Loss of 12+ power to jack & emergency brake

[Pairofkings]

Trailer 2022 21C

No positive power to trailer tongue jack or the emergency brakes. I have checked power from the battery and the connections are good. I have also checked the power at the junction box on the frame near the tongue jack and there is no power there. The fuse to the tongue jack is good and no power there either.

Before I disassemble the driver's side of the trailer looking for a broken or loose connection, does anyone know if there is a hidden fuse or circuit breaker for this circuit. The main circuit breaker box is all OK. The tongue jack and emergency brakes are the only two items that are not working.

Thanks in advance for your advice and suggestions.

[John in Santa Cruz]

yours is newer than mine, but there's an AWG8(?) red wire that runs from the power area in the back to a junction box under the front of the bed, where it connects to the emergency brake switch and the tow vehicle power, and presumably to the power jack (I have a manual jack), it runs along the street side wall just below the bench and bed level. IIRC, this wire is on the other side of a 40 or 50 amp thermal breaker switch thats under the street side bench towards the back.

I believe I'd start by removing the front-most street side plywood bed support panel and accessing that junction box... here's mine.



the junction in question is that big wire nut under the tape with all the red wires. the wire exiting lower right is the tow vehicle pigtail, the one in the corrogated cover exiting upper right is the wiring to the rest of the trailer.

[Centex]

FWIW in my 2021 5.0 there's an auto-reset thermal circuit breaker between the battery and the jacks, looks like the pic below. In the 5.0 it's in a compartment near the jacks, sorry I've no idea where it is located in a 21C (or even if it has one).

It should reset after a few minutes of trip if the fault is cleared, but may not if defective. If you find it you should see 12V between each of its studs and ground when your TV is disconnected at the umbilical; you should see continuity across its studs.

No continuity between its studs indicates tripped / open; 12V on only one stud tells you that is the 'battery side' stud (should be the copper-colored stud but might not be).

If you get intermittent 12V on the load-side stud that indicates a load or circuit fault with the breaker trip-cycling (or possibly a defective breaker).


IF you think you have a circuit fault the first place I'd look is the brake-wiring exposed beneath the trailer.

Good Luck!

[Pairofkings]

Thank you. I'll look for that junction box tomorrow. It's a strange problem as the jack worked fine when we set up for camp and did'nt work when we were ready to leave. There was nothing changed for the 36 hours we were parked.

[Pairofkings]

Thank you. I checked the two circuit breakers that I found close to the battery. Both were working properly with 12 volts coming in and out. I'll be searching more tomorrow perhaps there will be another circuit breaker along the same wire. I'll post an update once I find the problem.

[John in Santa Cruz]

an easy test if you have a volt meter... check the 7-blade cord with a volt meter, pin 1 is ground, pin 7 should be your trailer battery + voltage, 12.x volts most likely. If you don't see the trailer battery voltage here, then I'd make sure the battery disconnect switch is NOT flipped.

[tdf-texas]

Originally Posted by Pairofkings

Trailer 2022 21C

The main circuit breaker box is all OK. The tongue jack and emergency brakes are the only two items that are not working.

There is a junction box on the drivers side frame rail (under the propane tanks) that is where the +12v supply is terminated. If you follow the 7 pin connector cord down under the trailer - that is where the cord terminates. Open up the plastic cover and (looking at the pic below) measure the voltage from the second terminal from the right in the box to ground - it should read aprox. 12v. More than likely, this is where your problem lies as Escape is notorious for bad wiring practices.
https://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f...tml#post250510

I also attached a wiring diagram that shows the circuit powering the junction box. It shows the 8 gauge wire run from the second terminal from the right in the JB going to the electric jack, the emergency brakes, and the 7 pin connector and is powered through the 40 amp resettable breaker by the batteries. That 8 gauge red wire should be a straight run from the terminal in the 7-pin JB to a stud on the 50 amp breaker - no splices.

[Pairofkings]

That is the junction box I checked for power at. The ground is good,but the second pin back has 0 volts. I also checked two circuit breakers I found in the rear of the trailer near the batteries. Both breakers had power on all the terminals. Do you know where the 40 amp breaker you mentioned is located? TIA

[tdf-texas]

Originally Posted by Pairofkings

That is the junction box I checked for power at. The ground is good,but the second pin back has 0 volts. I also checked two circuit breakers I found in the rear of the trailer near the batteries. Both breakers had power on all the terminals. Do you know where the 40 amp breaker you mentioned is located? TIA

If you trace the wiring from the battery cutoff switch back, one wire goes to the WFCO panel and the other goes to the thermal breaker. The 8 gauge red wire going to the 7-pin JB should be on one of the studs of the thermal breaker.

Your thermal breaker most likely will be in a different spot but below is a pic of where the thermal breaker in my trailer was mounted (drivers side inside corner of U dinette) and what it looked liked. Escape now uses a different battery disconnect switch so the locations have probably changed.

The red wire in the first pic going straight up from the thermal breaker is the one going to the 7-pin JB in my trailer. It's fairly easy to spot as it's the only red 8 gauge going to the front of the trailer.

ps. I reread your first post and you said that you had checked the 7-pin JB already. Sorry I got hung up in the JB. Oh well, the wiring diagram would be valid.

I know you're traveling but pics of the wiring around the battery disconnect and thermal breakers would help if you can post them.

[Pairofkings]

After disassembling much of the electrical system under the rear seats. I tested the circuit breakers and found them working properly, however the tongue jack and trailer brakes were both wired to the input side of the circuit breakers (basically wired direct to the battery). I corrected this problem and then by process of elimination determined which wire went behind the fridge and cabinets to the front of the trailer. The wire terminated at the DC-DC converter. I moved the wire and it basically fell out of the + terminal on the output side of the converter. The installer had put two wires into this terminal the other wire leading to the junction box on the frame. I reinserted both wires and torqued the terminal screw. I also secured the wires so there will not be any movement. Thanks to everyone for their assistance. The two things that were mentioned and I did not find were the wasn’t any junction box between the rear seats and under the bed. Also the only wires to the disconnect switch are from the battery and to the WFCO panel. Hope this information may help others in solving their problems.

[John in Santa Cruz]

my 2014 doesn't have that above pictured 7-blade junction box outside undeer the propane tanks, the cable goes directly in and is mated at that junction box I posted. so somewhere after 2014, they must have changd how they do it. I much prefer that 7-blade junction you posted, and if I ever need to replace my pigtail I'll undoubtably install one of those as you can buy the cord w/ plug at one end, and said junction box all as a kit.