Electrical problems in my FF 160X

donkris · 07-01-2016, 02:02 PM

Hi everyone, I'm hoping someone here can help me understand what the he** is going on with my trailer. I bought a new tow vehicle and had my local RV shop install a brake controller in the TV. The trailer battery is 1.5 years old, I bought it at Costco ( interstate marine/RV battery).
Two weeks after that we went dry camping in Refugio State Beach. Before we left I plugged the trailer in for 24 hours to charge the battery. When i got set up at camp, I noticed the battery was not fully charged, according to my gauge in the trailer. Then weird things started happening.
When I turned on a light, the radio shut off. Other times the radio came on spontaneously. I had a Yamaha generator with me, so I charged the battery with it. The battery showed fully charged, but then a half hour later, it showed only one light on the gauge. We checked the fuses and they were all good.
The fridge did not stay cold and showed the 'check" light constantly.
My questions:
-did the RV place cause a problem when they installed the brake controller in my Sequoia?
-do I have a short somewhere in the wiring?
why is my battery not holding a charge?
I have the battery at Auto Zone now, they are charging it and will let me know if it is dead. I don't see how it could be as it is only a year and a half old.
Thanks to anyone who can help!

APD · 07-01-2016, 05:05 PM

If the battery is only a year and a half old then it's obviously not the one that was giving you trouble back in 2012.
So have you replaced the battery twice since then?
Wow, that's a lot of batteries......

**LJAZ** · 07-02-2016, 07:57 AM

Do you have a volt meter? It's hard to really know what's going on without knowing the voltage of the battery.
I doubt there's anything wrong with your brake controller install that would cause a battery problem. The symptoms with the fridge and radio sound like a discharged battery. How long did it sit before you charged it to go on your trip? How did you charge it? By plugging the trailer into shore power? If so it could be your converter. But without more details like the voltage I'm just guessing.

donkris · 07-04-2016, 02:44 PM

thanks for your help! Actually, I had my battery tested and it is fine. So something in the trailer is depleting the battery. Not sure how to proceed, but I guess I will charge the battery and then turn the fridge off and see how fast the battery goes dead. Maybe this will narrow it down to what the culprit is.

profdant139 · 07-05-2016, 09:31 AM

The fridge should not be the culprit -- unless you have one of the old three-way fridges?? Otherwise, the control board for the fridge draws very little power.

You don't have an anti-frost heater in there, do you?? Some models do, and you can disconnect the heater.

PieGuy · 07-06-2016, 07:19 AM

We're you rinning the fridge on propane of 12 volt?

FFX160_CT · 07-07-2016, 04:48 AM

I've seen people drain their batteries by using the wrong setting on the fridge. Make sure it's not on "auto", but is on gas/propane instead. Also, make the sure emergency brake cable isn't disconnected. I have a 2007 X160...

donkris · 07-08-2016, 04:28 PM

thanks everyone!
Unfortunately, the problem continues. I suspected it was the battery, so I went out and bought a new RV battery. When I connected it, I heard a pop or crack sound, possible from under the trailer. Uh-oh, that can't be good I thought.
After leaving the trailer plugged in for 24 hours, I found that the new battery is dead. I checked every fuse (including the two at the tongue) and reset every breaker and still the battery is not charging. Everything on the trailer works just fine when plugged into shore power. When I reset the breaker, I saw the fan start and stop on the converter. Is there a
fuse or breaker somewhere else? This is looking like a lot of money!

profdant139 · 07-08-2016, 04:57 PM

You might need to bring the trailer to an RV repair outfit to see what's up. My dealer is far away, so I use a local independent mechanic for problems I can't solve (and this would be one of them).

jtwcummins · 07-08-2016, 06:16 PM

Sure sounds like a short in battery cable to converter or a problem with power to brakes.

**LJAZ** · 07-09-2016, 08:30 AM

If you heard a pop noise coming from underneath the trailer I'd suspect the main battery cable has a short. Try following that cable as it goes under the trailer and see if it has rubbed against the frame somewhere and worn through the insulation.

Camper303 · 10-24-2016, 03:01 PM

There can be a 30amp fuse on the outside of the trailer at the point of where the cables connect to the battery. It's an inline fuse in a little box on the cable.