Tongue jack not working

[Badtriangle]

I think I know the answer, but asking for confirmation. Had parked the Bullet for about a month. Went to hook up and take off this weekend and the tongue jack would not operate while hooked up to the truck. Had to manually lift with the crank. Towed to the house and still wouldn’t work on the truck. Plugged in to the house and it works fine.
While hooked up to the truck, control panel wouldn’t register any battery. It’s a new 7 blade hookup on the truck.

Battery just dead and need charged?
Bad connection somewhere?

Thoughts?

[sourdough]

Check the battery.

[travelin texans]

With a dead or weak battery plugging into the 7 pin on your truck won't provide enough voltage through the small wire to do much good, it's a trickle at best. That's provided there's a fuse in the charge wire circuit in the fuse box under the hood.
Turn the truck around & use jumper cables from the truck battery would work much better, but hard to hook up that way.

[Steveo57]

If you're plugged in to the truck you should be able to operate the jack and see voltage on the control panel. If it's a new plug then I would check it out, sounds like you're not getting power to it.

[Badtriangle]

If it helps, I have brakes, lights, signals everything else.. I’ve checked with a tester and have power to all the pins.

[travelin texans]

Originally Posted by Steveo57

If you're plugged in to the truck you should be able to operate the jack and see voltage on the control panel. If it's a new plug then I would check it out, sounds like you're not getting power to it.

If you have a RV battery that's not dead or very weak.

[chuckster57]

Originally Posted by travelin texans

If you have a RV battery that's not dead or very weak.

Not to argue, but often times customers come to pick up units worked on that have sat and have dead or weak batteries. If the charge line is working, plugging into the TV will allow you to operate the tongue jack. I will agree that it probably won’t let the GC 3.0 or Level Up landing gear operate. On those we do drag out a long extension cord and plug it into shore power and get some help from the converter.

[FlyingAroundRV]

I'll also go with a dead RV battery. A story about our experience this travelling season might help.
When we arrived to get our TV and TT out of storage, job 1 was to connect the truck battery and get it going. When we left the rig last year all was fine and dandy...however;
Hooking up the truck battery and nada, not even a click. OK, so I put the charger (one with a 100 amp start current mode) on for a while and then...nada, not even a click. The people at the storage lot brought over a bigger charger and put it on. Nada, not even a click. Then they brought out the big guns. This charger had to have wheels to roll it around. Said to have a 500amp capacity, it was hooked up to the battery...."click" was all we got.
Eventually, the people from the storage lot found a volt meter so we measured the battery, it read 8volts unloaded.
Off to Walmart for a new battery. Problem solved!

[Badtriangle]

If this muddies the waters or not, but it’s a 2019 with what appears to be a brand new interstate battery. I cannot recall if it’s a deep cell or not.

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by Badtriangle

If this muddies the waters or not, but it’s a 2019 with what appears to be a brand new interstate battery. I cannot recall if it’s a deep cell or not.

You haven't given the battery condition/status so this is a "best guess"....

If you left the battery connected to the trailer system while it was in storage (with or without a battery cutoff switch) chances are very good that the battery is/was completely discharged and as Scott (flyingaroundRV) said, no amount of "jumping the battery" is going to produce any result. You'd have been better off disconnecting the dead battery, using jumper cables connected to the trailer battery cables (completely eliminating the dead battery) and powering the jack that way. I'd suppose that battery is "toast" and even if you can get it to accept a charge, it won't last through the night if your furnace runs any at all.

My guess is that with the trailer being in storage "for about a month" with the battery connected to the trailer systems, you "killed the battery" and will need a replacement.

[Badtriangle]

This confuses me then, as I’ve stored rvs over winter in the past and never disconnected the battery and have had no problems. The battery is nearly new. Just bought the rv a month ago. 2019 Bullet

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by Badtriangle

This confuses me then, as I’ve stored rvs over winter in the past and never disconnected the battery and have had no problems. The battery is nearly new. Just bought the rv a month ago. 2019 Bullet

ALL new RV's are required by RVIA to have operational safety monitoring systems that work "24/7". They (the operational safety monitoring systems) require battery power. Most "newer RV's" will kill the battery in as short as a few days. With the OEM battery cutoff switch in the disconnect position, those systems are still operational and will kill the battery within a week or so. Leaving a "modern RV" with the battery connected for a month is a "guaranteed dead battery"....

[Badtriangle]

Ok understood. I guess I never realized that. Still learning. When I picked up my RV, no one told me about a battery kill switch. Is this something I need to have installed?

[JRTJH]

Most "entry level" (AKA: low priced trailers) cut corners by not installing "extra, nice to have" equipment. Chances are your Hideout doesn't have a battery cutoff switch from the factory.

You have three options:
1. Always plug the trailer into shore power to keep the battery charged.
2. Disconnect the battery terminals when you put the trailer into storage so the trailer doesn't drain the battery.
3. Install a battery cutoff switch on one of the battery terminals or battery cables. That way you can turn the switch off to "effectively disconnect the battery" which is, from an electrical standpoint, the same as option #2.....