Sometimes friends are not too bright......

[pripaldi]

Howdy
This just happened to a friend of mine....i wouldn't be this silly.

So there i am.....i mean he is.... hooking up new electric tongue jack. Being a good doobie and tired of getting the heck scared out of me by battery sparks he decided to disconnect the battery before he hooks up the new jack new wire.

So he disconnected the battery and put a meter on the elec junction point he planned use and low and behold it still shows 13 volts.

He's looking at the disconnected battery cable in his hand while the meter is showing 13 volts........say what..... how can the be, previous owner must have added another battery some where, must have voltage buildup some where, maybe lightning is striking the trailer, a power line must have fallen on trailer, a spaceship is landing......

This is not rocket science battery connected we have power, battery disconnected no power...this is impossible.......

Unless someone forgets to disconnect the ac power cable that runs converter for 12v.....

signed
pete's friend

[WildWildWest]

Takes a brave man to admit his (or his friend's) mistakes. They happen and I think I would have been scratching my head as well at that point. At least you (I mean your friend) had the presence of mind to check for voltage before starting the project. I'm pretty sure we have all been there at some point in our lives. I have yet to meet someone who is perfect!!

[anaro]

Lol. I and by i, I mean my DH probably would do the same thing.

[ewbldavis]

ha! Sorry...funny...and been there. Amazing how we never double check the supposedly obvious.

[OhioMark]

At least he didnt pull away while connected.

Yep, on my last trailer leaving (late) for a Memorial Day trip a few years ago. Skipped the checklist..who needs checklists, right?

New Replacement 30A male plug = $30 bucks
Hearing the story at every Thanksgiving - Priceless

Could have worse...hybrids had the fixed power line the stores in the camper and direclty wired to the junction box in the trailer.

[ewbldavis]

I pulled away from my pop-up the first time I unhooked without unhooking safety chains...that will get your attention!

[longhauler]

Most of the time if I didn't have bad luck I wouldn't have any luck at all. I know I have made my share of "what the hell was I thinking" moves and I'm pretty sure I'll make more.

[OhioMark]

Originally Posted by longhauler

Most of the time if I didn't have bad luck I wouldn't have any luck at all. I know I have made my share of "what the hell was I thinking" moves and I'm pretty sure I'll make more.

The trick is to mess up when no one is looking...


So..best story I've every heard of messing up..not an RV story, but close...friend of mine as a mechanic on small yachts to get through college on the East coast.

He had to perform an emergency repair/install of a macerator pump on a boat in the "head". For those that are not familiar, it's a grinding pump that pulverizes the stuff in your blackwater tank so you can dump it sea.



While docked of course, he somehow wired the pump...backwards..When testing the system with his boss, he managed to blow about a 1/3 of what was left in the holding tank all over the interior of what was probably a million dollar boat.

Priceless..