# new guy on the 5th wheel block



## nowhereman

Hello, forgive me, but I could not find an introduction section. Is there one? Anyway, I'm new to this. I bought an old 5th wheel and have it in good enough shape for family camping and we've enjoyed it. Until now I thought camping was done with a tent . I have no idea what I bought and the guy I got it from had no owner operator papers or manuals. I need help in finding out what I have. All I know is it says "Vacationeer" across front and it has no slide outs. I can not find any labels or tags in any cabinets or doors.  It has 3 tanks, 2 holding and 1 waste. I got new matching batteries yesterday, and just today I got plumbing cleaned and working. The A/C was rotted out and ceiling was damaged, so A/C is gone and I've rebuilt ceiling, no leaks so far . My main thing is to find out what I have and get manuals, if anyone can help I'd be greatly appreciated.until then I plan on reading and learning from the knowledge base.

Thank you,
Nowhereman (Eric)


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## C Nash

welcome to the forum Eric.  We have a Holiday Rambler Motorhome that is a vacationer but don't know if HR made a 5th wheel called that or not.  post us some pictures if you can with all you have done.


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## C Nash

this may help Eric http://www.nadaguides.com/rvs/1988/Vacationeer/VACATIONEER-265/4071925


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## C Nash

You can google Vacationeer 5th wheel and get lots of hits.  I think it was made by Holiday rambler


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## nowhereman

Thx C Nash, appreciate the replies and the welcome. I'll try adding 5th wheel to my search. I'll check out the nada link as well. I'll take a couple pictures and post them soon. Should I be using another thread more appropriate to my rig?


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## C Nash

You are fine here Eric


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## nowhereman

Dang! Now I need some tech-savie help. The new batteries after 3 days are down to 7.5 V. These are 2 brand new matching deep cycle connected in parallel. Everything in camper is off. Disconnected batteries and they jump up to 12v. So I figure a short? I connected digital multi meter between good ground and white ground wire I get short of course, I do the same between good ground and black positive wire and get a short. This is with batteries removed. So I pull all fuses and turn off all breakers, do the same test get same results! So would you think the black positive wire is shorted before fuse panel somewhere??? My thought was to run a new black positive from panel to batteries, but I'm no electrician and don't really know the internal workings of panel, converter etc... Should the black pos be grounded? I doubt it. Please help if you can.

Thank you,
Eric


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## C Nash

Don't think you have a short Eric, but something is drawing voltage.  Sounds like something is wired wrong.  batteries are not put in reverse by any chance are they?  Is the converter working?  Are you plugged up to shore electricity?  we use to have some guys here that were sharp on electrical problems but haven't seem them in a while.


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## nowhereman

Thx again Nash,
I agree, but what? I think converter is working. I charged batteries up to 12.4v connected red to red, blk to blk still reads 12.4v, installed them, connected black to pos and white to grd, still reads 12.4v. plugged in shore pwr, batteries now read 12.8v so I think convert is trickle charging. Lights, fans, pump, jacks etc work. Pulled the plug, lights etc still work. Left shore unplugged over night, tested batteries this morning and they have dropped to 11.6v. Everything I can think of is off or unplugged, so I'm lost. I'll charge up batteries again, pull all fuses, turn off all beakers, install batt and see what happens tomorrow morning.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated,
Eric


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## C Nash

With everything off  and battery pos cable disconnected try barely touch it to batt terminal.  Dark area will help.  Do you see small spark?  If so, something is still on.  LOL know you have already figured that out but then you at least know something somewhere is still drawing amps.  Refrigerator, heat system,  are steps power operated?


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## nowhereman

Thx, I did the spark test, seen nothing. Steps are not powered. I did install a new thermostat the day I bought it to get heating working. Really cant wire it wrong, besides, heater works as it should. Today I disconnected pos wire at converter terminal and that wire is now open, so no reason to replace it. At this point the converter looks suspicious? Bad thing is I can't get to the backside of it without pulling it out or tearing apart a cabinet  more investigating today. I tried uploading pictures but they're over 1m, so need to resize and try again later. Thanks for reading and replying, the support is excellent.

Eric


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## C Nash

keep us posted on what you find Eric.  Good luck


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## nowhereman

Investigation continues...


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## nowhereman

Update: I do believe issue is resolved. After eliminating the black wire from converter to battery as suspect and removing all fuses, I used multi meter set to ohms to test between pos term on converter to topside of each fuse slot, found shorts as I figured, then I probed lower side of each and found "opens" on all but one. This one was the circuit for the 4 ceiling florescent lites, tore each apart and one light fixture was totally tashef inside from that rotted out A/C unit. The switch and all components were corroded and unit was warm to touch. Once the fixture was removed the short went to open . I've ordered LED lites to replace all fluorescents. After two days the Batteries seem to be holding a charge ok. Thx for putting up with my long winded posts.

Eric


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## C Nash

thanks for posting the find Eric.  A VOM is the best friend you can have when searching electrical problems.  There is just no cut and dried answer to these type problems.  patience helps also.


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## nowhereman

It helps to bounce troubles off others, thx for reading and replying Nash. I hope this trouble is behind me


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## nowhereman

Figured out how to resize and post picture.
Here is converter panel, circled in red is the positive term.


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