Converter Problem?

[Skins44]

Arrived at Campground Thursday evening for 4 nights and...

- went to sleep with furnace on (40 degrees outside!)
- woke up at 4 am freezing my *** off (along with wife and kids)
- furnace would not come on and lights in camper were very dim
- checked breaker and ALL fuses (good there)
- further troubleshooting in the morning found my battery was well below 12volts (11.2, then 9.5 later in the morning)
- Hooked the camper to the truck to see if the battery would charge. I saw no difference in voltage output
- Decided to head to Walmart for a space heater and new battery for camper
- INSTALLED NEW BATTERY AND ALL PROBLEMS SOLVED!

However, I am not satisfied. I still think there is a problem somewhere. I am not confident that my converter is working properly and charging the battery.

How can i check to see if my converter is working properly and charging my battery? I have a multimeter, but pretty much a novice.

Thanks!

[chuckster57]

Quickest way is to use the Volt meter at the battery. Your looking for 13+ VDC.

If it doesn’t read that, then you need to find the converter and make sure the “reverse polarity” fuse(s) aren’t burnt.

If your converter is built in (bottom half of panel) your looking for a separate 40A fuse away from the row of 15A fuses.

[Skins44]

something is definitely still wrong. My brand new battery is at 12.06 and reads 1/3 full in my rig. Both 40 amp fuses are fine. I turned my truck on and connected to the camper and still not charging.

[ChuckS]

A multi meter is just a “gotta have” item in an RV.. in less than 5 minutes you can narrow down your issue and make a good decision as to what’s needed to repair

http://wfcoelectronics.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/New-Flow-Chart-for-WF-9800-Series.pdf

I’d also verify battery disconnect ain’t turned off

[Canonman]

OK, You probably already know that the converter is not in the loop unless it is converting 110vac to 12+vdc. 110vac can be either shore power or a generator.
Also, when the truck is hooked up, you're getting 12+vdc only if the key is in the run position. Even then it's not providing much in the way of charging current i.e. amps.
If you only have one battery and its in good/new condition, you probably have about 80 or so amp hours. The typical 35000 btu rv furnace draws around 8 amps. Simple arithmetic says after 10 hours of running the furnace, the battery's amp hour reserve is depleted. Not to mention the other DC accessories you might be running. Once depleted, it takes a lot of charging amps (10 or more) over a long period of time (5 or more hours) to fully charge the batteries.
Like Chuck said, the easiest way to tell if the converter is working, is to look for at least 13+vdc at the battery using a digital volt ohm meter. Cheap to buy and a must have for RVers.
Winter camping really requires two batteries and lots of blankets. Hope this helps:)

[LHaven]

something is definitely still wrong. My brand new battery is at 12.06 and reads 1/3 full in my rig.


It's called a 12 V battery, but when it's at full charge it's actually somewhere in the high to mid 12s. By the time it gets down to 12 even, yes, there has been some depletion.

Even one of Harbor Freight's five dollar little red multimeters will serve you well here. If you're not seeing over 13 V at the connector lugs when the converter is supposedly running, it's not running.

[Gord]

A couple of suggestions. Is it possible that your converter was damaged back in July when you posted about brown out issues that you had encountered while camping in high heat? And as far as your truck not raising the voltage when it is connected and running, possibly charge circuit fuse on truck is blown. I think I also read somewhere here on the forum that some trucks actually need to be in drive before 12vdc is available to the socket at the back of the truck.

[tech740]

There was also a member that posted recently that the charge circuit on his truck only worked in drive. That way the RV didn't drain the battery on the truck while plugged in and not running or moving.

[flybouy]

If you want to use the truck to "charge" the battery, or use it to operate high amperage devices then the 7 conductor umbilical cord is very inefficient. Use a good set of jumper cables from truck to camper and unplug the shore power to prevent any issues with a spike in amperage.

[travelin texans]

As Chuck mentioned the 1st place I'd check is the battery disconnect, if it's off the converter will never charge the battery

[Skins44]

thanks everyone for the feedback. I went off-grid for a while. So, my new battery went dead overnight (as expected). the converter was not supplying a charge. In fact, the converter was in deed dead. Bought a new converter this morning at a local RV dealer and installed it.

Battery now charged back up, everything is working, ALL IS WELL!

thanks all for the replies and suggestions. It's great to have such quick feedback when in a bind. Love this forum.

p.s. i do not have a battery shut off. The only 2 fuses for the converter are in the breaker box and they were good (checked them a few times yesterday). No fuses outside near the battery (A frame).

[B-O-B'03]

something is definitely still wrong. My brand new battery is at 12.06 and reads 1/3 full in my rig. Both 40 amp fuses are fine. I turned my truck on and connected to the camper and still not charging.

On our F150 the relay and fuse for the camper charging circuit were in a little baggie the the glove box, the dealer never installed them.
I found this out when debugging why the truck was not charging the camper batteries.

-Brian

[JRTJH]

...
The only 2 fuses for the converter are in the breaker box and they were good (checked them a few times yesterday). No fuses outside near the battery (A frame).

There is a "battery protection setup" connected to your battery wiring. It may be on the A frame bulkhead (exposed to the elements) or it may be mounted inside the front storage passthrough. But, somewhere, there's a series of "auto-reset circuit protection" (circuit breakers/fuses)... In your trailer, as new as it is, chances are those devices are OK and functioning properly. However, with age and exposure to the elements (road spray, salt, dirt, etc) they will corrode and begin to become problematic. At first, they just overheat a bit (corrosion) and trip at lower amperage, following that, they can either "stick open" or "stick closed"... Sticking open means they just trip and won't reset and you don't have voltage past the device. Sticking closed can be a significant safety issue because they won't "trip with excess amperage" and could lead to overloaded wires getting hot, possibly causing a fire.

If you look at the ground post in this photo (posted by another member in another thread) you can see the beginnings of corrosion on the ground lug (under the center breaker) although there are NO signs of any problems or corrosion at the breakers and they appear (outwardly) to be in excellent condition. The issue is, are they the same condition inside those plastic boxes that house the "workings".... ????? The photo depicts the condition of the electrical components on a 2019 model trailer, so it doesn't take long for things to start deteriorating when exposed to "extreme conditions" experienced when towing....

[LV_Tom]

On a recent Rally with 9 other RV Club members, we came back to our 2011 27 RLSWE Cougar to find the A/C stopped working and the batteries were D-E-D Dead It was hot outside and there was no way we could have stayed without A/C. Troubleshot the problem that my converter had died after 8 years. In the interim, one of the members loaned me his battery charger to create 12v to power the system back up. (The air conditioner while 110 volts AC needs 12 volts DC to operate the thermostat circuit). I now travel with my battery charger to solve any future converter failures... which means since I've made provisions to solve my problem it will never fail again..

[CampingRooster]

thanks everyone for the feedback. I went off-grid for a while. So, my new battery went dead overnight (as expected). the converter was not supplying a charge. In fact, the converter was in deed dead. Bought a new converter this morning at a local RV dealer and installed it.

Battery now charged back up, everything is working, ALL IS WELL!

thanks all for the replies and suggestions. It's great to have such quick feedback when in a bind. Love this forum.

p.s. i do not have a battery shut off. The only 2 fuses for the converter are in the breaker box and they were good (checked them a few times yesterday). No fuses outside near the battery (A frame).

Wait, we're you plugged into shore power (110 AC)? The converter will NOT work unless you are plugged into shore power. If you "went off-grid", how did you expect the converter to charge the battery(s)? :ermm:

[anthonbloom]

I lost the converter in my 2012 318 SAB and it was because the cooling fan failed. The lights kept getting brighter and dimmer over a couple of weeks as the unit overheated until the board fried and the whole unit had to be replaced. The converter was behind a panel in the storage pass through which couldn't be completely removed so I had to bend it out if the way and the converter was held loosely in place with a couple of angled drywall screws.....

[Skins44]

Rooster, i was plugged into shore power.

[Skins44]

JRTJH i have yet to locate the battery protection area you reference. I will search again this weekend when i have a few minutes. Since my problem was resolved with a new converter, i assume whatever makes up the battery protection is good (as you reference on a newer trailer).

Scratching my head on why my converter went belly-up so quickly...

[JRTJH]

...
Scratching my head on why my converter went belly-up so quickly...

Sometimes manufacturers produce a product with a problem. If the new converter functions properly, I wouldn't get too concerned about the "why" and focus more on the "proper operation of the replacement". You may well have had one of the "2% acceptable failure rate" (or whatever WFCO determined to be OK to break).....

[FlyingAroundRV]

JRTJH i have yet to locate the battery protection area you reference. I will search again this weekend when i have a few minutes. Since my problem was resolved with a new converter, i assume whatever makes up the battery protection is good (as you reference on a newer trailer).

Scratching my head on why my converter went belly-up so quickly...
You mentioned doing some mods to your trailer's electrics.
As I mentioned earlier, the converters are susceptible to miswired AC input. That's how I fried mine.
Edit: Sorry, that must have been in a different thread.
Anyway, converters are sensitive to AC issues. If you haven't got an EMS, you should install one. The permanent wired in ones are the best option IMO. You don't have to remember to hook them up every time you set up and the Progressive Industries one has a readout that will tell you if there are issues such as over voltage or wrong polarity. When the AC input goes out of spec, the EMS will disconnect the rig from the shore power.

[Skins44]

Scott, I think back to my first trip with our camper in April 2018. We were on Hatteras Island in NC. I connected to the 30 amp hookup at the campground and the 20amp outlet shorted when i flipped the breaker on the poll. I saw a little smoke come up from my stove (where i now know the converter resides). The campground "host" inspected my circuit breaker and said that he saw no frayed/burnt connections. I shrugged it off after he installed a new 20 amp outlet in the electrical box and things worked fine the rest of the time.

Since that incident, i have seen some wacky things with my power. Many of which i brought up on this forum. Mostly, dim lights and weird electrical problems related to DC. Now i wonder if that initial incident on my first trip was a little more substantial than i thought. That could have been the beginning of my converter demise.

[Skins44]

i've since purchased a portable Progressive Industries EMS. Used my last 2 trips. I feel a little more at ease with it.

Thanks for the feedback.

[Archergodwin]

.....I connected to the 30 amp hookup at the campground and the 20amp outlet shorted when i flipped the breaker on the poll. I saw a little smoke come up from my stove (where i now know the converter resides).

Anytime you let the smoke out of an electrical device, you know its bad ;)

Some of these units are not wired great...