Troubleshooting Electric Trailer Jack Not Working With Fully Charged Battery

Updated 05/12/2025 | Published 12/01/2017

Question:

I want to take my 30foot travel trailer out, but the power tongue jack will not work with a charged battery. I plugged the truck into the trailer with no luck. Any ideas ? My camper is a 2016 model.

asked by: Paul E

Expert Reply:

For your electric jack, there are only three possible explanations for your jack not working with a charged battery. Either power is not getting to your motor, your motor is bad, or your ground connection isn't working properly. To test power, use a circuit tester like # PTW2993 to test your power wire before your switch, then after your switch, and then at the motor. You will also want to check for an in-line fuse that could be bad. This will tell you if you have a short in the wire, the switch is bad, or if power is getting to the motor then your wiring and switch are not the issue.

Next use a jump wire from the negative terminal of your battery to the negative side of your motor and hit the switch to see if the motor works. If the motor works with that ground wire, then your motor is good and your ground is bad. If your motor does not work, the motor will need replaced.

expert reply by: Jason S

Tina K.

5/7/2020

i have electric jacks on my living quarters horse trailer. when i jack it up it will quit and i have to wait for a clicking noise before i start again..which only lasts about 15 seconds than the cycle starts again.. any ideas??

Chris R.

5/11/2020

Definitely make sure your battery is in good condition and FULLY charged. A weak battery, even just slightly below 12-13V output, can lead to this kind of issue. If it's good, I would also make sure the jacks are still securely grounded to clean, bare metal surfaces. If all of this checks out then it's possible the motor is starting to go bad and may need to be replaced.

10/16/2020

@ChrisR , I have a Lippert electric jack on my travel trailer. The motor is spinning when I use the switch to lower of raise, however the actual jack does not move. I have power, when I remove the cover the motor appears to be spinning, but the jack does not move ;lower nor retract). What’s going on?

Jon G.

10/19/2020

@RB Sounds like the screw or the nut on the inside is stripped. You'll need to take the jack completely a part to really get a good idea of what is going on, but regardless it sounds like you need a new jack. It it's under warranty I'd go that route, otherwise our electric jack # EJ-3520-BBX is an excellent alternative that is rated for 3.5K.

Anita K.

7/16/2020

Elec jack will raise but not lower in my horse trailer

Chris R.

7/21/2020

Are you able to manually lower it? I wonder if there's an issue with the switch. Can you tell me what model electric jack you have?

Bill H.

8/3/2020

I have a similar issue. My electric jack does work when I put shore power to it. I know that the motor works but I'm not sure what my issue could be. I just put it a new battery and still nothing at the power jack. Could it be the fuse or maybe just bad ground?

Chris R.

8/13/2020

I would definitely check both the in-line fuse and your ground connections, as those are probably the next most likely culprits after you've verified the battery is in good shape. Make sure the ground wire is securely attached and there isn't any corrosion or debris getting in the way of a solid connection.

Pat B.

8/20/2024

@ChrisR where is the online fuse?

Jameson C.

8/20/2024

@PatB It would be on the power wire that runs from the jack to it's power source which is most likely the trailer battery.

Gerri G.

7/1/2024

The power is on because the light works but Jack doesn’t extend or retract

Jon G.

7/1/2024

@GerriG You might still check the amount of power that is getting to the jack. A light doesn't draw nearly the same amount of power as the operation of the jack so you'll want to test that out too. The best way to tell if the issue is the power or the jack is to try using the manual override on the jack. If you're able to move the jack manually then you know the issue is the power, but if the jack is struggling to operate with the override then that means something internally is going on.

Gerri

7/2/2024

@JonG Thank you so much for your quick response!! It actually works now! Not sure what exactly it was. I had been in storage for a year though. Maybe lack of use and a little rusty???????Anyway, thank you so much! Have a great Independence Day!

Jon G.

7/2/2024

@Gerri Glad to hear that you've got it back up and running! Yeah, sometimes if it's sat for a while a jack can seize up so it's a good idea to try to run them up and down every once in a while to keep that from happening. You have a great Independence Day as well!

Ken Y.

3/12/2025

Thank you for your expert advice. Followed your advice and it was a ground problem. And now it works. Thanks a million

Jameson C.

3/12/2025

@KenY Glad you got it to work!

Amy

5/9/2025

@KenY how do you check ground connection? Our 2 year old power tongue jack also wasn’t working so we bought a new one thinking maybe bad motor but new one is also not working. Battery is brand new. It was all working prior to tucking it away for the winter. Any suggestions??? Likely wiring from camper to jack. Our leveling system won’t work with tongue jack not working.

Jameson C.

5/12/2025

@Amy Basically you would need to find the ground wire of the system and just make sure it's connected securely to a clean metal surface. It's possible it can come loose over time or possibly get overly corroded. If it's an a-frame jack though they typically ground through the mounting hardware. So you'd also want to check the ground from the trailer wiring connector that runs to the trailer frame.