Electrical help

[Jmahaney90]

this may have come up before but last year my wife and I bought a 2018 212LHS hideout everything worked good but this past weekend we took it out and when I plugged in to the shore line only the microwave, receptacles and air conditioning unit would work there was no power to the awning or lights unless I hooked up the battery which we did not have to do last year when we used it. Any help or thoughts are appreciated thanks in advance.

[chuckster57]

You should have the battery hooked up any time you are towing the trailer or using it. At this point you need to test the conveter, you have have just blown a fuse, or you may have fried the converter.

Use a Volt meter and test for DC volts at the battery while plugged into shore power. If it doesn’t read 12VDC or better then you need to find the reverse polarity fuses. They are located either in the fuse panel off to the left of all the others or on the back side of the converter. Should be 30 or 40 amp fuses.

Post back if you get all the tests done and it still doesn’t work.

[flybouy]

The battery should always be connected and charged before operating slides and jacks. Operating high amperage motors by the converter only can burn up the converter. Why did you not have the battery connected ?

[Jmahaney90]

I am fairly new at this and was not aware you needed to. We bought this off of an individual and I guess I just didn’t do enough homework on the correct operation of it. So I guess this is lesson learned the hard way.

[JRTJH]

Maybe a lesson learned the hard way, maybe not.

There are two "reverse polarity fuses" in the converter. If you attempt to connect the battery by installing the battery cables incorrectly (reversed: meaning pos cable to neg battery post and neg cable to pos battery post) those two fuses will blow to protect the converter from damage. You may find that the converter is still working, but that it protected itself from your mistake...

As for ALWAYS having the battery connected when towing, remember that the trailer emergency breakaway switch is there to turn on the trailer brakes if the trailer separates from the tow vehicle. If there is no battery connected to the trailer system, then there will be no braking in an emergency, so ALWAYS have a fully charged battery properly connected to the trailer when towing. It could save your life or the lives of other people if the trailer separates from the tow vehicle when on the highway.....

[Jmahaney90]

Originally Posted by JRTJH

Maybe a lesson learned the hard way, maybe not.

There are two "reverse polarity fuses" in the converter. If you attempt to connect the battery by installing the battery cables incorrectly (reversed: meaning pos cable to neg battery post and neg cable to pos battery post) those two fuses will blow to protect the converter from damage. You may find that the converter is still working, but that it protected itself from your mistake...

As for ALWAYS having the battery connected when towing, remember that the trailer emergency breakaway switch is there to turn on the trailer brakes if the trailer separates from the tow vehicle. If there is no battery connected to the trailer system, then there will be no braking in an emergency, so ALWAYS have a fully charged battery properly connected to the trailer when towing. It could save your life or the lives of other people if the trailer separates from the tow vehicle when on the highway.....

Thank you! I will check it out

[wrvond]

Originally Posted by Jmahaney90

this may have come up before but last year my wife and I bought a 2018 212LHS hideout everything worked good but this past weekend we took it out and when I plugged in to the shore line only the microwave, receptacles and air conditioning unit would work there was no power to the awning or lights unless I hooked up the battery which we did not have to do last year when we used it. Any help or thoughts are appreciated thanks in advance.

Generally speaking you'll only want to disconnect your battery when you store the camper long term (such as winter). If you keep your unit at home and plugged into shore power there's no need to disconnect at all.
Your power panel is located below the refrigerator. With the battery connected and the shore power connected, open the power panel door and check for blown fuses - replace as necessary. Your reverse polarity fuses are probably located in the lower right area of the fuse panel. Replacing those should get you back on line (don't forget to confirm you have the battery correctly connected).
Good luck!

[Jmahaney90]

Ok I checked all of the fuses and found one of the 15amp fuses had blown which was for the interior light. I replaced this fuse then checked the battery to see if it was charging through the converter which I had plugged into the shore line and still only showed 12amps. I unhooked the battery and none of the 12 volt power worked including the refrigerator

[flybouy]

Originally Posted by Jmahaney90

Ok I checked all of the fuses and found one of the 15amp fuses had blown which was for the interior light. I replaced this fuse then checked the battery to see if it was charging through the converter which I had plugged into the shore line and still only showed 12amps. I unhooked the battery and none of the 12 volt power worked including the refrigerator

I assume you meant 12 volts and not amps. Did you identify and check the 2 reverse polarity fuses? If they aren't on the front of the fuse panel (typically away from the other fuses) then you may need to remove the distribution panel and fing the actual converter to find the 2 fuses on the converter itself.

[Jmahaney90]

Yes I did mean 12 volts. Ok thanks I will pull it and check that out

[JRTJH]

On many recent trailer power centers, the reverse polarity fuses are located on the faceplate of the DC fuse panel, just to the left of the vertical row of fuses. On older trailers and some "left over power centers" the reverse polarity fuses are located on the end of the converter/charger. You may find them in either location on your trailer....

[Jmahaney90]

Problem is solved both 40amp reverse polarity fuses were blown and have been replaced and all seems to be working properly at this time. Thanks to all that commented and assisted with my issue

[rlh1957]

You need 12V battery connected always when using camper or towing.
Emergency disconnect brake will not work without 12V power from battery.
When on shore AC power the converter converts ac to dc 12V and sends it through the battery. If battery is disconnected the DC doesn’t go through.

[wiredgeorge]

Originally Posted by rlh1957

You need 12V battery connected always when using camper or towing.
Emergency disconnect brake will not work without 12V power from battery.
When on shore AC power the converter converts ac to dc 12V and sends it through the battery. If battery is disconnected the DC doesn’t go through.

Raymond, See post #5. Also not that this thread has been quiet for number of days but what you said may be useful for someone not reading the whole thread.

[flybouy]

Originally Posted by rlh1957

You need 12V battery connected always when using camper or towing.
Emergency disconnect brake will not work without 12V power from battery.
When on shore AC power the converter converts ac to dc 12V and sends it through the battery. If battery is disconnected the DC doesn’t go through.

The first part is correct but you do not need the battery to for the converter to provide 12 vdc to the syste. The converter and the battery provides 12v dc to the fuses in the power distribution panel and the ground. That's what creates an issue when the battery is removed and the trailer is plugged into shore power. The unfamiliar will see that the lights and other 12 vdc items work until they go to operate the slide and then the converter can't satisfy the high amperage demand.

[LHaven]

I just assumed he meant "the DC doesn't go through to the battery to charge it," which is the only interpretation of that which could have been true.

[KarenK]

Originally Posted by Jmahaney90

Problem is solved both 40amp reverse polarity fuses were blown and have been replaced and all seems to be working properly at this time. Thanks to all that commented and assisted with my issue

Had the same issue after the guy that showed us his son's trailer hooked the battery up wrong. He had to open the slide by using the "in" side of the switch. When we got it home a couple days later nothing had any juice till the 2 reverse polarity fuses were replaced. Also had the white and black leads instead of the normal red and black. Have since color coded the leads with red and black tape because I often have my son or grandson deal with moving the battery in and out, too heavy for me. Always learning new stuff from this forum.

[Weldon]

Originally Posted by JRTJH

On many recent trailer power centers, the reverse polarity fuses are located on the faceplate of the DC fuse panel, just to the left of the vertical row of fuses. On older trailers and some "left over power centers" the reverse polarity fuses are located on the end of the converter/charger. You may find them in either location on your trailer....

John,
Thanks for posting this pic. I have the same fuses box. So the two 40 amp fuses are the reverse polarity fuses?

[JRTJH]

Yep, As far as I know, NO WFCO power distribution panel has any "circuit fuse protection" using fuses greater than 30 amps (most are 15 amps or 20 amp DC plug in fuses). So any 40 amp fuse on the face of the DC fuse panel should be the Reverse Polarity Fuses. Additionally, they should be clearly marked with decals that identify them as "Reverse Polarity Fuses" or "give the fuse rating amperage. The only fuses in the power center or on the inverter that are 40 amps should be the Reverse Polarity pair....