No 12v

[Ribs1]

Hey Guys,
I am in the process of dewinterizing my Coleman Santa Fe and just pulled it out of the garage.  Everything is going well except I have no 12v power.  I charged up the battery and it seems fine.  I also cleaned the contacts on the lines going to the battery with sandpaper.  Maybe I need to do a better job of cleaning the contacts.  Could this be a fuse issue?  Everything was working fine when I put it away.
Any other ideas?
Thanks

[Ribs1]

OK,
I found the fuses on the front of my converter.  They all seem to be good.
There is also an inline fuse labeled shortstop near the battery.  I temporarily bypassed this one and no luck.
Do I just need to do a better job cleaning contacts and such?
I can't figure this one out.  12v was working when I put it away.  
Thanks

[sundawg]

Hey Guys,
I am in the process of dewinterizing my Coleman Santa Fe and just pulled it out of the garage.  Everything is going well except I have no 12v power.  I charged up the battery and it seems fine.  I also cleaned the contacts on the lines going to the battery with sandpaper.  Maybe I need to do a better job of cleaning the contacts.  Could this be a fuse issue?  Everything was working fine when I put it away.
Any other ideas?
Thanks

That is one the frame? The wires are connected proper...easy to mix up ask me i know.....The inverter is in correct position?  The switch that connects 12v. Mine is under the flip counter. also mine has a fuse on the inverter box and it sort of sticks....All i can think of for now.

[rccs]

Do you have the wires hooked up the right way at the battery? Black is positive and white is negative. Have you tried to see if everything works when you have the camper plugged in to 120 volts?

[Ribs1]

Do you have the wires hooked up the right way at the battery? Black is positive and white is negative. Have you tried to see if everything works when you have the camper plugged in to 120 volts?

I do have the wires hooked up to the battery properly.
Everything works when plugged into shore power.
Thanks

[JimS]

You probably have a ground wire issue.  Check all the connections on the converter and where they attach to the chassis.

[thebecks]

Assure the connector between the battery and the camper is connected.  See white connector in this picture http://www.title-3.com/images/BattTop.jpg

You may have wisely disconnected this when you put the trailer away.

On the subject of sand papering connections; the terminal lugs are plated and when the plating is scratched off the metal underneath corrodes quickly.  Better to clean them with acitone, MEK, break cleaner, or alcohol.  Something that melts grease, and evaporates, leaving no oily film behind.

Best wishes for a happy camping season.

[Ribs1]

OK,
Problem fixed.  Thanks for all the replies.  I was actually not able to figure out the problem and called a mobile rv repair man.  He came over and diagnosed it in about 10 minutes.
The problem was a bad connection near the converter.  The line from the battery had a pinch connector on it connecting to 2 other lines and that connector was bad.  Technician took the pinch connector off and put on a regular wire nut and everything works.  While he was over I had him fix my air conditioner also which hasn't worked since I owned the pup.  Air conditioner had a bad thermostat.

I was very pleased with the guys work.  He had been laid off an RV center and started up on his own.  Charged me a total of $158.  Not too bad.

Thanks again.

[JimS]

Glad to here that you got it fixed.  I'm never amazed at the sloppy wiring that PUPs can have.  In mine, I had no 120V.  I traced it to a wire nut.  To this day, I will never understand how you can strip insulation off wires, put them in a wire nut, twist it, and STILL not have a connection!

I now check all connections at the beginning of each season as part of the de-winterizing.

[wavery]

Moisture is often an issue in any RV connector. Wire nuts (IMO) are the worst.

The proper repair would be to solder the connection and cover/seal it with heat-shrink tubing to prevent moisture from causing the wire to corrode.

The next best option IMO is a crimp connector that has heat activated sealer/solder and heat-shrink tubing built in. It's more common in marine applications but is certainly suitable for RVs. I keep a good selection of them on hand and replace regular crimp connectors with them.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/100-Heat-Shrink-Butt-Connectors-Terminal-Crimp-3M-Perma_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZ72Q3a1205Q7c66Q3a2Q7c65Q3a12Q7c39Q3a1Q7c240Q3a1318Q7c301Q3a1Q7c293Q3a1Q7c294Q3a50QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQhashZitem270380158767QQitemZ270380158767QQptZBoatQ5fPartsQ5fAccessoriesQ5fGear

http://cgi.ebay.com/102-HEAT-SHRINK-RING-KIT-CONNECTORS-TERMINALS-3M-USA_W0QQitemZ400045598475QQcmdZViewItemQQptZBI_Connectors_Switches_Wire?hash=item400045598475&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A0%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

[Hoagie]

I'm going to second Wayne's comments. Wire nuts, IMHO, have no place on an RV, or any other vehicle. They have a possibility to "wiggle loose" and short out the connection. As an example, I've known several electricians here in SoCal that wrap electrical tape around wire nutted connections in house wiring. "Helps keep them from backing off and loosening up" I've been told. (Remember, our here in the land of the shakes, our houses have been known to "wiggle" when an earthquake hits.)

I just found 2 wire nutted connections loose at the Towing Pigtail-to-Trailer Wiring junction on our trailer. Re-did the entire junction box using crimp/solder lugs similar to Wayne's reference, going to a terminal block. Much cleaner connection and no chance of things wiggling loose.