Please ask Santa for a digital multimeter…

You’ll thank me later!

Dear Readers,

I found this question on the Keystone Cougar Owners Group.

Overnight I had the front led lights on thinking it wouldn’t drain the batteries. I was wrong batteries are at 9.0 volts. Doesn’t the converter help charge the batteries? I’m hooked up to shore power. Thank you in advance. - Tom M

Here’s a great answer from a group admin

Tom, Yes the converter should be powering up all of the 12 volt DC loads and charging the batteries when you're plugged in.

What are you plugged in to for shore power? Is everything else that runs off of 120 volt AC power working? Are the microwave, fireplace, all of the outlets working?

First thing to check is to make sure you haven't lost a leg of shore power. Check the pedestal breakers and the breakers in your trailer. Also check the shore power cord ends to make sure the they are plugged in tight. Are you using a surge protector that shows you the status of shore power? Steve L

Next

Tom, Do a quick test for the converter. Turn off the battery disconnect switch and see if you lose DC power in the trailer.

If you do then check the converter breaker in the breaker panel and make sure it's not tripped. Then you would have to check the converter itself. It plugs in to an outlet on the back side of the breaker panel. You would want to make sure it's plugged in and that the outlet has power. Then check the reverse polarity fuses on the converter to see if they are blown. Have you done anything with the batteries recently?

Do you have a meter? Steve L.

Now the original poster

Steve, I don’t have a meter. I tried turning off the battery disconnect and I lost power to the in-command system. Then turned it back on and in-command came back on. Right now the solar is charging the batteries. I’m going to check the battery connections when I get back to the rv. Thank you.

Back to me…

Further down in the thread we find out that the original poster doesn’t have a meter. And that makes it really difficult for anyone to help him figure out this problem remotely.

Please get or give a meter kit for Christmas

I’ve written about this many times before, but every time a reader has an electrical problem and doesn’t have a meter I breathe a heavy sigh. You can save yourself hours of chasing your own tail if you have a basic digital multimeter. And I have plenty of training videos showing you all how to use one.

Here’s what I like…

You can get a nice 3-meter kit from Southwire, Klein and many others. The price is around $30 to $40 in many big box stores or on Amazon HERE. And no, I don’t make a dime off of Amazon sales.

So ask Santa (or yourself) for a meter kit for the holidays, and I’ll teach you how to use it by the spring thaw. It will help you the next time there’s an electrical problem in your RV.

Let’s play safe out there… Mike