A Problem With Wiring From Truck to Camper

[ski3pin]

I'll pass on a real world experience. On the last leg of one of our winter trips I discovered the camper battery was not getting charged while driving. Since we were within a half day drive from home, I waited until the warmth of inside a garage to check it out.

With the Lady's assistance with a multi meter at the camper battery, my initial finding was 7.5V getting to the camper battery. I started looking for a loose connection starting with the trolling motor connection in the bed.

I'll note here that I wired up the truck in August 2009.

Everything looked good, as in no change to the voltage. I checked the 30amp inline fuse. It was not blown but the voltage spiked for a moment as I pulled the fuse out leading me to suspect that the problem was here. I replaced with a new fuse and all was well.

I did test the old fuse after cleaning the contacts with no change.

Although the fuse looked good, it was the problem. It was easy to sort out with a basic multi meter.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

A good multi meter is so inexpensive now, I keep one in each rig.

 

[Ronin]

Who woulda thunk it? Good troubleshooting - all problems should be solved for under a $buck$.

 

[PackRat]

I'm going to use an in-line fuse on my rig for the camper running lights "just in case". I have been thinking about how to waterproof it and your problem seems to make that an even more of an issue now. Maybe on your rig you can isolate the fuse holder to prevent moisture from getting in there?

 

[takesiteasy]

It's always nice to find a simple solution. This raises a question for me though of what was going on with that fuse? Seems like fuses are either on or off. Why 7.5 volts? And why now and not before?

 

[ski3pin]

I'm going to use an in-line fuse on my rig for the camper running lights "just in case". I have been thinking about how to waterproof it and your problem seems to make that an even more of an issue now. Maybe on your rig you can isolate the fuse holder to prevent moisture from getting in there?

My inline fuse holder has a rubber cap over the fuse and is under the hood right next to the truck's main fuse box. It did take nine years of good use for a problem to show up, so I'm not complaining too much at all.

It's always nice to find a simple solution. This raises a question for me though of what was going on with that fuse? Seems like fuses are either on or off. Why 7.5 volts? And why now and not before?

I could speculate as too a hairline crack, but I do not know. As I said above, the system worked for nine years and all and all that's good results, especially since the issue was so easily resolved.