WT Trailer Question - Page 1

I purchased a used WT Metall Royal trailer.  It has been outfitted with a solar panel for the fan and the under lid storage light.  There is no "user" manual with it.  I am unable to get it to power up (okay, I may not know how to power it up).  The driving lights work fine when it is hooked up the the car.  It does have the factory installed plug...but my vehicle has the flat plug. I purchased the adapter that works with the trailer and plugs into my flat plug.  Did I blow a fuse? Where would it be?  Any suggestions would be great.       

 Well, I don't know about a solar panel but fan and lights will not work with a 4 way flat plug. That plug gives you only turn signals, brake lights and tail lights. For additional options you will have to have a 7 way RV blade installed on your car.

I have the blade plug that plugs into the flat plug, it is not wired at this point...just plugged in to the flat.  I had it hauled here by someone who used this as their setup (the adapter plugged into the flat on their vehicle).  Is there additional wiring that needs to happen to make the RV plug fully functional?  Would someone like Uhaul be able to help me out?  I believe that the solar independently powers the fan and light, maybe...not sure.  On the inside of the staudach there is the control panel that has the thermostat and two toggel switches, not sure if there is some magic position they have to be in.  There is a battery inside the front box (mounted on the outside of the trailer) I am not sure if it is a deep cycle marine or what.  I guess that it is possible that the solar itself is not enough to recharge the battery and maybe it has to draw of the vehicle for a full charge?           

 Yes, 7 way blade plug requires additional wiring ( 7 wires vs 4 wires ). The adapter what you have changes plug style but it is still only 4 basic wires. Fully charged battery should be enough to operate fan and lights. I assume that solar panel is for recharging battery. Check you battery and cables connecting it to the trailer.

I'd check out the trailer makers or RV places possibly for either new wiring or rewiring?

The first thing you need to do is get the 7 pin with a constant hot lead to the trailer.  This hot lead charges the battery only when your car/truck is running.  When the trailer is powered by the car, push the volt meter located near the light switches in the trailer and it should about 13.5 volts.  When the car is off, the meter should read 12 volts.  There is voltage regulator that disconnects the power to the fan and lights if the battery drops below 12 volts.  This will shine a red light when it drops below.  A dead battery shows no light.

The second thing I would do is get a battery charger and charge the deep cycle battery overnight at 10-20 amps max.

The solar cell only trickle charges the batteries only,  very slowly and only when the sun is shining.  Never enough to fully charge the battery.  I think the solar cells are a great idea but a bunch of crap.  I bought a small mountable trickle charger that I installed in the front box.  I plug it in everytime that I park the trailer.  The built in regulator keeps the battery fully charged.

If there still is no power there is a small 15 amp fuse located near the battery.  You may need to replace it at any auto parts place.

If all else fails, go to a trailer hitch installer and have them hook it up right.  Make sure to tell them that you need a hot lead to charge the battery.

Okay this sounds like some good advise.  As you can tell I know nothing about automotive things.  That does make sense, the battery guard light is dead no light.  So what is the point of the solar?  It is not the reason I purchased the trailer but I was/am concerned about those panels.  I guess that it is possible that when the shipper hauled it to me that the battery got depleted?  I will have to take my vehicle in, it is wired for the flat thing so it make sense that even if I plug in the RV plug that it would not fully work.    

@Mark- So I actually have the change the setting of the voltage each time I unhook or just check it?

The trailer saga continues.....I got my vehicle wired up and the lights work...not as they are intended to but I am legal.  It appears that the battery guard is not working, it is even set at the lowest voltage (10.4 I think).  So, that means when I unhook nothing works (fans, lights, etc.), but if it is hooked up the the vehicle everything works great.  The battery is fully charged and reads out at 12.4 on the volt meter.  I almost find that hard to believe since the trailer is less than 1 year old that battery guard is out.  I have a jumper wire that bypasses the guard, so I can use it in the meantime.  I am doubtful that WT will cover this since I am not the orignal owner.  Any ideas?   

It may be the easiest is take the trailer in and have it rewired so you know everything is working correctly.  An electrical problem and be difficult to chase down......  I'm not mechanical either which is why I have the pros take care of stuff........

 Come on guys... you do not have to rewire anything! Cables are most likely OK. I could be wrong..... but you have two separate circuits: 1 - when you hook up trailer to your car and 2 - when trailer is parked and fan and lights should be operated by battery. Solar panels are there to recharge the battery. I don't believe that battery will get any charge from your car. So you have a problem with power getting from the battery to your trailer. Maybe broken battery guard is at fault? I will try to bypass guard and see if it works. If it does you will have to replace it.