Top wont rise

[eaglebear]

Have new to me 2003 29ft classic. The first few times we raised the top no problem now we seem to have no power. I had added a second battery which I now think has a dead cell. Even plugged in to the house power nothing. I talked to the dealer here who was a hi-low dealer and worked on my old 96 unit. He said that I needed to get the battery cover off as there was a breaker under there. I finally got the cover off but cannot find any breaker. I did disconnect the battery I think is bad then plugged the unit into the house power again. No inverter sounds but when I switched the master switch to the lift position I got a click sound. I am leaving the unit plugged in for the night to see if the battery will charge. Does any one know where there is a master breaker for the 12v system? Any other ideas?

 

[RichR]

The breaker is a little box, about the size of an aspirin tin, with screw terminals for the wires. There may be two of them and they are probably mounted on the side of the battery compartment. They may have a reset button or they have automatic reset. If you heard a sound I would say that the battery is the problem, not the breakers. Hopefully a good charge will get it going. If you have one bad battery it can bring the other one down and even finish it off. You must have a charged battery or jumper cables to make it go. The converter will not do it alone.

 

[RichR]

I think one breaker is for the lift system and the other is for the rest of the 12 volt system.

 

[betty stevens]

Ours wouldn't lift one time and the ground from the battery wasn't grounded good, even though we had just raised it before our trip.

 

[eaglebear]

I found a breaker but no button. I have the battery charger hooked up so will see if that does it. Thanks

 

[C317414]

Some Hi-Lo trailers have a fuse on the raise/lower switch. Yours may have one. Check out the photos I posted here: http://www.hilotrailerforum.com/f28/raise-lower-switch-replacement-fuse-cb-3618/

 

[RichR]

If you have a multimeter now is good time to put it to use checking for power at different locations.

 

[eaglebear]

The emergency break switch was pulled out enough to activate which drained the batteries. fixed this and separated the batteries and charged them. the top now raises and everything seems to work. I have a battery tender on the main battery also. Thanks to all of you for your information.

 

[RichR]

I'm glad you found the gremlin. Many times problems are simple but aren't always easy to find. Newer HiLo trailers don't have that switch on the safety release cable and I'm not sure what the benefits were to have it.

 

[TESS-HILO]

I think eaglebear was talking about the break away brake switch on the tongue ,which are on all RV trailers.

 

[RichR]

I think eaglebear was talking about the break away brake switch on the tongue ,which are on all RV trailers.

Yep! After I read it again I see that is what he meant. He now needs to check the brake magnets to make sure they didn't get burnt out as a result of the switch being activated for a prolonged amount of time.

 

[eaglebear]

I have been away from the post for a while. how can I check the magnets, what do I look for? will the burned out magnets lock the breaks or keep them from working? I live at 9000 ft. elevation and my repair people a hour away in Denver.

 

[RichR]

If the magnet is bad the brakes will not work. Here is a test procedure: Testing Trailer Brake Magnets for Proper Function | etrailer.com