Community Forums

parkerbill · 05-27-2017, 10:27 AM

Just a random thought, but I once had some squirrelly things going on with my 12 vdc and it was caused by a poor connection on the negative battery post.

Jasmic11 · 05-27-2017, 08:27 PM

I thought about that as well. I had a lead post connection on the negative side of the battery. I replaced those with connections I could put on the screw post. I'm pulling my hair out on this one.

Randy the sly old fox · 05-27-2017, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rideandslide

Water Heater is gas or 110v only .

But the control board is 12v

bluepill · 05-27-2017, 08:58 PM

At this point, I would treat each problem by itself. The water heater may be in "Lockout" mode due to 3 attempts to start without continued flame.

BE SURE TO HAVE WATER IN THE HEATER BEFORE TRYING TO LIGHT IT.

See if gas in coming out at the orifice on the left side of the air mix area (the square cutout on the left side of the gold tube). If not, perform the reset procedure (google it) and try again.

If you are getting gas delivery, let it sit for 5 minutes to allow any gas to clear out, then insert a butane lighter inside the heater and have someone turn on the power while you apply a flame at the far end of the gold tube (where the ignition electrodes are - Follow the red wire). If everything works OK, probable ignitor failure.

johnbyrum · 05-27-2017, 09:17 PM

From reading everyone's posts, I'm going with a weak battery. If everything worked 30 days ago then they all still work fine.
Take the battery to an auto parts store and have them test it. If nothing else you can rule that one out.
If it does end up being bad, check your charging ckt to make sure it's keeping the battery charged.

Ray,IN · 05-27-2017, 09:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnbyrum

From reading everyone's posts, I'm going with a weak battery. If everything worked 30 days ago then they all still work fine.
Take the battery to an auto parts store and have them test it. If nothing else you can rule that one out.
If it does end up being bad, check your charging ckt to make sure it's keeping the battery charged.

Very good suggestion! It's the beginning point when investigating any 12V issue, then continuing to check for both voltage/voltage level along the wiring to the appliance until the problem is located.

nothermark · 05-28-2017, 07:34 AM

Weak battery is an interesting concept. The easy answer is to monitor the battery voltage. IF it sags noticeably when trying to run one of the appliances then you might have a battery problem but you do not have 12 VDC at the power terminal of what you are trying to run. As long as you have nominal battery voltage your problem is not the battery.

I will add that most garage type battery testers are designed to wack starting batteries with a large load for a short time as in what happens when you hit the ignition switch to start the engine. That is not the way to test deep cycle storage batteries that are not designed to have high current short duty cycle loads attached. They are designed for less current over a longer time. Unless they
are really dead any of them will supply an amp or two to run sensors on something like the water heater or refrigerator control board.

The way to sort out multiple failures like this is to pick one and fix it. That will either fix all of them or give you a clue that something happened to wipe out the unit.

Check both power and ground terminals against a long test lead clipped to the negative battery post. There should be zero or close to zero volts on the ground terminal and nominal 12 VDC on the positive terminal on the control board. IF that is the case then the problem is not the electrical supply. Check the gas and see if that works with manual ignition.

Considering this a bit more I would offer that it is either a bad ground return or a good chance something happened to wipe out a lot of the electronics in the unit. The latter could be anything from trying to desulphate with high voltage to reversing the power terminals at the battery to a nearby lightening strike or any of a long list of possible but improbably happenings including mice, bugs, kids, and entropy deciding they all needed to fail in the month between when you put it away and took it out. That always circles back to fix one thing and see what happens.

CTPISTOL2 · 05-30-2017, 01:49 PM

don't forget to check your grounds as well

Jasmic11 · 07-16-2017, 10:26 AM

Update: This is my trailer, and my dad started the thread to help me out. Turns out the converter was hooked up backwards. I had tried that earlier, but by that time, the batteries had already charged backwards, reversing the polarity. So when I tried to wire the converter correctly, I got sparks and blew some fuses (so I thought it was right the way it was). After paying for a hack mobile RV guy to come out, I quickly found out that he literally was flying by the seat of his pants and didn't know what he was doing. I purchased 2 new control boards for the fridge (mobile hack's idea), and that didn't fix my problem. I figured all of the other issues I was having were going to be on the back burner to the fridge. When I came to the end of my rope, I took the trailer to a highly recommended RV technician. In less than an hour, he found the problem. I have a new battery (havent figured out if the old one is salvageable), and everything is back to working the way it should. Thanks to everyone who responded.