Blown fuses

I have a 2004 2720SL towed by a 2000 Chevy Astro Van. On my first trip I had problems blowing a 30 amp fuse in the van fuse block. Most common incident was when I stopped, put the van in park and then with my foot on the brake peddal, I turned off the ignition. The fuse would blow. It also blew a couple other times as I was driving slow. At highway speeds I had no problems. The circuit the fuse is in supplied power to my brake controller. I suspect there is an incompatability problem between the van and the trailer electrical circuits. Has anyone experienced any similar problem? Thanks

[Caver]

Originally Posted by mnrandystark

I have a 2004 2720SL towed by a 2000 Chevy Astro Van. On my first trip I had problems blowing a 30 amp fuse in the van fuse block. Most common incident was when I stopped, put the van in park and then with my foot on the brake peddal, I turned off the ignition. The fuse would blow. It also blew a couple other times as I was driving slow. At highway speeds I had no problems. The circuit the fuse is in supplied power to my brake controller. I suspect there is an incompatability problem between the van and the trailer electrical circuits. Has anyone experienced any similar problem? Thanks

What is the condition of your battery? Is the fridge on DC? Are the lights on? Perhaps you are drawing more than 30 amps. While it could be your break controller it would be good if you could isolate the different loads to make sure what the culprit is. I would expect the current through the fuse to the TM to be higher when the vehicle is running and you have the higher voltage from the alternator.

You defnitely need to fix this before you leave home again. Ray

Your brake controller should have its own circuit from the TV battery and its own 30A fuse (the 12V to the trailer for battery charging, fridge etc. should be a separate fused circuit, too). Since you say that the blown fuse is in the van's fuse block it sounds like whoever wired the brake controller tapped into one of the van's existing circuits instead. If so, what else is on that circuit and drawing the additional current - enough to exceed 30A total and blow the fuse?
Maybe it's something like the TV's radiator fan, if the fuse doesn't blow at high vehicle speed.
Also, what model brake controller do you have?

Paul

The brake controller is a Prodigy. It and the wiring harness/trailer connector were installed by an RV dealer. I will have to contact them to determine how the wired it. Thanks for the feedback.

Hopefully my fuse problem is fixed. The RV tech had connected the brake controller to an existing circuit. He corrected the problem by connecting the BC through a resetting cicuit breaker to the battery. I'll find out if it's fixed when I head to Colorado Springs in June. Thanks for the feed back.

Randy Stark