Electric Trailer Jack Makes a Spark Sound Inside when Trying to Raise or Lower the Jack

Updated 06/27/2018 | Published 06/25/2018

Question:

I connected the wires to the 12v battery. the lights work but the buttons to push the trailer up and down dont work when you push the button it makes a spark sound inside what do I do

asked by: Colin

Expert Reply:

Are you using Lippert jack # LC285318? Because it only has 1 wire. It is possible that, if you have a jack with two wires, the positive and negative wires were switched. You could also have a bad switch or some other component on the inside has failed. It could also be an internal fuse or circuit breaker that has blown/tripped. This would mean there is either a short or the jack is trying to draw too much power because the battery it is connected to is bad or depleted.

If the wires were attached to the wrong battery terminals it is possible the light will still work if the bulb is not polarity sensitive.

If it is a switch then you can replace the switch. But in the meantime most electric jacks have a manual override so that you can physically crank the jack up and down if you lose power. For jack # LC285318 the override access is located under a cap on the top of the jack. Even if you do not have the crank handle for the jack you can still use a socket and ratchet to raise/lower the jack.

expert reply by: Michael H