Battery disconnect switch (Primetime Manufacturing, Tracer 24RKS)

[HankUK]

Hi folks

Second hand trailer camper and we’ve had a few days out in it that we’re good already. Just this confusing part…

They mentioned I should use the disconnect when I get to storage so it does not drain the battery. Push in for off I think.

Strange thing was, the switch did nothing. Pushed in or left out, the same things worked. Lights all ok with switch in our out, slider operated, awning operates, water pump etc.

I took the switch off today and looked at the back of it. It disintegrated. I removed the shore power connection to 110v. I disconnected the negative/ground from the 12v battery and then I disconnected one of the cables to the switch.

So whatever the state of the switch now, the circuit is broken for sure, or it should be! But… Everything still seems to work.

What was the switch meant to do? I have a better quality RV/Marine on/off switch to install but I’m just not sure what it is meant to do!

Attached you can see the pull switch that is in the side storage unit. The back of that switch (75amps rated thing that fell apart very easily), the two terminals from the insides of the old switch where one terminal has two wires and the other had one wire connected, and I have a better switch with two terminals on so it’s easy to install the new one but if everything works NOW (with the circuit between these 3 wires broken) then what was the switch ever for? 😆

Thoughts?

[sbjenni]

HankUK,
I have a similar switch installed on my rig. But if you only want to completely isolate the battery the simple and sure solution is to manually clear all connections from the + terminal while your rig is in storage. The solution I chose was to wire my cutoff switch between the battery and the power panel. This way I can have a solar panel with MPPT controller, along with a coulometer that monitors state of charge remotely, permanently wired to the battery while isolating everything else.

[HankUK]

Originally Posted by sbjenni

HankUK,
I have a similar switch installed on my rig. But if you only want to completely isolate the battery the simple and sure solution is to manually clear all connections from the + terminal while your rig is in storage. The solution I chose was to wire my cutoff switch between the battery and the power panel. This way I can have a solar panel with MPPT controller, along with a coulometer that monitors state of charge remotely, permanently wired to the battery while isolating everything else.

What should the switch do? I guess you might not know. And more to the point you have it doing what you need it to do so that’s cool.

My initial thoughts are about what it should be doing, and interested in what you say there about solar and coulometer I think later for sure. Need to read up on all that!

Thanks for taking the time to share what your set up is. I appreciate the info to help with my researching.