Battery arcing on hook up..

[bigracenut]

I have a 2010 27.6 Sprinter, and after the winter, i charged my battery and installed in in my camper a few days before leaving on a 3 day camping trip. I always remove the battery and store it my garage. When I arrived at my camp site, the battery was dead. I put in a new battery when i arrived back home, and I have noticed it arc's when i install the terminals. It has always worked fine, and never had a problem in the 2 years I have owned the RV. I bought this RV new. The only other thing that seems strange is the Jensen stereo has the blue light on the front on, but the stereo wont turn on, not sure if its related. Even with the new battery installed, it still wont turn on. I tried to reset the stereo, but nothing. I am not sure why I get the "arc" when the terminals are being hooked. Its not a huge arc, just more than usually expected. Any ideas?

Thanks so much for your thoughts!

[SteveC7010]

I have a 2010 27.6 Sprinter, and after the winter, i charged my battery and installed in in my camper a few days before leaving on a 3 day camping trip. I always remove the battery and store it my garage. When I arrived at my camp site, the battery was dead. I put in a new battery when i arrived back home, and I have noticed it arc's when i install the terminals. It has always worked fine, and never had a problem in the 2 years I have owned the RV. I bought this RV new. The only other thing that seems strange is the Jensen stereo has the blue light on the front on, but the stereo wont turn on, not sure if its related. Even with the new battery installed, it still wont turn on. I tried to reset the stereo, but nothing. I am not sure why I get the "arc" when the terminals are being hooked. Its not a huge arc, just more than usually expected. Any ideas?

Thanks so much for your thoughts!

If the back light on the Jensen is on all the time, you will get an arc when you connect the battery.

Also, the propane detector may be 12vdc (some have their own internal batteries) and that is always on, too.

If the fridge is set to run on propane and turned on when you hook up the battery, you will also get an arc.

But I would also recommend that you check everything in the trailer to see what else might be on like a light in a storage compartment.

Now, for the Jensen.... There could be two fuses on the wiring on the backside of the Jensen. IIRC, one powers the always on back light and system memory while the other is power for the main unit. At least that is how it is on some units. So you'll want to pull the Jensen and check all the fuses in the rat's nest of wiring back there. If you haven't already read some of the other threads on the Jensen and similar radios, there is a trim piece around the border that just snaps off - gently does it. Then you'll see 4 screw heads. Remove those screws and the whole thing will slide right out.

[bigracenut]

Thanks Steve, it just seemed a bit more "arcy" than usual... I will monitor the battery to see if get drained as I am off to the speedway for 3 days boondocking outside turn 4!.... As for the stereo, I have pulled it out and the only obvious fuse I could see was a red 10 amp fuse, and it looked ok. Scratching my head here!

[ksfis43]

make sure you are hooking the battery up correctly!, sounds like you may have the + & - reversed

[Jim & Kay]

Steve, I could'nt have explained it better myself !!!

[SAABDOCTOR]

hi there if you have time grab an amp meter put the positive terminal on the battery put one lead of the meter on the neg lead the other on the neg post on the battery see what you get. should be low like under an amp. if you see a - reading swap the leads., now have someone watch the meter and start pulling fuses. when the reading drops you will know which circut to start hunting down. but do this after you fallow steves advice! happy hunting:eek:

[Halibutman214]

I would be REALLY carefull before I started swapping leads around or you could get more than you bargained for like frying some electronics. It's been a very long time since I've seen a battery cable that wasn't clearly marked although I have seen those that got the battery turned around.

[rjsurfer]

I gave up on the Jensen units I lost 2 in 4 years both with the exactly the same symptoms you're experiencing, back light on but that's it.

Jensen service tried to help me out but I never could get them work.

Ron W.

[JRTJH]

I would be REALLY carefull before I started swapping leads around or you could get more than you bargained for like frying some electronics. It's been a very long time since I've seen a battery cable that wasn't clearly marked although I have seen those that got the battery turned around.

In my RV and in most that I've seen recently, the BLACK battery cable is Positive and the WHITE lead is Negative... Neither are clearly marked. In fact, the BLACK being positive goes against everything "automotive" that I've been accustomed to for over 50 years of "fooling around" with cars, boats, and motorcycles. So it is possible to "revert to automotive thinking" and hook an RV batter up "bass ackerds" I'd urge anyone to either "clearly mark" the terminals or to at least remember that the positive cable is the color of the negative cable in the tow vehicle.

[bigracenut]

Thanks for all of your responses!..... i do have the terminals connected properly..... and I may have cured my problem, sorta!... after spending the weekend at the Charlotte Motor Speedway camping, I have fell in love with several fifth wheels, so I see a trade in my very near future!.. I did questions many experienced campers over the weekend, and my electrical problem in my pull camper seemed to baffle them also.

Thanks again for your insight and responses!.... Now, off the examine my options on the best fifth wheel, as I'll have many questions on specifications and quality on those I am sure!.... (especially while the BH is in agreement!!)

Pat

[break80]

thought I would pile on here. Just got back from a weekend trip and did bring my generator, but every time I would charge up the battery, it would die in a matter of 1-2 hours. The battery fluid levels are fine, the battery is only about 14 months old and I pulled it last winter and charged every month in the garage and did not store it on concrete. I too have noticed the blue light on the jensen, and the lp gas detector on too. Somewhere else someone had said the refrigerator sensor could be draining it as well. Can you point me to a thread that lists troubleshooting for any/all possible battery drain issues. This is really freaking annoying, I'm also going to trade this battery back, buy 2 new ones and hook them up in parrallel for when I can't plug in and don't want to run my loud generator..thanks in advance.:banghead:

[gkainz]

Pull all the 12V fuses and put an ammeter in the 12V+ feed. Start pushing in fuses until the load goes high and that will be the circuit that's killing you. To kill the battery that fast makes me think it's more than normal parasitic loads - surprised something's not blowing fuses...

Oops - just went back and read from the top - SAABDOCTOR already said this. So I'll just say "x2" :D