accidentally shorted battery and new one won't work

Eagle Co · 09-23-2021, 11:58 AM

Hello, I am new to this forum. I crisscrossed the positive/negative on battery and most likely shorted it. I bought new battery and hooked up correctly. It won't work. I can't find a blown fuse on fuse box. I read here that there may be a "inline fuse" next to battery. If that is the case, how do you change that. If that is not the case, is there another location where the blown battery fuse may be?

I have 2004 Shadow Cruiser Fun Finder. 12 footer. Thanks so much! Miguel

profdant139 · 09-24-2021, 09:47 AM

Welcome to the club! On my 2003 T-139 (which is your model), the in line fuse was in a little metal box attached to the positive battery cable. It was about two feet away from the battery terminal, and I think it was attached to the frame of the trailer, inside a junction box. (The setup on my "new" 2012 X-139 is similar.)

And here is a pro tip -- use colored electrical tape to color code the positive and negative cables and terminals, such as red for positive, and green or black for negative. And put matching tape on the battery itself, near the posts.

Don't ask how I learned this valuable tip. You know what they say -- good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.

Be sure to ask lots of questions! Is this your first RV? Where are you located (Colorado, maybe??), and where are you going to travel?

APD · 09-25-2021, 07:31 AM

Same here. Our main battery fuse is outside, in the battery cable about a foot from the battery. It's in a weather resistant fuse holder.
If you only got a few large sparks for a few seconds then the fuse did it's job. Hope everything else was saved further down the line.

Eagle · 09-26-2021, 09:50 AM

On my toy hauler/camper the in line fuse is in a green plastic fuse holder with a pull out top about a foot from the battery. I happen to see it when looking up under the hitch as wasn't visible looking down from the top.

Mine uses a 20 amp blade type auto fuse...available at any auto supply department/store.

It blew when using the electric hitch jack so hunted for it. I now carry a few extra fuses just in case.

RipVan · 10-02-2021, 07:39 AM

In the past, when reading about those that have “experienced” a blown fuse or power center issue by misconnecting battery wires I thought “how could someone with ANY knowledge of automotive electrical systems possibly do this wrong?” Well, as you may have guessed, I HAVE personal experience with the issue!
Fortunately, the 20 amp blade type fuse in the little green plastic box (as described by Eagle) saved the day and prevented any serious damage. (Pride was slightly injured). I do believe that there is an additional level of protection in the fuse panel of the WFCO Converter. I would imagine that other brands of power centers have similar protection.
This year when I remove the battery prior to putting my FF in Winter storage (coming soon

), I’ll be marking the wires as suggested by profdan and hopefully prevent additional “experience” with this issue.

gator · 10-03-2021, 01:15 PM

Well just because you reversed the power leads it doesn't mean there was a short circuit. DC will flow in the opposite direction but if it doesn't encounter any diodes it won't care. If you had anything on like led lights they are toast. And more than likely the converter is toast( at least a blown fuse there). My advice is get a volt meter and start following the voltage from the battery. Get a long piece of wire and connect it to the negative of the battery and connect the negative of the meter lead to it. Then use the positive lead of the meter to follow the 12 volts. You have to be systematic in this. Follow the 12 volts from the battery to the fuse box. Then to the converter. Then to your lights, fridge, hot water system, pump etc. The trailer should be independent of the converter if you're not on shore power. So do not connect shore power. But do start with the line fuse as others have suggested first.

JimboFunFinder · 10-03-2021, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eagle Co

Hello, I am new to this forum. I crisscrossed the positive/negative on battery and most likely shorted it. I bought new battery and hooked up correctly. It won't work. I can't find a blown fuse on fuse box. I read here that there may be a "inline fuse" next to battery. If that is the case, how do you change that. If that is not the case, is there another location where the blown battery fuse may be?

I have 2004 Shadow Cruiser Fun Finder. 12 footer. Thanks so much! Miguel

At least in my model there is a second fuse located at the power Converter which is inside the trailer usually near the furnace. My converter is made by WFCO and they have manuals with diagrams of the fuses online. Good luck!