Blowing Fuses

[DHD]

My Forest River tent trailer keeps blowing the inline fuse at the battery and also the one on the converter that is linked to the battery positive. The wiring all looks good. Any suggestions?

[sherdep]

what year and model tent trailer do you have?

was the battery ever removed or disconnected?

did you check to see if any of the wires are touching or if the insulation is chaffed off and touching a ground?

Did this just start happening or after removed from storage or?

[DHD]

It is a 2006 Flagstaff 206ST. It's a new problem that just started. I take the battery out every winter but I tried two different batteries and still have the same problem. I have checked the wires front to back as my first thought was a short but I can't see anything. First it was my electric brake that weren't working and they still don't work. Now the fuses are blowing.

[kbrown1075]

Pay close attention to the wiring at the battery. (+) is the Black wire and (-) is the white wire on our TT. Our PUP before this was the same. There is a label on the frame near the battery.I am an electronics tech and work with many types of communications equipment, black wire is ground (-) in my world of DC voltage. It is obvious that an electrician engineered these connection, Black is the "hot" wire, white is "neutral" wire.

To sum it up, make sure your battery is wired correct, DO NOT assume BLACK is Negative (-).

[KyDan]

Sounds like your putting the battery in backwards!

It's time for a meter!!
Every RVer should have a basic little digital volt, ohm, amp meter.
Habor Freight or Radio Shack has them.

Disconnect the battery,
plug in the trailer,
check voltage at the battery connections.
When you put the RED lead on the meter on the
correct wire from the trailer and show a positive
voltage THAT is the plus wire.
Once you figure out which wire is really the +
you can reconnect your battery.
Plus on the battery goes to plus on the wire.

Wear large glasses or safety glasses.
Hooking up a battery backwards can cause it to explode and battery
acid blinds hundreds of people every year.
Be Careful!!

Once you figure it out take some red spray paint or red tape
and mark your plus wire.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by KyDan

Sounds like your putting the battery in backwards!

x2!

[DHD]

I too also assumed that white is positive and black is negative. I will test them and try again. Thanks for the help.

[KyDan]

Test it with a meter but if I had to guess.......
white is often ground and ground is usually negative
so your black would be positive (red) post on the battery.

In an emergency you can use a 12v bulb as a tester.
Hold one terminal of the bulb on one of the battery wires and
the other bulb terminal on a frame ground. The wire that lights the bulb is
the plus.

Get a meter- you'll need it again someday.

[StrawBaleTeacher]

I just started having this problem. The battery has not been changed since we last used the camper a couple weeks ago. Now every time I try to lift the tent with the power lift button, the fuse blows. I can't lift my trailer and I'm leaving for Mexico for a four moth trip in less than a week! Please help.

Issue #2 is that th emanual lift for the tent seems to be a joke. The tent goes up about 1/4" for every 30 turns on the lever. That sounds crazy and tiring. Any ideas on both issues in welcome!!!

[jimh]

what abt the break away switch for ur brakes. by any chance is the pin pulled?

if u disconnect the battery, does anything work when ur plugged into shore power? does it blow the fuse? if it works without the battery, i would suspect the bad battery or battery connected in reverse (like the others).

[StrawBaleTeacher]

Thanks Jim. I pulled the battery off line and plugged in. everything works EXCEPT the tent lift motor. It worked for about 5 seconds and then stopped.

My manual lift is geared REALLY low so it doesn't seem like a viable back up. It would take me 30 minutes to lift the tent I believe. Is that normal?

i think the switch may be dead to my lift motor or the whole motor is gone. This is a 2011 with only a few months of use on it. New motor already?

[jimh]

with the bat disconnected, that shows the problem isn't in the wiring or the converter. not much left except the battery.

the tent lift motor may need the extra power provided by a battery. the converter may not be sized to carry the motor by itself.

as suggested by others, u do need a volt meter. (used mine yesterday after the alternator went out on the tow viehicle). u can varify the proper wire to connect to the battery by observing if the meter shows +12 or -12 when connected to the leads to the battery (with the battery disconnected and the trailer on shore power). make the same measurements on the battery and match + to + when connecting the trailer wires to the battery. i should know the color code but don't. if i have any doubt, i always do the voltmeter check. there is a good possibility that the fuse at the battery is located on the posative lead. a wire that bolts directly to the frame is negative.

batteries are strange anamils; they can be bad right off the shelf. my battery usually starts running hot (very warm) to the touch when one of the cell goes bad. because the converter is having to supply more current to try and bring it back to normal, it is possible to blow a fuse on the converter. i have seen schematics that show a reverse polarity fuse on one. haven't looked at mine to see if it has one or not.

let us know what u actually find.

[StrawBaleTeacher]

Hi Jim. Turns out it was the battery. Thanks for the tips! I plan to get myself a volt meter today.