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Old 10-24-2021, 12:25 PM   #1
luv2camp2020
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Converter

Have a 2013 Bullet Ultra Lite. I had a serge of power that has caused my battery not to stay charged. I replaced the breakers on frame by battery. Everything works great on shore power as long as i have a charger on the battery.

Is this an inverter or a converter issue. I think the converter is an appliance that is plugged in and has fuses. I pulled the panel where fuse box is with shore and battery power off. The box under the panel is hard wired and doesn't have fuses Is that the inverter or converter?

Any thoughts of where the converter would be located?
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Old 10-24-2021, 12:36 PM   #2
chuckster57
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If you remove the cover on the breaker panel and there is a device with a fan or two and looks hard wired that is the CONverter.

Inverters use battery power to make 110V for appliances. If your trailer got zapped with a power surge and it took out the converter, make sure you get an EMS at the same time you replace the converter. There should be some labels to help identify the conveter for replacement.
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Old 10-24-2021, 12:37 PM   #3
Terry W.
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The converter should plug in a 110 volt and be connected to the power panel. And should have at least one possibly 2 fuses. It converts 110ac to 12 volt dc to charge battery
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Old 10-24-2021, 12:40 PM   #4
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Originally Posted by Terry W. View Post
The converter should plug in a 110 volt and be connected to the power panel. And should have at least one possibly 2 fuses. It converts 110ac to 12 volt dc to charge battery
Converters come in 2 basic flavors, separate plug in and integrated in the power distribution panel. His sounds like the integrated style.
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Old 10-24-2021, 12:53 PM   #5
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A converter takes 120v ac and converts it to 12v dc. An inverter does the inverse and takes 12v dc and changes it yo 120v ac. The inverter in your rig will have a battery charger built into it behind tha panelbor wired into the panel and mounted near-by. Couple of questions, what kind of "surge" occured? How old is the battery? Have you checked the reverse polarity fuses on the charger? There should be 2 40 amp fuses that are located away from the other fuses. If you connect the battery cables backwards even just touching the to the battery posts reversed will blow out those fuses.
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Old 10-24-2021, 01:30 PM   #6
luv2camp2020
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So the power surge was too much amps into camper. It impacted battery and breakers near the battery. I now have new battery and new breakers by battery.

Because the battery won't keep charge then i think it is my

I truly believe it is my inverter that is the problem. I think the converter is the one hard wired below my fuse box. I have not checked the reverse polarity fuses on the charger. I will do more research on that.

I just can't figure out where the inverter is. I saw on some clips it can even be by the frig or stove area. Is inverter hardwired or plugged in?
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Old 10-24-2021, 01:35 PM   #7
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You will only have an inverter if you have a residential style fridge or factory installed inverter for plugs and maybe tv.
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Old 10-24-2021, 01:37 PM   #8
luv2camp2020
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Thanks that helps. Maybe i should just replace the converter.
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Old 10-24-2021, 01:51 PM   #9
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Originally Posted by luv2camp2020 View Post
So the power surge was too much amps into camper. It impacted battery and breakers near the battery. I now have new battery and new breakers by battery.

Because the battery won't keep charge then i think it is my

I truly believe it is my inverter that is the problem. I think the converter is the one hard wired below my fuse box. I have not checked the reverse polarity fuses on the charger. I will do more research on that.

I just can't figure out where the inverter is. I saw on some clips it can even be by the frig or stove area. Is inverter hardwired or plugged in?
Are you the original owner or did you recently purchase this trailer? Amps is a measure of electrical usage (load). The only way to have too much amperage is to have an excess load. The battery, if shorted out internally (shorted cells) can impose too much load for the charger to handle however the low voltage circuit breaker should prevent that. Do you have a multimeter znd know how to ue it?
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Old 10-24-2021, 03:11 PM   #10
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This sounds like a simple electrical failure of the converter, not a surge of any kind. If you had no other damage to anything in the trailer, a 'surge' is unlikely. If you have 120 volts applied to the converter but no 12 volts coming out of the other side, the converter is toast, and just needs to be replaced.
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Old 10-28-2021, 05:51 PM   #11
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Sounds like a converter to me. the secondary job of a convertor is to charge batteries when on shore power.
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Old 11-07-2021, 08:18 AM   #12
adeakins
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Quote:
Originally Posted by luv2camp2020 View Post
Have a 2013 Bullet Ultra Lite. I had a serge of power that has caused my battery not to stay charged. I replaced the breakers on frame by battery. Everything works great on shore power as long as i have a charger on the battery.

Is this an inverter or a converter issue. I think the converter is an appliance that is plugged in and has fuses. I pulled the panel where fuse box is with shore and battery power off. The box under the panel is hard wired and doesn't have fuses Is that the inverter or converter?

Any thoughts of where the converter would be located?
Check to see if you have an inline auto-reset breaker. These often fail to reset and have to be replaced (generally easy to do). There are manual reset breakers inline between the battery and the converter (not inverter). With these, you can reset them by pushing the button.
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