Please help diagnose my jack problem

[Aviator]

You definitely don't get any power from the TV to the jack. If the battery is too low, connecting the TV won't help either as all the energy from the tV to the Batt is absorbed there and doesn't go on to the jack. I suspect the single battery just didn't have enough stored energy to keep things going all the time. With both Batt's you have enough juice. Temps will also effect the output of the battery. It may be the single batt had enough when it was warmer, and when cool it wasn't up to the task.

Glad all is good now.

[Gulliver72]

Steve, I cant help with the diagnosis, but wanted to say hi from a fellow Cape Cod (Barnstable) Airstreamer. Leaving tomorrow morning for parts South then West to AZ & NM.

[SteveSueMac]

Originally Posted by Aviator

You definitely don't get any power from the TV to the jack. If the battery is too low, connecting the TV won't help either as all the energy from the tV to the Batt is absorbed there and doesn't go on to the jack. I suspect the single battery just didn't have enough stored energy to keep things going all the time. With both Batt's you have enough juice. Temps will also effect the output of the battery. It may be the single batt had enough when it was warmer, and when cool it wasn't up to the task.

Glad all is good now.

Thanks - I never mentioned this but both batts have been sitting on a trickle charger since taking them out of the trailer in October. They were both 100% topped off so the single would have been ready to go. I won’t keep pressing it - I’ll have to do some deep-googling to figure it out [emoji3] but appreciate your perspective on the tv power to the jack. What I saw on etrailer was an implied direction NOT to wire it that way though instructions were provided on how to if really wanted....more digging to do! Thanks again!

[SteveSueMac]

Originally Posted by Gulliver72

Steve, I cant help with the diagnosis, but wanted to say hi from a fellow Cape Cod (Barnstable) Airstreamer. Leaving tomorrow morning for parts South then West to AZ & NM.

Enjoy the trip! I’m not a Cape Codder (or Cape Cawddah [emoji3]) but headed there in April for the Pets and Paws rally which should be a blast! Have a great trip!

[Al and Missy]

One battery should have done it. That battery can start a car; the jack doesn't take near as much current. You may still have an intermittent somewhere.

The TV 12V Aux/Bat line from the 7-pin is wired into the trailer in different ways for different trailers. Mine goes through the battery disconnect switch. If the batteries are disconnected, the power from the TV doesn't get to the batteries and therefore, the jack. If the batteries are connected it does. Also, that line may not be enabled. In my F-150 I had to add a fuse.

The battery disconnect shouldn't care how many batteries you have. One or two, it should power the trailer.

Al

[SteveSueMac]

Originally Posted by Al and Missy

One battery should have done it. That battery can start a car; the jack doesn't take near as much current. You may still have an intermittent somewhere.

Snip....

The battery disconnect shouldn't care how many batteries you have. One or two, it should power the trailer.

Al

Ok - so this draws me back to the connection of the single battery and the fact the battery disconnect wouldn’t go on with just one. I’m guessing that means there is something about the connections that I must have missed - meaning - I only connected the positive lead from the jack and the negative lead (with the blue crimp) to the single battery - wonder if I had connected the negative TERMINAL to the battery - if that would have made a difference (and you can bet I’ll test that out in a few weeks when I go back to load the batteries for real).....

Very interesting!

[Al and Missy]

I have a simple manual rotary disconnect switch. It sounds like you have the pushbutton disconnect. The disconnect does need to see battery power or it won't operate. If you have two (red?) positive cables from the trailer to the battery and only connected one of them, that may be the issue. Same thing if you have two negative cables. You may have to connect both of them to the single battery. If you only have one positive cable and one negative cable I'm at a loss to explain your experience.

Al

[Al and Missy]

There is a description of the battery wiring in the manual. It says that there are four separate battery cables, two positive and two negative. These four cables and a fifth from the TV are connected to five 30A circuit breakers mounted on a bus bar in your power distribution panel. You may have one or more failed circuit breakers, or loose connections on them.

Al

[SteveSueMac]

Originally Posted by Al and Missy

There is a description of the battery wiring in the manual. It says that there are four separate battery cables, two positive and two negative. These four cables and a fifth from the TV are connected to five 30A circuit breakers mounted on a bus bar in your power distribution panel. You may have one or more failed circuit breakers, or loose connections on them.

Al

I went back to the pic I posted in #10 - I can see both positives and negatives - in fact, the thinner cables both have a blue crimp on them, the thicker ones are the standard post connectors, and there are jumpers to connect both batteries. The other cable (black with yellow crimp) is the positive from the jack. I know when I connected the single battery, I had ONLY the positive from the jack on the positive post of the battery - and the thin negative on the other post. So that would explain why the battery disconnect didn’t work - the main positive cable or even the smaller positive cable wasn’t connected to the battery so the circuit couldn’t have been complete. And I’m wondering if the main negative cable needed to be on the battery as it must carry the ground from the jack’s negative terminal being grounded to the frame.

If I’m right on that interpretation, it solves the entire mystery.

Of course - I’m rarely right [emoji3]

[OTRA15]

Hard to follow all the discussions of connections, but in my opinion one battery, connected properly, would work as well as two, given the low wattage draw of the jack motor.

Peter

[SteveSueMac]

Originally Posted by OTRA15

Hard to follow all the discussions of connections, but in my opinion one battery, connected properly, would work as well as two, given the low wattage draw of the jack motor.



Peter

Yup. The bottom line is I understand I didn’t have the single battery connected correctly. It wouldn’t have completed a circuit for the battery disconnect switch, or the ground from the frame.

When I go back to start the season - as a test - I’m going to hook up a single battery first to test the jack and battery disconnect that way. I’m 99.9% confident I’ll be able to report back a working jack on a single battery. I just didn’t understand that side of things....

[rmkrum]

To add somewhat to the confusion, if my batteries are dead, hooking up the 7-way connector from my Tacoma will boost the batteries enough to allow the jack to operate.

I suspect the charge lead in the umbilical is wired direct to the batteries before the house power use/store switch, like my solar panel controller output (once I fixed it..).

I suspect a certain amount of 'creativity' in the factory wiring the Airstream power circuits, to put it politely.

[Al and Missy]

I like "creativity". It sounds so much nicer than the truth.

Al

[SteveSueMac]

Originally Posted by rmkrum

To add somewhat to the confusion, if my batteries are dead, hooking up the 7-way connector from my Tacoma will boost the batteries enough to allow the jack to operate.

I suspect the charge lead in the umbilical is wired direct to the batteries before the house power use/store switch, like my solar panel controller output (once I fixed it..).

I suspect a certain amount of 'creativity' in the factory wiring the Airstream power circuits, to put it politely.

Let me see if I get this...

Remember - I did not have the single trailer battery connected properly. So IF the 7-pin sends some power to the batteries (which apparently it does for charging) the batteries (or battery) would have to be connected properly to complete that circuit. Since they weren’t/ it wasn’t, the tow vehicle would have been incapable of sending power to/through the battery to the jack? Yes?

The clearance lights must get their power directly from the tow vehicle’s battery....- or - when you jump the 12v and clearance light blades (assuming your trailer batteries are connected).

And not that there’s any risk of this - but people shouldn’t interpret anything I’m saying here as good advice! More like feeling my way around a mystery without any real knowledge of how things work...

Very much appreciate everyone’s help and patience!

[rmkrum]

Originally Posted by Al and Missy

I like "creativity". It sounds so much nicer than the truth.

Al

Unfortunately, in my role as a certified old Phart, the head of the Overkill Engineering Department, and opinionated old cuss that worked for Boeing, I've learned to disconcert folks by occasionally being excessively diplomatic in my forum discourse occasionally, just to avoid irritating the moderators, who I am sure have more than enough stuff to ride herd on...

How's that for a run-on sentence, and polite obfuscation of the 'truth'?

[Zymurbrian]

I Recently changed out the jack on my 2012 25FB because of exact same issues that you describe. Unfortunately, half way through the process I learned that I had wasted the money on the new jack. The entire issue was the ground. Corrosion had built up around the washer connecting the jack to the A frame. Simply cleaning the connection well, changing out the star washer and applying dielectric grease solved the problem. I suspect that you actually solved the issue by cleaning the ground on your jack.

[SteveSueMac]

Originally Posted by Zymurbrian

I Recently changed out the jack on my 2012 25FB because of exact same issues that you describe. Unfortunately, half way through the process I learned that I had wasted the money on the new jack. The entire issue was the ground. Corrosion had built up around the washer connecting the jack to the A frame. Simply cleaning the connection well, changing out the star washer and applying dielectric grease solved the problem. I suspect that you actually solved the issue by cleaning the ground on your jack.

Well that would be more ironic than changing the light switch for a bad bulb! These two switches weren’t cheap....oh well. I’m learning a ton! [emoji3]

The tip on dialectic grease is a good one - I will add that when I’m back at the trailer. Thanks!

[WhereStream]

To add somewhat to the confusion, if my batteries are dead, hooking up the 7-way connector from my Tacoma will boost the batteries enough to allow the jack to operate.

Same here.

My Airstream came from the dealer with batteries mortally wounded. First camping trip, batteries were barely spitting sparks and the jack wouldn't budge.

Out of desperation, I plugged in the 7-way and cranked up the Suburban. Jack worked. In a tired fashion, but worked well enough that I could hitch up the trailer.

[rmkrum]

Yup. Our second set of Golf Cart batteries were boiled to death by the cheap convertor in the AS over a winter. Was convenient to leave it plugged in to keep it warm. Was able to get it out of where it was stored only because the charge line was hooked to the batteries all the time. Not enough juice to operate the use/store switch even.

Managed to refill the water in the batteries and jump them to get enough power to run the breakaway switch, and have some power for a few months, but that set was eventually totally shot. New convertor is in it, and I added a battery watering setup to make it a lot easier to top off the water. Now I just check/add water once a month, and don't even have to pull the caps off to do it.

[AlinCal]

Take away summary.

Batteries need to be installed and wired (correctly) for 12 volt system to work, either on there own or thu the 7 pin.

Probably best to diagnose electrical problems with a multimeter rather than trial and error unit replacement.