Problems with Electric Jack

[ndirish07]

I have a 2H 4 Star GN trailer and had an electric bulldog jack installed about 18 months ago. It has a deep cycle battery and is wired to recharge as I drive. About a year ago I had trouble with it where it just had no power. Upon inspection the connector around the battery had somehow become separated from the battery so it quite literally had no power. I replaced the connector and it was good as new. Flash forward to now.

It’s dead again. Or dying a slow death is probably the best description. It will work going up or down until the jack actually has to take the weight of the trailer, then it just dies. It doesn’t have enough power to move the weight of the trailer. I’ve left it plugged in when I operate it and while it seemed to have more power, it still ultimately could’t lift it when it came time to bear the weight of the trailer. I’ve looked all over and don’t see any connections off or bad wiring or anything. What could it be this time? I’m a little disgusted at the amount of money I spent to have problems this early on. Could I just need a new battery? Do deep cycles have that short of a life span?

I’ll take it back to the trailer place that installed it, but it’s a PITA to haul over there in traffic and they have odd hours for us working 9-5 folk. If it’s something I can fix myself or have evaluated by this other car repair place that close by I will, but thought I’d ask for input as to things to look at before I do.

[clanter]

pull the battery and take to an auto parts place… have them test the battery with what’s called a load tester (usually this is free service)… sounds like it has a dead cell to me

Then shop around for a replacement … get a AGM glass mat battery if possible, a wet cell when bounces around like being hauled in trailer will have a short life expectancy

[vxf111]

My electric jack has been the bane of my existence. See if you can get a kill sswitch on the battery too, if/when you replace the battery.

[ndirish07]

[QUOTE=clanter;8862692]
pull the battery and take to an auto parts place… have them test the battery with what’s called a load tester (usually this is free service)… sounds like it has a dead cell to me

Then shop around for a replacement … get a AGM glass mat battery if possible, a wet cell when bounces around like being hauled in trailer will have a short life expectancy[/QUOTE]

Will an AGM battery last longer? I’m so frustrated with this stupid thing. My truck bed is higher than most so I have really jack the trailer up high to clear the liftgate and it gets really heavy cranking it forever.

[ndirish07]

[QUOTE=vxf111;8862695]
My electric jack has been the bane of my existence. See if you can get a kill sswitch on the battery too, if/when you replace the battery.[/QUOTE]

Just to make sure I know what you mean-- is that literally like a switch to turn it off/on in between use? I don’t use my trailer all that often— but it’s gone on several long hauls recently where the battery should have charged enough. Coincidentally, it was after a nearly 10 hour drive that I noticed it was dying its slow, painful (to my shoulders) death.

[hosspuller]

First check the battery by jumpering it to your car. Red to red, black to black… just like jump starting a car. Run the car to charge the battery for a few minutes before trying the jack. Also make sure the cables have a good solid connection. That jack motor pulls a lot of power.

Likely your vehicle doesn’t charge the battery enough. Unless you run the engine for hours, the trailer connector just can’t pass enough power to fully charge the battery. The half charge kills lead acid batteries quickly.

[Jump314]

I had the problem of my jack not working due to a low marine battery too. An auto parts store told me my battery was fine, just not charged.

To prevent this from happening again, I bought a solar panel trickle charger (this one: https://www.amazon.com/Sunforce-50022-Battery-Trickle-Charger/dp/B0006JO0TC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1474937737&sr=8-2&keywords=solar+panel+trickle+charger).

I connect the solar panel to the battery with an extension cord then I set the panel in the window. So far, this has worked very well and I haven’t had any problems.