2003 Tow-lite won't raise

[snapdragon]

We bought a 2003 Tow-Lite at a local dealer in April. At that time, the lift was functioning. The trailer has been parked in the yard since then, and when I tried to raise it last week, it would not go up. The switch is in the right position... I can hear it clicking. I ran an extension cord into the house and plugged in to charge the battery, and it's been plugged in for three days. Still will not raise. Any ideas?

Also, the battery door only exposes the pump (I think), and the battery is further under the trailer. I can see it from the battery door but I can't get to it. How do I access the battery?

 

[RichR]

If the trailer doesn't have the manual pump option you can hook jumper cables to the battery or the main wire terminal on the pump solenoid and a grounded terminal. Try lifting the top by either means so you can access the battery. With the trailer plugged into shore power check to see what charge voltage is going to the battery, that should be over 13 volts. Without shore power check the battery, you should get 12.6 volts if the battery is charged. Your converter/charger could be bad or the battery could be bad. If the battery was allowed to go completely dead at some time it could be ruined.

 

[snapdragon]

There is no way to access the battery when the trailer is lowered, so I had to use the manual pump. I didn't find a handle in any of the storage compartments, so I used a metal walking cane with the rubber tip removed. It went up pretty easily. I counted about 125 strokes. I found that pushing on the handle and putting my body weight into it took less energy than pulling the handle.

Where the trailer is located, I don't think I can get a vehicle in to jump it. Would one of those trickle battery chargers work, or would that be no better than being plugged in to the house outlet?

 

[garyk52]

Your getting to the point where you are going to need a multimeter. Make sure electrical connections are good. You could try this, turn 5 or 6 lights on in the Hi-lo while plugged into the extension cord. If your lights are bright, unplug the camper from the extension cord and see if the lights are still bright, if not I would think your battery is shot, if everything is still bright you might have a problem with the solenoid that feeds the motor power.

lights bright camper plugged in = converter and battery good
lights bright camper unplugged = battery good
lights bright camper plugged in battery unhooked = good converter
lights dim or out camper plugged in and battery hooked up = shorted or bad battery, bad connections or bad converter
lights dim or out camper plugged in battery unhooked = bad converter or connections
lights dim or out camper unplugged = bad battery or connections