Anying wrong with my wiring?

[atcNick]

IMG_1159.JPG (134.69 KiB) Viewed 3433 times

I just did a simple DC system for my cargo trailer. It's not connected to any of the trailer/tow vehicle wiring. I finished it a few days ago, its rained for a couple days, today I go out and my winch didnt work, just clicking, battery was dead. I'm not sure how charged my battery was but I figured it was mostly charged. It's a couple year old deep cycle battery that ive been hauling in and out of the trailer for the winch, and occasionally throwing it on the charger in the garage. Im attaching some pictures including a crude drawing of my layout. Hopefully someone can chime in. I have a battery cuttoff switch on the positive side that everything but the charger is connected to. Charger is connected directly to the battery terminals. I had some water sitting on top of the battery from the rain, it got in the battery box through the vent holes.

[atcNick]

more pics

[atcNick]

Would having the charger connected directly to the battery while no AC is coming into the trailer cause the battery to discharge through the charger?

[Socal Tom]

It could with some chargers.
Tom


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[low277]

+1 on the possibility of the charger causing some type of parasitic load.

Is there anything connected to the load side of your DC fuse? I don't see anything?

[Socal Tom]

Here is a way to check.
1 Unplug the charger from the 110,
2) Disconnect the negative side of the charger ( leave the positive side hooked to the battery)
3) connect the negative side of your voltmeter to the negative side of the battery
4) Connect the positive side of your voltmeter to the negative side of the charger ( yes both sides of the voltmeter are connected to negative terminals, its not a mistake)

if you see voltage, then the charger is letting power bleed through when it is unplugged. the higher the voltage the greater the bleeding.
Tom

[atcNick]

+1 on the possibility of the charger causing some type of parasitic load.

Is there anything connected to the load side of your DC fuse? I don't see anything?

Noting yet. I plan on connecting a water pump and a light to it. The winch has its own inline 50amp fuse.


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[atcNick]

Here is a way to check.
1 Unplug the charger from the 110,
2) Disconnect the negative side of the charger ( leave the positive side hooked to the battery)
3) connect the negative side of your voltmeter to the negative side of the battery
4) Connect the positive side of your voltmeter to the negative side of the charger ( yes both sides of the voltmeter are connected to negative terminals, its not a mistake)

if you see voltage, then the charger is letting power bleed through when it is unplugged. the higher the voltage the greater the bleeding.
Tom

Thanks Tom, I will give that a try.

An update since my original post. I charged the battery back to full, took less than a day at 2amps. Winch seemed to work fine while messing with it for a minute. A few minutes later it wouldn't work again, only made that clicking sound, then a few minutes later worked fine.


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[Socal Tom]

The wires connected to the winch seem small to me. What gauge are they?


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[atcNick]

The wires connected to the winch seem small to me. What gauge are they?


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10 gauge. It's what came with it.


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[atcNick]

I replaced the + wire from the battery to the cutoff switch with a 4 gauge permade battery cable from Walmart. Having same problem. It's intermittent. Not really sure what's causing it. Could the cutoff switch be bad or not able to handle the load? Here's a quick video the buzzing sound coming from the winch, then it starts working

https://youtu.be/B6Azg68bAZM


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[Socal Tom]

It could be a weak relay in the winch . And you have to replace both wires for it to make a difference.
Tom


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[atcNick]

I think I figured it out. I bypassed the cutoff switch and haven't been able to replicate the problem so I'm guessing it's a bad cutoff switch. It was new from tractor supply.


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[low277]

That's good. I hope it works well. Perseverance!!!!!!!