ATF: Big Country - Bad Converter

I have a 09 BC 3285 and was having a problem with my lights getting real bright and then dimming back down. I took it in while under warranty and when I asked about the problem was told it probably was the converter. Unfortunately it did not act up when being checked so the dealer would not do anything about it. I was on Active Duty for the last 2 years and first time I went to use it the converter failed. Just curious if anybody else has had this problem?

Jim
2009 BC 3285
2006 F350 FX4 Larriat
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
Jim, First, Thanks for your service to our Country.
Your time away might explain your battery trouble in another post of yours. The lights going brighter is a normal occurrence when the converter "kicks in" to charge the house battery. It may all be related to the battery but you need to fully charge a new battery before normal use. The converters charging system is more of a maintenance type charge. It will fully charge a battery but it takes a few days. If the converter is not charging, I would first check the fuses at the converter. There is a row of three fuses on the converter itself, not in the regular fuse panel.
 

cookie

Administrator
Staff member
Along with what Ray said, is the battery hooked up correctly?
If it is or was installed backward, then that will blow the fuses that Ray is speaking of.

Peace
Dave

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
 

JohnDar

Prolifically Gabby Member
If you had a Charge Wizard Pendant indicator connected to your converter (an inexpensive add-on), it would show when the converter is running a boost charge to the battery. The LED rate of blinking changes when the converter does different things. It would agree with times that the brights increase and decrease. Disconcerting at first, but nothing to worry about.
 

DougS

Doug S
Jim,
You want to take a voltage reading when the converter is running, it should read 13.6 volts +/-. You can pull the plug or turn breaker on and off to check this, a charged battery alone should read 12.6-9 volts. Next you might want to check for a loose grounds. Whenever I get a different RV, one of the first things I check is that all ground wires that I can find are tight. My GC was good, only found one wire that needed a 1/4 turn. The fact that it did not happen while at dealer leads me to want to check ground wires.
 

JohnDar

Prolifically Gabby Member
The Progressive Converter has four modes of operation. If you look at the Boost Mode, you'll see that it's pumping 14.4V to the same battery that's running your lights, that were at 13.6V. So they get brighter until the battery is back up to snuff. The manual for the converter can be found in the Tools/Manuals section under Electrical.

NORMAL MODE: Output voltage set at 13.6 volts DC. This voltage provides good charging rates and low water
usage.
BOOST MODE:
If the converter senses that the battery voltage has dropped below a preset level the output voltage
is increased to 14.4 volts DC to rapidly recharge the batteries.
STORAGE MODE:
When the converter senses that there has been no significant battery usage for approximately
30 hours the output voltage is reduced to 13.2 volts DC for minimal water usage.
EQUALIZATION MODE:
When in storage mode the microprocessor automatically increases the output voltage
to 14.4 volts for 15 minutes every 21 hours. This will help to reduce the buildup of sulfation on the battery plates.
 
Thanks for the information. I did take it to my local dealer and he did find some bad grounds. It improved the situation but it did not repair all of the charging problems. Replaced the converter and it did have the charge wizard pendant and it seems to be working well. I appreciate everybody's information.
 
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