Dead converter?

We're out camping for the next week, and Mr. Murphy seems to be haunting us. I think our converter may be shot.

Last night when we got here, while eating dinner, occasionally, the lights would get really bright for a few seconds and then go dimmer again. This happened several times over the course of a few hours.

This morning, I checked the voltage on the batteries and they were only at 11.5 V, and rated "Fair" on the little graph. Considering we've been plugged in all night, the batteries should be full or very close to it.

So, after some breakfast I took the basement wall off to get at the converter to check the fuses. One of the fuses was a bit loose, so I took them all out and checked them. None were blown, so I carefully put them all back in, and then turned the power back on. No change in the brightness of our lights. No change in battery voltage.

I don't know what else to check or try. Of course, it's Saturday, so I doubt anyone is available either at Heartland or at Progressive Dynamics to talk me through troubleshooting and/or pronouncing our converter dead.

Fortunately, we have our solar panels which are giving us a little charge but it's cloudy so we're only getting 3 amps off of the panels.

Can anyone tell me how to troubleshoot further?

Chris

Check your battery to see if the battery is ok. It may have a dead cell. You can also disconnect the negative battery terminal then put your meter on the converter output to see what it is. If the battery is bad your voltage on the converter output will increase. I had the similar thing happen and it turned out to be a dead cell in the battery.

It could be in an maintenance mode or a boost mode. We have the Progressive Dynamics monitor pendent to know what mode the converter is in and make it boost if needed.

Here is a linky

Check the AC circuit breaker. The converter is on a separate circuit. If its getting power, do as Jim suggested to see if your getting DC output. The output from the converter should be a minimum of 13.2V.

Make sure that your terminal ends are clean and tight to the battery post. The thumb nuts could be loose and corrosion could build up so the batteries do not charge.
I speak from experiance.
Retyred

Chris:
There was a guy posting just a couple of days ago saying that his converter had burned wires due to the clamping/connection screws on the converter for the wires were not tight. Loose electrical connections can cause all sorts of "demonic possession" symptoms in the electrical equipment. It might be worth another crawl into the access space to the converter. Let us know what the final problem is.

I was the guy who posted the comments about the loose terminal connections. When one removes the cover one can see the input and output wire connections. The random nature of your problem seem to be like what I experienced. The tech simply flipped the breaker, cut and removed the bad end of the wire and re-attached and all has been good.
good luck.

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the tips. Here's what I have learned so far:

1) I checked the water levels in the batteries. Both are full.
2) I disconnected the wires from the batteries and checked the voltages. Both batteries are at 6.05 V, so no dead cells here.
3) I did as Jim suggested and checked the voltage from the + on the battery to the disconnected - cable. The meter read 9.00 V.
4) I disconnected the wires from the battery and put the meter probes into the + and - wire terminals on the converter, and again, exactly 9.00 V.
5) With the power off, I removed each of the fuses and checked them. They're all fine.
6) Some of the fuses seemed to not be seated very tightly, so I gently bent the metal fuse holders slightly inward and re-seated the fuses. With power back on, again 9.00 V came off the converter.

Looks like the smoking gun is the 9.00 V. Is it me, or is this an odd coincidence that the voltage out of the converter is about 2/3rds what it should be.

Are there any fuses inside the converter? I'm reluctant to open it up unless there is likely something that could be replaced or fixed inside. Any thoughts?

We're a bit desperate here as we're out here with the whole family for spring break and are paid up for the next 7 days, and are camping with two other families so really need to get this figured out asap. I'm at the point where I'd buy another converter if I had to just so we don't have to lose our vacation.

Any other tips or suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris

Chris,

The converter is bad. There is no internal fuse or other replaceable component that will fix the low output voltage. If you don't have one, get a 12V battery charger and hook it up to the batteries as a temporary measure until you can replace the converter. Any charger that can put out 25A or more will do.

If you're only getting 9v out of the converter then it's not working! I lost the converter on a trip and fortunately I was near a CT store where I could buy a 12V battery charger. The converter is basically a battery charger so I hooked it up the the battery and plugged it into the AC outlet. I was good to go until I got to the dealer and they replaced the converter. I travel with the charger all the time now!

Same thing happen to us a few months ago on our 11 month old unit. I should have carried a battery charger with us as a few have posted here...lesson learned. A 12 amp battery charger worked for us.

I borrowed a little 6A battery charger from one of the neighbours here. It's not much, but hopefully it will help.

The kicker is that we own a 10A battery charger but it's at home.

I will phone Progressive Dynamics in the morning.

Chris

ps - batteries are at 12.4 V or about 60% now.

PD will offer you a rebuilt unit for $100.00 + $16.00 shipping and $16.00 shipping the bad one back if it's out of the 2 year warranty. I opted for a brand new one from ebay for $155.00 total. When you get the new one don't mount it on the floor if the old one was mounted there. It takes a very small amount of water to kill these things, don't ask!!!! Mount it on a side wall up off the floor, makes no diff how it's mounted, just get it up off the floor.
The good old Shumaker battery charger is now standard equipment it my got to have tools, parts, tapes, wires and fix-it stuff in the front compartment.

Hi Wabbit
Just a thought. This has been mentioned above. I had a SOB that kept having the charger on the convert go out. Put in 3 converters. On the last one I took the battery out and put it on a bench to charge. I left it there all day. When I checked it, it still had not fully charged. I took it to AutoZone and found it had a bad cell. I replaced the battery and never had a problem. I started using the Gel Cells from Sams Club and have never had a problem. Don't have to worry about the fluit level either. I have two in this trailer. Now the battery in my SOB was an Interstate. I have had a number of Interstate batteries and had trouble with every one. Now I know there are those that will love Interstate and that is great but if you do have an Interstate. Take it out and check the cells. To me it is sorta like the Mission Tires. They may work but in the long run it will fail on you.

FWIW
BC

Does anyone have any pictures of alternate mounting locations for the new converter I got today?

Just put it anywhere you want as long as the 110VAC and 12VDC wires are long enough without extending them. Put it on a sidewall OFF the floor. On my 3670 I put it on the vertcle framework for the steps up into the bath/bedroom. I first mounted the converter on a piece of plywood to span the step framework and then screwed plywood to the framwwork 2x2s.

Well, that was an adventure.

Yesterday, after a bit of begging on my part, my dealer agreed to swap my dead converter for one that he had in stock. I now have a Go Power 75A converter. From what I can see, it seems like a nice unit. It's bigger than the Progressive Dynamics 9260 that it replaces, and has a variable speed fan that even when running is almost inaudible. Out of the box, it doesn't have the "charge wizard" (although my dealer thought it did), so I guess I'll have to purchase one of those--I've already requested a price from the manufacturer. Seems that the GPC equivalent of the charge wizard is a remote that also tells what stage the converter is in.

Given that the new unit is a bit larger, with mounting screws 12" apart, I mounted the unit to the 2x2 posts that hold up the stairs. That said, a guy has to be a bit of a contortionist to get under there. I hope I never have to change a fuse on this thing!

One glitch in the installation. For some reason, the new unit has a different plug. Even though the unit only consumes a maximum of 1300 watts, it has a 20A plug (I'd never seen one of these before). I checked with my dad (who is an electrician) who confirmed with me that 1300 watts will work fine on a 15A circuit, so apparently no need for an upgraded breaker or wiring; however I did have to go to the local hardware store (20+ minute drive each way) to get the 120V 20A receptacle. I needed a longer ground wire anyways so I could mount the converter in its new location, plus my DW had me pick up a few other things while I was in town.

I'm pleased to report that our batteries are now happy and are currently at somewhere above 90%, which is in stark contrast to the 30% they've been dropping down to for the past few days. Our solar panels saved our butts this trip, because without them, we would have been sitting in the dark.

Thanks to everyone for your help!

Cheers,
Chris