Buss bar on frame

[Trouttramp]

Hi, new to the forum.

Is this normal, see pic.

I just discovered this bus attached to the frame of our one year old Mallard 210RB trailer.

The protective covers are off of the contacts, I don’t believe they were ever on in the first place. There is some kind of spray protectant applied on the contacts. But in the pic you can clearly see some corrosion.

Should I be worried?

( we are also having some electrical problems in the 12v lights and fan, could it be related?)

Thanks

 

[david-steph2018]

On travel trailers, the bus bar with these breakers is usually installed on the tongue area, near the batteries. What electrical problems are you experiencing with the lights/fan? It could be related to the corrasion of a loose connection due to a bad crimp.
Some of those breakers are manual reset, others are auto-reset style. Luckily, these can be purchased at a NAPA , AutoZone, etc... for a low price.
Check to see if you have any bad connections or breakers in this area.

 

[Dahillbilly]

you can clean the corrosion off & apply some diaelectic grease to them & make sure all of the connections & crimps are tight. Most likely will solve your problems

 

[Trouttramp]

I have 2 zones of led lights not working, bathroom and bed area.
The bathroom fan will not work.
The awning (motorized) will not work.

I do not find breakers near the buss in the picture, don’t even know what I am looking for.

I have a circuit breaker/fuse box inside, all looks good there. All fuses look good and I have toggled all the breakers on and off.

 

[Dahillbilly]

check the wiring for the awning may have a in-line fuse in it; double check your fuses with a ohm meter, I've seen a few that looked good but weren't!! Also check voltage on both post of those breakers in the pictures you posted or use a test light to check them.

 

[wdk450]

I have 2 zones of led lights not working, bathroom and bed area.
The bathroom fan will not work.
The awning (motorized) will not work.

I do not find breakers near the buss in the picture, don’t even know what I am looking for.

I have a circuit breaker/fuse box inside, all looks good there. All fuses look good and I have toggled all the breakers on and off.

The little metal boxes attached to the bus bar with threaded screws ARE circuit breakers. The other threaded screw terminal of each of these metal breaker boxes has an electrical circuit (load) wire attached to it. With 12 volts DC on the buss bar, there should be 12 volts DC on each of the breaker load wires.

 

[david-steph2018]

In your picture, those are the breakers as wdk450 stated. Some are manual push reset. So, you will need to feel the breakers for a little push button on these. Push it and see if that helps. Now some of these are auto-reset and will not a push button.

 

[wdk450]

David and all:
I would say that AutoReset 12 volt DC circuit breakers are the majority (all but 1 in most rigs); and the manual reset type that looks nearly the same except for the small reset button on the side or end is there for the battery charging circuit (which also feeds all devices connected to the 12 volt DC fuse box usually inside the rig) cannot be self-resetting for fire safety reasons. A short in a battery (which happens a lot with age due to battery sulphation) would cause a maximum charging condition from the shore-powered converter/charger which is also connected to the load side of this breaker. A side effect of tripping this charging circuit breaker is that the current path from the battery system to the electrical loads on the inside fusebox (inside lights, refrig 12 volts, etc.) is opened, and none of those devices work when the trailer is disconnected from shorepower. This maximum charging current condition being continually reset by an auto reset breaker as the breaker cools after tripping could set up a wire heating situation that could cause a fire. The manual reset breaker will trip once until you manually reset it, and trip again if the high current shorting condition hasn't been corrected.