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Electric tongue Jack blows fuses

Whangler
Explorer II
Explorer II
New trailer came with a Barker VIP 3500 tongue Jack. It blows the fuse (30A) when I reverse direction. If I stop and wait a moment before reversing direction, fuse doesn't blow. Other than this, the jack works fine. This is my 4th TT with an electric tongue jack but this never happened on the others. Any ideas?
16 REPLIES 16

Skibane
Explorer II
Explorer II
jodeb720 wrote:
Like others have said, you need a backup - and the manual crank is that backup.


You'd be using that crank a lot less after installing a self-resetting circuit breaker.

jodeb720
Explorer
Explorer
I'm of the mindset that the gearing on your new unit is lower than in the past - probably to save money. If the drive motor is smaller, and weaker, how do you still lift the weight? Gear ratio is lower.

so when you turn release the Up and immediately are going down, the motor may still be spinning and that will cause the fuse to blow (like others have said, wait for it to completely stop).

Personally, that would annoy the heck out of me, but as long as I understood the "why" i'd just accept it and go one.

Like others have said, you need a backup - and the manual crank is that backup.

And don't let others fool you - my manual crank died many a year ago on my TT when I had just pulled into Yosemite and was ready to disconnect. The connecting pin either fell out or vibrated loose and I couldn't crank up to disconnect.

Eventually, I made it work enough to disconnect - and jacked the trailer up and lowered down under the tongue using wood. Once I did that I spent a wonderful afternoon completely stripping down the manual jack, re-greasing it and reassembling it and it probably is still working to this day...

The point is everything can and will break - but you need a backup.

josh

Bobbo
Explorer II
Explorer II
Goostoff wrote:
Dont think in all my years I ever saw a jack with a fuse. I just put an electric jack on my car trailer and the instruction had me wire directly to the battery. My landing gear on my 5th wheel has self resetting a circuit breaker in line but thats the most I ever saw

Mine has a fuse. The only thing that I know of that is not supposed to be fused are the breakaway brakes.
Bobbo and Lin
2017 F-150 XLT 4x4 SuperCab w/Max Tow Package 3.5l EcoBoost V6
2017 Airstream Flying Cloud 23FB

ktmrfs
Explorer
Explorer
bgum wrote:
The fix is easy. Just don't do it. Electric tongue jacks are unreliable. I have a new jack in the garage that was replaced by a manual crank type. The Electric all are subject to moisture intrusion in the switches.


25 years of use of electric tongue jacks, probably 50-100 times/year, two trailers= 50 "trailer years of use" Electric tongue jack failures= Zip. Can they fail? yes, but I'd hardly put them in the "unreliable" category. And when I have 1500 lbs on the tongue, manual jack is NOT to my liking.
2011 Keystone Outback 295RE
2004 14' bikehauler with full living quarters
2015.5 Denali 4x4 CC/SB Duramax/Allison
2004.5 Silverado 4x4 CC/SB Duramax/Allison passed on to our Son!

valhalla360
Nomad III
Nomad III
bgum wrote:
The fix is easy. Just don't do it. Electric tongue jacks are unreliable. I have a new jack in the garage that was replaced by a manual crank type. The Electric all are subject to moisture intrusion in the switches.


Odd, never had one or been around one that failed. That's about 40yrs of experience...(my Dad suddenly upgraded about 40yrs ago once the last of us teenage boys graduated high school and he had to do the cranking).

And as long as you don't throw out the backup handle, it's not a big deal even if it does.

But as you say, it's an easy fix. Just pause for a couple seconds when reversing direction. Usually, I only reverse direction after doing something (like connecting the WDH bars or the latch on the hitch), so there's typically at least a few seconds of pause built into the process.
Tammy & Mike
Ford F250 V10
2021 Gray Wolf
Gemini Catamaran 34'
Full Time spliting time between boat and RV

bgum
Explorer
Explorer
midnightsadie wrote:
bgum I could use that jack. you,re just to far away.


It is very heavy and postage would be prohibited.

midnightsadie
Explorer II
Explorer II
bgum I could use that jack. you,re just to far away.

bgum
Explorer
Explorer
The fix is easy. Just don't do it. Electric tongue jacks are unreliable. I have a new jack in the garage that was replaced by a manual crank type. The Electric all are subject to moisture intrusion in the switches.

ktmrfs
Explorer
Explorer
Whangler wrote:
What y'all are saying makes sense.... But,this is my 4 tt with electric tongue jack over 20 years and this never happened. This isn't some new behavior of mine that suddenly appeared. 2 Atwood jacks and an ultra-fab 5500 prior to this Barker. If the other jacks had behaved this way, I wouldn't have this this **** habit. I guess this is a character builder, eh?


The atwood I had on another trailer behaved like the Barker. change direction quick before it completely stops= blown 30A slow blow fuse.
2011 Keystone Outback 295RE
2004 14' bikehauler with full living quarters
2015.5 Denali 4x4 CC/SB Duramax/Allison
2004.5 Silverado 4x4 CC/SB Duramax/Allison passed on to our Son!

ktmrfs
Explorer
Explorer
Goostoff wrote:
Dont think in all my years I ever saw a jack with a fuse. I just put an electric jack on my car trailer and the instruction had me wire directly to the battery. My landing gear on my 5th wheel has self resetting a circuit breaker in line but thats the most I ever saw


I've had 3 different electric jacks over the years, all came with a 30A fuse wired into the pigtail.
2011 Keystone Outback 295RE
2004 14' bikehauler with full living quarters
2015.5 Denali 4x4 CC/SB Duramax/Allison
2004.5 Silverado 4x4 CC/SB Duramax/Allison passed on to our Son!

Goostoff
Explorer
Explorer
Dont think in all my years I ever saw a jack with a fuse. I just put an electric jack on my car trailer and the instruction had me wire directly to the battery. My landing gear on my 5th wheel has self resetting a circuit breaker in line but thats the most I ever saw
1993 Chevy C3500
2005 Cedar Creek 34RLTS

Whangler
Explorer II
Explorer II
What y'all are saying makes sense.... But,this is my 4 tt with electric tongue jack over 20 years and this never happened. This isn't some new behavior of mine that suddenly appeared. 2 Atwood jacks and an ultra-fab 5500 prior to this Barker. If the other jacks had behaved this way, I wouldn't have this this **** habit. I guess this is a character builder, eh?

Skibane
Explorer II
Explorer II
If you get tired of replacing fuses, you could install a 30 amp self-resetting DC circuit breaker instead.

NamMedevac_70
Explorer II
Explorer II
My electric tongue jack failed me in very cold and wet freezing rain when wind chill was below freezing and my crank handle was missing so I later removed the jack and relied on only hand cranking with better results anyway with no more worries or hassle. Hand cranking was good for my health and increases already really good character and patience. Cheers to common sense.