Wiring issue - Hi-Lo camper travel trailer forum

Jmthomas · 01-02-2021, 10:27 PM

Hello all.new here just purchased a 2006 22t towlight the guy I purchased it from replaced the inverter he showed me the camper went up and down and all the lights came on ,my wife and I drove it home went out this morning to park it unhooked and went to lift the top and battery just clicked, plugged in shore power and nothing flipped the switch down for battery and lift power it worked for a couple seconds then almost no power left it for a couple hours to see if battery would charge and now no power at all from shore power cord or solar panel not sure what is going on any suggestions thank you

retiredcamper47 · 01-02-2021, 11:35 PM

Sounds like battery drained. Battery must be fully charged to raise top. Things to check: 1 - Is the fridge set on 12v? 2 - Is the brake-away switch on the tongue pulled out? 3 - Check the 12v fuse panel for blown fuses. I’m sure others will respond with more suggestions. Good luck.

Bob

JackandJanet · 01-02-2021, 11:42 PM

I'd say your battery is discharged. Why? I don't know. You need to charge the battery to full and then try it. The top WILL NOT lift if the battery is discharged! Shore power and the converter cannot supply enough Amperage to lift it either.

One way to get the top up is to use jumper cables from your tow vehicle to supply the needed battery power from the tow vehicle's battery. The problem here, though, is it is awfully difficult to connect the jumper cables to the trailer's battery if the top is down. Some members have created modifications so they could attach the cables to short lengths of cable that have been pre-attached to the battery posts.

Edit: What Bob said above is a great list of causes for the battery discharge.

- Jack

RichR · 01-03-2021, 10:20 AM

Sometimes if the battery is discharged enough the 'converter' will not charge the battery. Then you will either have to jump it or hook a charger to get it back. However, if you were hearing a click it may have enough charge left to not requiring an external charge. Is the battery new? Does the charge line from your tow vehicle work? If so you may get some charge into the battery but it will take a long time to get it to the point where it will lift the top.

Jmthomas · 01-05-2021, 02:07 AM

Thank you for the advice im going to look at the breakaway later this morning ,where is a good place to get information on this camper and a place to order parts thank you again

Jmthomas · 01-05-2021, 02:13 AM

Thank you lots of good info i went and purchased a new battery and it went up fine but how do you get it to use shore power instead of battery power i disconnected the battery to see if the shore power was working ,lights etc but nothing ,we go primitive camping and I just don't want to get stuck somewhere and can't use the a/c and lights ,thank you again

JackandJanet · 01-05-2021, 09:31 AM

To use shore power, you have to be plugged in to 120V AC power. If you are, the converter in the trailer should supply DC charging power to the battery and it should allow 120V AC power to get to the AC outlets, the refrigerator, the water heater and the air conditioning.

You will NOT be able to us the air conditioner while primitive camping, unless you are hooked up to a generator capable of supplying at least 2500 Watts. If the battery is disconnected, you will not have DC power in the trailer, which means no lights, water pump, furnace fan, etc.

Shore power WILL NOT lift the trailer top! The charging current it supplies is much too low for that task. You need a healthy battery for that high Amp task, which requires about 50-55 Amps, I believe.

If your battery is not charging when plugged into shore power, you probably have a converter fault. It could easily be that one or both of the "hidden" 30 Amp fuses in the converter has blown. This thread talks about that problem: https://www.hilotrailerforum.com/f28...g-repair-6454/

- Jack