Electric to Power Tongue Jack

Lost Vermonters · 05-31-2016, 07:14 AM

Got to the camp. Leveled side to side, unhooked everything and went to level front to back. Jack would not work. OH OH.

Plugged truck back in to camper ..... Jack worked fine. Also tried it later with shore power and it worked fine. Thought maybe battery low ... but after three days of shore power ... still won't work without shore or truck connection.

Any ideas on what's happening here? Does not make any sense to me!!!

KenHwy61 · 05-31-2016, 07:26 AM

Unless yours is different, the jack is usually wired directly to the battery and grounded internally to the frame. It draws high amperage. My guess is the battery is too weak to run it. I can't think of any other scenario but maybe somebody else will chime in.

Thurman · 05-31-2016, 12:30 PM

The ground on these jacks is very important. Take the ground lead loose from wherever it is attached to the frame and make sure that the ground lead is actually touching bare metal. I have seen where the factory uses an internal star washer under a bolt head. One "star" of this type washer will make contact through the paint, or powder coating, for a short period then stop making good contact.

DEWoods · 06-06-2016, 05:23 PM

I would agree, your battery is probably too week. I had a similar issue, swapped batteries and things were fine. Put the first battery on my electronic 5 amp charger and it took two days to re-charge. Of course that depends on how big the battery is. I don't believe the charger on board the TT puts out enough to bring the battery up once it gets down with all other items that the battery is feeding.

Timex · 06-06-2016, 06:32 PM

I agree with the low battery. If your jack is anything like mine, good metal-metal contact is essential for proper grounding. You might need to unscrew the bolts, clean the base plate(might have some rust), use the star washers and tighten the bolts back down. Check to see if the inline fuse/breaker is functioning properly. And be sure the battery terminals are clean and tight.

The pics are the star washers for the new Husky jack.
The inline fuse for the OEM LCI jack.
And the inline circuit breaker for the Husky.

Thurman · 06-06-2016, 07:13 PM

Timex is correct about good, really good, ground connection. But. I would recommend finding some internal star washers. One will note how the external star washer prongs are not under the head of the bolt. This configuration does not mash the prongs into the metal enough.

jeff64 · 06-07-2016, 07:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Timex

I agree with the low battery. If your jack is anything like mine, good metal-metal contact is essential for proper grounding. You might need to unscrew the bolts, clean the base plate(might have some rust), use the star washers and tighten the bolts back down. Check to see if the inline fuse/breaker is functioning properly. And be sure the battery terminals are clean and tight.

The pics are the star washers for the new Husky jack.
The inline fuse for the OEM LCI jack.
And the inline circuit breaker for the Husky.

X2

On the last jack I installed, the star washers were to be installed between the jack and frame. I am a big fan of a light coat of dielectric grease on connections as well

**Bama Rambler** · 06-07-2016, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lost Vermonters

Got to the camp. Leveled side to side, unhooked everything and went to level front to back. Jack would not work. OH OH.

Plugged truck back in to camper ..... Jack worked fine. Also tried it later with shore power and it worked fine. Thought maybe battery low ... but after three days of shore power ... still won't work without shore or truck connection.

Any ideas on what's happening here? Does not make any sense to me!!!

Does all the other 12 volt stuff in the RV work when not plugged into shore or TV power?

aceinspp · 06-07-2016, 11:31 AM

Do you have a battery disconnect switch if so it is probably pushed in turning power off to camper. All works when hooked to shore power or truck even with switch turned to off. Later RJD

Lost Vermonters · 06-09-2016, 10:46 AM

Well, thanks for all the opinions.

I had ruled out the battery being low because everything else in the trailer worked fine.

After being home for two days I remembered I did not turn off the battery switch, so I went to do it. Before hand I tried the jack. And IT WORKED!

What the heck? I'm guessing the ground is not real good and somehow it was not making contact when it did not work. So I look for the ground wire connection. Huh, only one wire coming out of the jack. It must be they are using the metal to metal contact of the jack post itself.

raspivey · 06-09-2016, 10:57 AM

I've replaced two jacks due to water intrusion...well, one was a switch replacement. The first seized the motor, the second corroded the switch contacts. At first, it would work intermittently. The wires finally broke completely off. If it's not the ground, look at the switch.

**Bama Rambler** · 06-09-2016, 11:09 AM

A lot of jacks use the flange to tongue connection for the ground. It's usually a good idea to grind the paint off at least one of the mounting holes on the flange and tongue and then apply a little dielectric grease to prevent rust and then remount the jack. I personally grind the paint off around all the mounting holes, just to be safe.

Thurman · 06-09-2016, 11:52 AM

Two days may have been enough to charge the battery as to where the jack would work. The wire coming out of the jack is the positive (+) or "hot" wire and should go straight to the (+) terminal of the battery. The jack receives it's "ground", or negative (-) via the bolts holding the jack to the frame. That's why it is so important to have a good ground for the jack to work properly. Find the negative, or (-) terminal on your battery. IF there are more than one wire on the negative (-) terminal then trace the larger wire back to where it connects to the frame in some manner. That connection to the frame is very important. A lot of times the employee(s) at the factory will just shoot a self-tapping screw through the lug on the ground cable into the frame. That IS NOT a good connection. Most frames have a heavy coating of a black paint material on them so the only connection you really have is through the threads of the screw and the frame. I like to scratch off/remove the paint where the ground lug attaches so that the lug on the ground cable will make good metal-to-metal contact with the frame. That way I'm assured that there is a flow of electricity through the metal of the frame to where the bolts for the tongue jack go into the frame. After removing some paint from the frame, then securing the ground cable lug to the frame I like to spray that area with an undercoating material in a spray can, available at most auto parts stores. This prevents any rust from forming between the ground cable lug and the bare frame. Another good idea is to remove some of the paint from underneath one or more of the bolts holding the jack to the frame, this gives good contact between this bare metal area and the internal star washers under the bolt heads.

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