Battery hook up

[Trijart]

One question that I don't know if anyone has had. I have a 2014 Solitude. I had it parked in my backyard with no shore power and the battery was disconnected (from the bay key disconnect only- not from the battery terminals). I heard a beeping one day and I thought it was the battery running low on charge. I took it out and recharged it. After the charger read 100% I took it out to the backyard and set it on the bay battery box. I connected the negative terminal first. As I touched the positive terminal it sparked and the front landing gear, hydraulic Level up system, began to retract. As soon as I took the positive lead off it stopped. I touched it again and it sparked and landing gear went down a bit again. I then stopped and began searching the internet but to no avail.

Has anyone encountered this? If so please let me know. I'll be checking the battery with a voltmeter as soon as I get home as I've heard that even if the charger says it's 100% it might not have the voltage. Is this true and if so would it cause the issues that I am having?

Thanks in advance,
Art (TRIJART))

 

[SouthTX]

You won't get the sparking if you disconnect the negative first and reconnect it last.

 

[TucsonJim]

Are you 100% certain you have not reversed the battery cables? The color codes are not standardized. I believe on your model, white goes to ground and black to positive.

Jim

 

[Cate&Rob]

Are you 100% certain you have not reversed the battery cables? The color codes are not standardized. I believe on your model, white goes to ground and black to positive.

Jim

I was wondering the same thing about maybe the cables being reversed. On my similar vintage Reflection, the trailer is wired with white for negative/ground and black for positive, but the cables directly to the battery are changed to the more common black for negative and red for positive.

I am not familiar with the landing gear hydraulic control unit, but is there a way to turn it off or disconnect it, until the battery connections are complete?

Rob

 

[Trijart]

Battery cables are correct as well as matching them to the battery. I will try it tomorrow as I'm heading to work in a bit. I took out the battery and have it on the charger again. First thing tomorrow I'll let you all know what the voltage is as well as connecting the positive first and the negative last.

Thank you for the replies. Great help here.

Art.

 

[Cate&Rob]

Art - A much better way to determine the condition of a battery is a load test. Checking just voltage, particularly if the battery has just been charged, can give a false reading. Most battery retailers will have a load tester, but if you want your own, these are not expensive. Basically they put a reasonably heavy (usually about 600 watt) resistive load across the battery and you can watch how the voltage responds on the meter. If voltage drops quickly, the battery is weak. If it holds above 12.2V, the battery is strong.

Rob

 

[jkwilson]

You won't get the sparking if you disconnect the negative first and reconnect it last.

It will spark either way. There is no electrical difference removing either cable. The reason for negative first is to avoid grounding the positive post with your wrench on a metal framed vehicle.

 

[klenger]

^^ I learned that (not the hard way, but by instruction) 45 years ago when I started working on airplanes. Never forgot it.

 

[SouthTX]

^^ I learned that (not the hard way, but by instruction) 45 years ago when I started working on airplanes. Never forgot it.

Yes, you can still get a spark if you work at it, but less of them and lots fewer burned wrenches. I've seen batteries explode, too, and it ain't pretty.

Since you mention it, I've only had my A&P for 41 years, but I worked on missile guidance systems for five years before that.

Best,

John

 

[Nuffsaid]

Check your battery disconnect because it doesn't appear to be working. With the battery disconnect in the off position, nothing in the trailer should have power to it. I don't know why your landing gear would be trying to cycle though, it should be off until commanded on.

 

[TucsonJim]

Check your battery disconnect because it doesn't appear to be working. With the battery disconnect in the off position, nothing in the trailer should have power to it. I don't know why your landing gear would be trying to cycle though, it should be off until commanded on.

The 2014 models have the lp gas detector and the stereo memory as parasitic loads and they are not disconnected with the switch. They will slowly drain the battery over time.

Jim

 

[Jerryr]

Check your battery disconnect because it doesn't appear to be working. With the battery disconnect in the off position, nothing in the trailer should have power to it. I don't know why your landing gear would be trying to cycle though, it should be off until commanded on.

Not so on my Reflection. With the battery disconnect turned to off position I loose power to the trailer lights inside BUT the Ground Control display still has power as does the CO detector.

My GC display was faulted. It had backlight but no text displayed. I needed to power it off to clear the fault. I was surprised that the display still had backlighting with battery switch off and the control board had led lights flashing a fault.

 

[Nuffsaid]

The 2014 models have the lp gas detector and the stereo memory as parasitic loads and they are not disconnected with the switch. They will slowly drain the battery over time.

Jim

Kind of defeats the purpose of a battery disconnect when parasitic loads are left connected. This still wouldn't explain leveling system trying to move with the switch in the off position.

 

[Cate&Rob]

Prior to auto-levelling, the Reflection landing gear power also bypassed the battery disconnect switch. Perhaps later models are wired the same ?

Rob

 

[Nuffsaid]

I still question the effectiveness of a disconnect switch if it doesn't kill everything. The disconnect switch should kill all loads on the battery or it really isn't a disconnect. My 2001 Holiday Rambler Alumascape has a disconnect that interupts the positive hot lead from the battery before it reaches any loads. I guess I should examine the wiring in my Solitude and see just what the disconnect switch interupts.

 

[Cate&Rob]

I still question the effectiveness of a disconnect switch if it doesn't kill everything.

Which is why many of us have installed complete disconnect switches as you describe .

Rob

 

[FT4NOW]

If you add your own "true" disconnect, I would at least ensure the break away switch is wired to the battery upstream of the switch. If you forget to shut the switch and run into a situation where the break away switch is activated, your trailer will not have any brakes.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[Cate&Rob]

If you add your own "true" disconnect, I would at least ensure the break away switch is wired to the battery upstream of the switch. If you forget to shut the switch and run into a situation where the break away switch is activated, your trailer will not have any brakes.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Good advice . . . although having to turn on the disconnect switch to operate the landing gear pretty much assures that it is on for towing.

Rob

 

[FT4NOW]

Good point, but for those with TT's and manual stabilizers, they don't have front landing gear. I'm not sure how the wiring is, but I think the electric tongue jack would still have power from TV with the battery disconnected (provided it is wired that way).

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[Nuffsaid]

In my opinion, the only time the disconnect switch is needed is when parked for long periods of time or to perform maintenance where you don't want any surprises. with the auto leveling system not disconnected with the switch, in order to be safe, you would need to disconnect the battery before performing service work. If the auto leveling system has the ability of coming on and moving the hydraulic rams just by unhooking the battery and then reconnecting it, that could get someone badly hurt or killed, not good. I can't think of any good reason to not have the disconnect switch not kill all power. I seldom use mine, but like in race cars they are there for emergencies and to prevent accidents.