Raising and lowering questions

I am a newbie and I am confused about if you should leave your shore line connected when raising and lowering the trailer top. The same when bring in the extended room. I have heard this can damage the converter. Can I leave the solar switch on while traveling? This was my 5 th trip with the trailer and I found the battery discharged while traveling. I charged the battery at home and the battery fully charged. How do I test the trailer wiring from the truck to make sure it’s charging while traveling. Thank you

Hilocamper2005 said:

I am a newbie and I am confused about if you should leave your shore line connected when raising and lowering the trailer top. The same when bring in the extended room. I have heard this can damage the converter. Can I leave the solar switch on while traveling? This was my 5 th trip with the trailer and I found the battery discharged while traveling. I charged the battery at home and the battery fully charged. How do I test the trailer wiring from the truck to make sure it’s charging while traveling. Thank you

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Welcome to the forum. I've raised mine and opened the tip out with shore power connected and never had an issue. But, do make sure that your cord is disconnected from your tow vehicle before raising, as it will blow your tow vehicle's fuse. I don't have solar so I can't answer that. (Jack, you're up!) Your charging issue may be caused by your tow vehicle wiring. There are a few links in the forum but this was the first one I found about the battery not adequately charging while driving. Good luck and keep us posted.

https://www.hilotrailerforum.com/f28/batteries-running-down-why-7452/

I don't have the shore line connected when raising the top. The lift motor has a very heavy current draw and it can significantly draw down the battery voltage. It can then try to pull current from the converter, which seems, in my trailer to have caused the 30A inline fuses in the OEM Elixir converter to blow. This does not damage the converter, but it means the converter will not charge the battery until those fuses are replaced. The tongue jack can do the same thing if shore power is connected.

Both the lift motor and the tongue jack can also cause the 30A trailer charging fuse in the tow vehicle to blow if the trailer is plugged in to the tow vehicle and that circuit is live (ignition on). I disconnect the electrical trailer trailer cord from the tow vehicle before activating either the lift motor or the jack.

I can't tell you anything about the tip-out, I don't have one so I don't know how much current it draws.

There is a trailer plug tester you can get that you plug into the tow vehicle plug to see if all the electrical circuits are working. I have this one: https://www.amazon.com/WATERWICH-Ju...rds=7+blade+plug+tester&qid=1631917908&sr=8-5 There are MANY others available now - I'm sure they all work fine. You MAY have the 30A fuse blown in your tow vehicle - this would show no charging current with your tow vehicle ignition on. I don't know of any way to monitor the charging current WHILE traveling.

I think you can leave your solar hooked up all the time - I do.

Good post, Ruben! - You beat me to it!

- Jack

Thank you all for your help. I ordered the circuit tester. Looks to be real handy. I did find the 30 amp fuse buried deep in the converter. It was all melted, but the converter put out 13.4 Volts and charged the battery. The converter struggled with a severely discharged battery. I used my car battery charger first over night. I did find one of the two cooling fans didn’t work until I gave it a tweak. I ordered a new fan for the Elixir model ELX-45 Converter/Charger. Are the cooling fans operating from a temperature sensor? I checked the output voltage on the truck it was 14.1 volts. Where in the trailer battery compartment do I locate the terminals to test the voltage going to the battery. Is there a Hi-Lo picture and diagram for the 2005 Hi-Lo Classic 25C. Should the voltage to the trailer battery be the same as the truck output? Thanks again for all your help.

If you see 13.4V from the converter, or 14.1V from the tow vehicle then they ARE charging the battery. You would check the voltage at the battery terminals, the is NO other place to do this. That is the voltage that the battery "sees", from whatever is charging it. There CAN be a small difference between what you see at the battery terminals and what you measure at the source, due to resistance in the circuit between the two. Wiring that is too small a gauge will cause a voltage drop along the way to the battery. A minimum gauge is probably 10, and a lower number is even better (smaller gauge is larger wire).

I don't know that there is a manual for the 2005 HiLo models, but here's a link to the 2004 ones: https://www.hilotrailer.com/home/then#1990 HiLo produced a "generic" manual for each model year, and there was very little, possibly NO changes, between 2004 models and 2005 models. The manual contains a wiring diagram that is hard to read, but if you study it long enough and compare it to your trailer it will start to make sense.

I don't know how the cooling fans are activated in the Elixir converter, but I DO know they come on if there is a heavy load on it. I replaced my Elixir converter with one from Progressive Dynamics recently and posted a thread on the process here: https://www.hilotrailerforum.com/f28/elixir-converter-replacement-7659/

- Jack

Hilocamper2005

My thanks to RCREYS and Jack and Janet on all your help. My tester arrived today and I did not have power from my truck to the trailer battery. I located my fuse box and much to my surprise the fuse was missing. I now have voltage to the trailer after a quick trip to Auto Zone. I will definitely disconnect trailer when raising or lowering the trailer. Waiting on cooling fan and when installed we will be heading out for one last trip of the season. Battery is fully charged and ready.

That's great news, glad you found the problem! DO check the output of ALL blades at the trailer socket of your tow vehicle now and then. That's why you have that convenient tester! It's good to locate issues before they become problems! Have a great time camping!

- Jack

Hilocamper2005 said:

My thanks to RCREYS and Jack and Janet on all your help. My tester arrived today and I did not have power from my truck to the trailer battery. I located my fuse box and much to my surprise the fuse was missing. I now have voltage to the trailer after a quick trip to Auto Zone. I will definitely disconnect trailer when raising or lowering the trailer. Waiting on cooling fan and when installed we will be heading out for one last trip of the season. Battery is fully charged and ready.

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Great to hear that it was an easy fix and didn't cost the proverbial "arm and leg"....