Converter issues

Shields · Post by **Shields** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 8:04 pm

The converters in the Cardinal's, mine anyway, were of the battery minder variety. My battery had a dead cell also after a year, but I blame the battery for that. got a warranty replacement and bougt one more to parallel so I have plenty of juice to run the heater all night and not worry. Worrying is the worst part.

jamespatrick4 · Post by **jamespatrick4** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 5:31 am

After letting the battery charge I had a local garage do a load test and it checked out OK. Then I plugged the fiver into shore power and used my basic Sears multi-meter and checked the output at the battery terminals (without the battery hooked up) and nothing. I'm not an electrician but it seems that this indicates the converter is dead. Is this the proper way to test it?

If the converter is dead, I suspect the dealer will replace it with another just like it, which, from reading here, might meet a similar fate. If I want to avoid that potential (the dealer is over 2 hours away and once I bring the fiver in for the first year warranty work, I do not intend to ever go back if I can help it), how much is a similar, quality converter in the event I just want to use something other than the dealer's "builder's model" low end product?

I used a battery charger to charge the battery and will use it to limp through the rest of the camping season. However, I don't want to over charge the battery and incur that expense too. What voltage should I look for to indicate the battery is fully or close to fully charged?

Thanks for any input.

James

Shields · Post by **Shields** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 6:12 am

Sounds like a competent test, but be sure that the fuses on the front of the converter itself are not blown. And also, be sure that you have 120 volts to the converter. In my case, the transformer inside the converter was defective probably due to a lighting strike we had when hooked up to shore power. I bought a surge and voltage protector to hook the FW to so hopefully I can avoid that problem again.

Voltage of a fully charged battery under no load is close to 13 volts, they charge at 13.4 volts, but are exercised by the converter and will go to a lower voltage occasionally, like 12.6.

snowidow · Post by **snowidow** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 10:45 am

Ours went out this summer, we replaced it with one from Camping World. These must not be made to last too long from the looks of so many others having problems.

jennyt · Post by **jennyt** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 5:40 am

Yup - ours went out too while we were at the Nascar race at Talladega. Thank goodness there was a Camping World about 20 miles down the road!

Shields · Post by **Shields** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 7:41 am

I believe they are prone to failure from power surges. For that reason I bought a surge protector for the trailer and hope that helps

Rob & Cathy · Post by **Rob & Cathy** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 7:50 am

I think Al has a good point. Power surges or sags can be a problem. I have a power protector/monitor and I've seen the voltage on one leg go down to 107vac. My monitor will remove power from the trailer if it dips below 104vac. I have to wonder if input power is more to blame than the converter itself.

Rob

Shields · Post by **Shields** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 10:20 am

Jeez, it sure is nice to have someone agree with me!

Traveler II · Post by **Traveler II** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 3:25 pm

Good point on the power surge, could low voltage in some parks also cause problems? In the summer time I’ve seen the power drop so much that I’ve had to cut the power.

Rob & Cathy · Post by **Rob & Cathy** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 4:10 pm

Traveler II wrote:could low voltage in some parks also cause problems?

Absolutely. Converters, motors and power supplies all have to work harder when the input voltage drops.

Rob

Future Fulltimers · Post by **Future Fulltimers** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 4:59 pm

Shields wrote:Jeez, it sure is nice to have someone agree with me!

I'll agree with you especially after $350 in A/C repairs caused by a surge.