Electrical Problems: Seeking help

[Koolbreez]

I'm new to this forum, but have had my 1986 Coleman Columbia for a few years and have had varying degrees of problems with the electrical, but have finally decided it's time to get it worked out and will be finding a shop soon if I have no luck fixing it myself with the help of all of you .
Let me just lay out the chronology of my problems and a few points I think are pertinent.

When I first bought the camper all was well.  All electrical worked with both battery and plugged in for most of a season.
One summer later, heater would not work off of battery, but would when plugged in.  Other electrical (lights, sink pump) worked off of battery.  Lived with it like this for a while, then bought a new battery last summer thinking this was the problem.  New battery didn't alleviate the problem, still no heater, but other electrical worked.  
Put camper away for the winter and maintained the battery throughout the winter with monthly charges and kept indoors, so I feel the battery should still be good this summer.
When I got it out this spring nothing electrical works from the battery, all still works when plugged in.  No heater, lights, sink pump, etc. from the battery.
Any thoughts about what could cause this kind of progressive loss of power?
I'm not really equipped to do much electrical troubleshooting, but I'm not afraid to give it a try if I have some good guidance.
Thanks for any help you might be able to give, and finally does anyone want to recommend a shop or mechanic in the Fort Collins, CO area who doesn't mind working on a little old popup instead of the super RVs?

[aw738]

I had a similar problem. I had DC power as long as I was hooked to shore power but not from the battery. I even took the converter out of the camper to check it and it was ok. I found the problem to be a bad positive (+) wire from the battery. Rather than fix the old wire I ran a new one and have not had any trouble since. After I removed the original wire it checked out to be ok but I still threw it away to save me any trouble incase I was temped to reuse it for something eles.

[AustinBoston]

When I got it out this spring nothing electrical works from the battery, all still works when plugged in.  No heater, lights, sink pump, etc. from the battery.

This sounds like you might have connected the battery backwards.  Doing so would have instantly blown the reverse battery protection fuse.  Start by checking that.

Austin

[Koolbreez]

OK, is the reverse battery protection fuse the one fuse found in my converter or is it somewhere else?  The fuse in the converter looked ok, but I replaced it anyway and there was still no power.

As far as it being a bad wire, that has been a suspicion of mine for awhile.  Like there was a bad connection somewhere that got worse and was able to supply a small amount of power for lights and such but not the heater at first, and then lost all connection finally after sitting through the winter leaving me with no power at all.  Make sense to anyone but me?  I kind of followed the wires where I could see them, but I'm not sure about replacing it myself just because it wasn't obvious to me where they go after they disappear and how I get to them.  Is this easier than it looks?

[flyfisherman]

Koolbreez - I live over here along the s.e. coast of North Carolina where high humidity is a way of life. Also, being just a couple of miles from the ocean, I'm sure there's a slight salt air influence as well. What I've had to do with my popup campers (present and past), is to annually pull out every circuit fuse in the converter, one at a time, and then re-insert them back into their proper place as  a corrosion preventative. Now, with my boat trailers, which I have backed into salt water from time to time, wiring connections are a constant maintenance up-keep item.

To make matters worse, electrical wiring and trouble-shooting are not my field of expertise! So let me pass this site along to you for maybe some reading when you have absolutely nothing else to do. (LOL)

http://www.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/12volt/12volt.htm


Good luck!


Fly

[aw738]

With the bad wire my PU it showed 12 volts with a multimeter at the converter  but it would not light up the bulb on a test light. :confused:

[AustinBoston]

OK, is the reverse battery protection fuse the one fuse found in my converter or is it somewhere else?  The fuse in the converter looked ok, but I replaced it anyway and there was still no power.

Did you first make sure the battery wasn't connected backwards?  Because if it is (I've done stupider things), it would instantly blow the new fuse as well.

Austin

[Andy F]

This forum is fantastic.  

Where is the reverse battery protection fuse?  My interior lights and furnace will only run off the battery.  I did accidentally and briefly connect the battery backwards before our 1st trip in June.  Could this be my problem?  

I have power supply toggle switchs behind the exterior panel behind my fridge for 120v, 12v, or propane.  There wouldn't be another switch somewhere to get everything to run off an electric hook up, would there?   The poorly written  manual mentions a three-way converter switch labeled "batt", "trans", or "off".  I can't find that switch anywhere but it sounds somewhat like my switchs mentioned above.  

Also, would it matter if my camper battery was low or dead for the interior lights and furnace to work when hooked up to electrical hook up?  My battery was low but I didn't think I would need it.

Any help would be appreciated.