trouble with Fuse

shadow92182

Hello I have a question I am hoping somebody can help me with. I have taken my T@G out twice this year sofar and have been having a problem. On the first camping trip when I got to the camp site I didn't have any power from the battery. I thought that maybe I had not charged it correctly, maybe had the battery switch turned off so it hadn't charged. It was fine because we where at an RV campground and just plugged into the power there. When I got home however I found that I could not charge and or use any electrical devices off the battery. After looking at this forum trying to find the problem I learned that there was another fuse attached to the battery, so I checked it and sure enough it was blown. So I replaced it and all was well. The next trip when I got home I found that nothing was working with the electrical again and when I checked the same fuse it was blown again. I had several fuses left from when I purchased them the first time so I went ahead to replace it. As soon as I went to insert the new fuse I was startled by a 'pop" as soon as I touched the fuse to insert it. It instantly blew. I had one fuse left. I turned the power switch off to the battery before inserting the last fuse. No problem putting it in but as soon as I turned the power switch back on to the battery, "pop" the fuse blew again. At this point I am out of fuses and will need to run to the auto store to get more, but does anybody have an idea of what is causing this problem?

LuckyJ

You have a short on one circuit.

Now, you need to locate it, I would began to pull all the fuses from the fuse panel to figure out if the short is coming from witch circuit.

So in order, I would pull all the fuse from the panel, and insert a new battery fuse, and turn the switch on. If nothing is blowing, then you will know that the short is pass the fuse panel.

Then I would start inserting one fuse at a time, until the battery fuse blow up again.

Once tye battery fuse blow, you will know what circuit to look at.

Come back here once you know whitch circuit is bad.

We will go by step.

Michigan_Mike

Luc is correct as this is trouble shooting by trial and error. Have you installed anything new on your trailer, drilled any holes, installed screws inside the trailer, etc.? Somewhere in the trailer the hot wire is making contact with a ground wire or part of the frame and this is what is creating the dilemma and blowing the fuse. Mice can also create a problem here by chewing wiring and allowing a hot wire to touch a ground wire or make contact with the frame. I would do as Luc has suggested above, pull all the fuses from the electric converter (make sure you know where they go, take a quick photo for reference if the panel isn't marked on each fuse), install the battery fuse (and if it doesn't blow) start re-installing each fuse until you find the circuit where the problem is.

I would also check the wiring beneath the trailer as it's possible that via travel, something has worn through and is touching the frame and creating a short circuit. Check the trailer wiring harness too that connects to your tow vehicle, follow it out and inspect the jacket for any cuts or tears. All wiring is suspect in these instances and you need to follow the hot wire back from where it is fused at the battery too as it could easily be worn through and touching the frame, etc.

Keep us posted as it's always interesting finding out what the problem turns out to be and this can help other members out in the future too.

Best of luck to you!

shadow92182

Thank you guys so much for your response/feedback. I do have an update and hope you can continue to help. So to answer your questions mike, I have not installed anything new, no new holes, nothing like that. I followed both your recommendation and started a trial and error with the fuses to see when it will blow the fuse. I went fuse by fuse, one at a time until I had tried every combination of fuses I could think of and nothing blew the fuse. I was totally stumped. Then I realized both times I had noticed the fuse had been blown after traveling with the trailer and it blew when I was replacing the fuse while it was still attached to my vehicle. To test my theory I pulled my suv up to the trailer and plugged in the 7 prong plug. with the trailer plugged into my vehicle I turned on the battery switch and instantly the fuse blew. So it seems that the fuse is only blowing when the trailer is hooked up to my vehicle with the battery switch on.

This makes me think that this is a problem with the electrical/plug on my vehicle? My vehicle did not originally have a hitch/electrical plug for hooking up a trailer. I had these installed recently at u-haul, do you think it is a problem with the instillation?

LuckyJ

Good, we are slowly progressing.

Perso, yep, ai would think that you indeed have a problem with the TV conection.

Do you have acces to a 12 volts light test (this looks like a screw driver with a pointy tip and a wire with a small aligator connector) but even better, a small multimeter.

So when vehicule is not running and no light on, you should only have ground (no1) and number vehicule accessory charge (no4). I would test the plug with all the fonction as well. If all is good, that end will (in my mind be cleared) and we will start looking at tye trailer plug side.

Hope this size pic is not to large.

CampHub

@shadow92182 I am just going to ask if you checked for proper polarity connection of the battery? Another thing to check is if the fuse blows when you plug into shore power and turn on the battery. On page 17 of the owners manual it talks about reverse polarity fuses. Hope this helps.

shadow92182

@LuckyJ I have gotten ahold of a multimeter, but to be honest I'm not entirely sure how to use it. If you could give me a little direction on how to test the prongs with it that would be awesome!

@CampHub does not seem to be any problem when plugged into shore power but ill test that just to be sure.

LuckyJ

@shadow92182 said:
@LuckyJ I have gotten ahold of a multimeter, but to be honest I'm not entirely sure how to use it. If you could give me a little direction on how to test the prongs with it that would be awesome!

@CampHub does not seem to be any problem when plugged into shore power but ill test that just to be sure.

Can you locate on the dial the dc settings? If so, turn it so it give you a possibility of testeing more than 12v. Like 20 or more.

If you press the pic in my privious post, you will see how the TV plug should be wired. Place the black wire on the negative, and one light fonction at a time, test each connector to make sure that only one of those connector gives you 12 volt.

The reverse light might not be connected.

Luc

shadow92182

@LuckyJ ok I think I did it correctly and this is what I came up with. With the car off these are the readings I got. With the black wire connected to no1 and no4 I got readings when I connected the red wire to numbers 6, 3, and 5. It was the same if I connected the black wire to either 1 or 4 I would get the same reading when I touched red to 6, 3, and 5.

LuckyJ

So, this is like the number 4 is grounded when it should be 12 volts power.

Only number 1 should be ground and give you 12 volt when you touch the other according to each fonction.
12 volt when black on 1 and red on 2
12 volt when black on 1 and red on 3
12 volt when black on 1 and red on 4
And so on. Test one fonction at a time, but do check all the connectors to make sure that no wires are crossed.

But since no 4 is acting like a ground and give you 12 volt when you touch the other connector, this would give the blown out fuse when you turn the battery switch to on.

shadow92182

so I think at this point I just need to contact u-haul and ask them to recheck the wiring on the 7 point plug?

Sharon_is_SAM

Yes, tell them the issue and what you found.