Delay Using Battery Piiwer

[lamokadave]

We have a 2018 Rockwood GeoPro fbs with a 150 watt solar panel on the roof and dual 6 volt interstate batterires.When hooked to shore power everything electrical works as expected. On shore power or not solar controller always reads 100%. We are on an extended cross country voyage and a weird thing has started happening with the electrical system.
When relying on 12 volt system to operate the tongue jack, there seems to be a delay in power availability. By that I mean, I hit the switch and nothing happens but usually by the 2nd or 3rd time it works without any further issue with multiple start/stops in the process of hitching up.
The very first hint of a problem was when breaking down and just coming off shore power, my wife commented that the lights in the TT when out and there was a multi-second delay in them. coming back on. Most recently the issue seems limited to the tongue jack use.
Yesterday it happened when arriving at a new place and trying to extend the jack to unhitch with no shore power and TV not running.
Im not sure what to check.

[Duckogram]

Interesting scenario combining unrelated, other than being electrical, issues. Your solar has no direct connection to your interior lights or tongue jack. The controller reading 100% charge is relevant as an indicator that your batts are charged. The jack is usually a direct connect item with its own relay and fuse. But it is working, just not necessarily when you need it. The interior lights are not associated with the jack but the “delay” your DW experienced is another clue. So what connects your jack and lights to a common point? I’m thinking a bad/loose connection. I suggest you begin at your battery terminals and work out from there. I would be looking for a loose ground connection.

[lamokadave]

In our case the Jack its wired to a terminal block of some type located on the trailer frame that also has additional red cables. Although this was built like 6 months ago, I'm amazed at the level of corrosion i see. I'm going to try to clean it up and coat with some conductive grease. Everything i see is a red cable. Haven't identified the
grounds yet

[TitanMike]

The first place I'd look is the battery terminals. Have you had them off and cleaned them lately?

It's not unusual for dirty terminals to delay power flow. How many times have people gone to start a vehicle and have to hit the starter a couple times before it starts to turn.

Corrosion is high resistance and when it's just beginning to be a problem it can be "burned out" by a couple of high current surges. The key is when the lights went out when you started to use the tongue jack. Resistance caused the battery voltage in the system to go extremely low and kill the lights.

This is a problem that only gets worse so get out the wire brush (and goggles). Clean the terminals until they are nice and shiny then connect them nice and snug. Not a bad idea to check the battery negative to frame connection as well as the connections to the frame mounted circuit breaker. I've seen some that are extremely rusty from their exposure to winter road chemicals (spring rains cause them to fly up off the road surface and deposit on vehicle undercarriages).

It's a good idea to clean all the battery connections at the beginning of each season whether you think it's necessary or not. Helps avoid interruptions in trips and even the replacement of unnecessary parts.