Converter Was Unplugged

Birchwood

Well-known member
Last evening the D/C lighting in our Pinehurst was very dim,water heater (propane would not light),fantastic fans not working.Checked voltage on battery and it was 7.6 V.It was dark so I cut power to the converter (just in case the battery would overheat) and went to bed.This morning crawled in the basement only to find the converter was half unplugged and not working.No one has been in the basement for some time so the plug just vibrated loose I guess.Tie wraped it in place to stop a recurrence. The one year old battery is back to 14 v but will have to be replaced .:(
 

DocFather

Well-known member
The same thing happened to me. There was way too much pressure on the plug because the receptacle was placed too far from the Converter. I merely repositioned the receptacle and secured the plug against the wooden stud. Again, poor quality control at Heartland.
 

Birchwood

Well-known member
The same thing happened to me. There was way too much pressure on the plug because the receptacle was placed too far from the Converter. I merely repositioned the receptacle and secured the plug against the wooden stud. Again, poor quality control at Heartland.
The receptacle is a foot from the converter so maybe it was to close.Anyway, it will never happen again but still have to spend $138 for a new battery.
 

jimtoo

Moderator
Why does your battery need to be replaced? A battery can be fully discharged and recharged and it should not be hurt, as long as it does not freeze when discharged. If it's only 1 year old it should still be in warranty if it does test bad.
 

olcoon

Well-known member
When I installed the EMS in our rig last year, I saw this as a potential problem, & used zip ties to hold it in place.
 

boatto5er

Founding VA Chap Ldr (Ret)
I agree with Jimtoo. Test the battery first. Unless it completely discharged it will probably last another couple of years.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

jmgratz

Original Owners Club Member
Ours did the same thing on our previous Landmark. I even bought a new converter thinking the converter was bad. Then when I went to replace the converter I discovered the plug was loose in the outlet. I tightened the plug up, tie wrapped it in place and no more problems. Anyone need a brand new converter?:)
 

Kelly50

Member
Roy
I'm having converter problems on my Sundance 2008 My 110 stuff works but the 12 volt only works off the battery. I've been looking for the plug you guy's talk about but I can't find it. Took the panels loose in the basement but no luck.
Neighbor Kelly
 

JohnDar

Prolifically Gabby Member
Kelly, you need to remove a basement panel and find the cord from the converter. There should be an outlet somewhere nearby on the back basement wall.
 

Kelly50

Member
John
No plugin. A Blk White Green wire comes out of the transformer blk goes up connects to a blk wire on one of the breakers then out the back dissappears through a hole.
Kelly
 

Nabo

Southeast Region Director-Retired
Well - we had the same problem with our brand new Landmark. We picked the camper up from the dealer the 3rd week of April and headed out to SC. First night the lights just didn't seem bright and by 11 pm, they were out. We used the light from the TV's to move around that night. Next morning, checked behind the basement wall and sure enough, the converter was unplugged. The receptacle is mounted about 3-4 inches off the floor and with the bouncing of the coach, the plug (which is relatively heavy) for the converter just bounced off. Replugged in and the battery charged with no problems. On the way home, the plug did the same thing, bounced off. Soooo now it's zipped tied on - not comfortable with doing that but sure beats going behind the wall after every leg of a trip to replug the converter.
 

boatto5er

Founding VA Chap Ldr (Ret)
Exactly what happened to us the very first night home on the trip when we picked it up, but I chose to crawl around in the basement at 11:00pm. :)
 

Jim.Allison

Well-known member
Mine is a Big Country, but behind the basement wall there is the basement floor then there is the framework that steps up to cover the tanks. My plug was mounted right on that step up, it was covered by flooring. It was a common piece of Romex that went to a special plug to accommodate the charger only. Good luck.
 

JohnDar

Prolifically Gabby Member
Although mine is a Bighorn and may be laid out differently, I do have two outlets on that rear basement wall. One has the converter plugged into it and the other is empty. Not sure what the second one was for. As I've mentioned before, once you find your converter, consider relocating it to a more accessible location away from plumbing fittings. Initially, mine was up against that rear wall, under the black tank flush anti-siphon valve.

The second photo was taken before I relocated the converter and the surge suppressor to the side of the stair frame shown in photo 3.

View attachment 31160View attachment 31161View attachment 31162
 

olcoon

Well-known member
Hi Kelly,
On ours, on one end of the converter there are a few wires going into it, and on the other end (I think) there is a black cable coming out that goes into the plug. I've got some photos of my install of the EMS, but they don't show the plug. It was pretty close to the converter though. We don't know when we'll be back to KC yet, but it'll probably be in a couple of weeks. If you haven't found it when we get back, & you've still got your rig at the house, I could come down & help you find it if you want. At any rate it has to be in the area of the converter. Maybe you can pull the breaker box out & see something, the converter will be located behind there. Have fun on the Mississippi!
 

brianharrison

Well-known member
John
No plugin. A Blk White Green wire comes out of the transformer blk goes up connects to a blk wire on one of the breakers then out the back dissappears through a hole.
Kelly

The Sundance may have an integral converter/AC/DC distribution panel - called a Power Centre - like the Progressive Dynamics 4000 or 4500 series. The Progressive Dynamics 9100 and 9200 series converters are stand alone converters with a separate DC and AC distribution panels. The 9100/9200 series have cords and plugs to plug into a receptacle. My 9200 series 80A had a 20 amp AC plug requiring a 20A receptacle.

Brian
 

Jim.Allison

Well-known member
I'm assuming the charger/converter once worked and that they did not leave the socket out completely. But you have a gang of Romex wires coming into the basement from your breaker panel. All of them leave toward their destinations within the rig. But there should be one that is dedicated to your basement and should be visible to you. The charger breaker in my panel only has one function and that is to run the charger. You should be able to locate that single wire close to where the bundle exits the panel on the rear basement wall then trace it to your charger. I think it might be a different color Romex than all the rest, perhaps Yellow or Orange. Like I said I found mine on a step up from the basement floor to the top of the deck that covers the water tanks. But I have also seen basement installs that were cleaner than mine also.

If all else fails, you can take of the cover to your breaker panel, then take out the breaker box altogether, and have someone move the charger wire back and forth while someone looks on in the basement for a moving wire. There should be sufficient slack in the wires behind the panel to do this.

Another idea is to take you cover panel off of your breaker box and see if you can see the insulation for the wire that connects the charger, if it orange, yellow or white, then you will know what you are looking for.

On the battery 11.5v is 10% state of charge, 7.6v is dead, so that battery has been completely cycled at least once and you were able to recover it to 14v some battery cannot come back from that, some good chargers can bring one back, its Ok. It probably will not fail from that one discharge. But you can get Autozone to check it for you, but before you have it checked leave it off your charger for 24 hours.
 
Top