cut off switch and I had pushed the resets on these without any success. I looked under the tongue and low and behold, another circuit breaker. I pushed the reset on this one and presto we have lights. Everything works. Now my only question is, why is this not in the $#@^%$ manual that they give you when you buy the RV or even in the trouble shooting section??? I also want to give a big thanks to herk7769 who posted the solution back in Mar 2010. Again, thanks everyone.

[Rich5117]

Glad you got everything working. Had to chuckle to your last post. The answer is because it would make entirely to much sense.

[dstacy969]

Originally Posted by BusyRetirees

Now my only question is, why is this not in the $#@^%$ manual that they give you when you buy the RV or even in the trouble shooting section??

RV manuals seem to be somewhat of a joke, it seems.


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[GearHd6]

I have an entirely different camper but I have that breaker under the trailer too. I noticed mine would trip every time I hooked my truck to the camper. I found that an extremely drawn down camper battery was causing it.