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Old 02-25-2017, 08:09 AM   #1
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Help with 12v

Before we went to bed everything was working. Woke up to the cold this morning with furnace not working. We have propane, breakers are good,refrigerator check light is also on, bathroom lights are dim, and battery check indicator is on e. This sucks, I have stove on for heat and a space heater. This is on a 16 nitro xlr 305 that we owned for 2 years. Please anyone have any insight?
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Old 02-25-2017, 08:15 AM   #2
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Are you plugged in to shore power? if so you may have to reset the outside breaker or possible fuse inside panel.
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Old 02-25-2017, 08:17 AM   #3
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Before we went to bed everything was working. Woke up to the cold this morning with furnace not working. We have propane, breakers are good,refrigerator check light is also on, bathroom lights are dim, and battery check indicator is on e. This sucks, I have stove on for heat and a space heater. This is on a 16 nitro xlr 305 that we owned for 2 years. Please anyone have any insight?
If space heater is working, then it appears your 120 volt AC stuff is OK. However I am assuming your space heater is plugged into an outlet inside your RV and you don't have an extension cord running from the campground pedestal.

Your lights being dim, battery on E, and furnace not working are indications your problems are with your 12 volt DC side.

When plugged into shore power, your converter takes 120 volt AC and converts it to 12 volt Dc to power up the 12 volt things in your RV like lights, fans, thermostats, pumps, etc. The converter also recharges your battery. If not plugged into 120 volt AC, your battery directly powers these things.

It sounds like your converter isn't functioning, and thus your battery was powering these things, up until it depleted.

Have you recently connected or disconnected your battery, because there is a protective fuse(s) for the converter called reverse polarity fuses that will pop if you connect the cables backwards.

Do you have a microwave? If so, is it's display on? The reason I ask, is that the microwave only works on 120 volt AC. This let's me know if you are getting 120 volt AC to your RV from the pedestal.

Is you particular RV a 30 amp or 50 amp variety? This also let's me know on something else to offer advice on in troubleshooting.
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Old 02-25-2017, 08:19 AM   #4
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Yes I am plugged in and reset the breaker and still a no
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Old 02-25-2017, 08:23 AM   #5
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Thanks and no I haven't unplugged battery
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Old 02-25-2017, 08:25 AM   #6
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WMTire I believe has found your problem. A quick fix to get 12 volt power to run things is to take a portable battery charger and hook it to your house batteries this will give you the 12V your converter is not supplying.
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Old 02-25-2017, 08:27 AM   #7
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Do you have a microwave? If so, is it's display on? The reason I ask, is that the microwave only works on 120 volt AC. This let's me know if you are getting 120 volt AC to your RV from the pedestal.

Is your particular RV a 30 amp or 50 amp variety? This also lets me know on something else to offer advice on in troubleshooting.
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Old 02-25-2017, 08:55 AM   #8
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Yes microwave works.
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Old 02-25-2017, 09:02 AM   #9
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Do you own a multimeter and know how to use it?
Are you able to check and perform basic electrical tests?
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Old 02-25-2017, 09:33 AM   #10
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There are two high current fuses in the converter/distribution panel ( 30-40A). Check them. They are reverse polarity fuses, but can blow if the battery is weak and the converter tries to charge it.
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Old 02-25-2017, 09:49 AM   #11
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Is your RV a 30 amp (3 prongs on power cord) or 50 amp (4 prongs on power cord)?

This pic may help that shows the power pedestal:



The reason I'm asking, if you are on a 50 amp (or using an adapter) then it's possible that one incoming leg is bad. A 50 amp has TWO 120 volt legs, whereas a 30 amp has ONE 120 volt leg.

If using an adapter, or even if plugged directly into a 50 amp outlet, it sometimes happens where one leg is not working. This means that half of your RV is not getting power (which could include the half the converter is on)

If it's all 30 amp, then we can disregard this possibility and troubleshoot other things.

The more detailed information you provide us, the more we can help.

As SeaDog stated, you can hook a battery charger to your battery, and use it in place of the converter for a little bit to maybe finish the trip.
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Old 02-25-2017, 09:57 AM   #12
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Presumably, if everything is hooked up correctly, your "E" on the battery condition panel means the voltage is under 11.5 and the converter is not working. You can check the converter breaker in the 120 volt panel, and then check the converter to see if the output fuses are OK. If neither of these is the problem, I suspect that your converter is bad.

If you have a multimeter you could check the power to the converter to make sure that it is 115 volts or more, and if so, check the output to see if it is present to confirm this. If you are staying where you are, you need to get something charging those batteries, even a 15 or 20 amp battery charger will work as others have said.
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Old 02-25-2017, 10:49 PM   #13
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Thanks. I hooked trailer to truck and everything worked, got battery to charge and then unhooked truck and have charger on battery. It's been working for now. When I get home I will check converter and rolls have to buy one. Anyon know about warranty on them.
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Old 02-26-2017, 03:08 AM   #14
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Thanks. I hooked trailer to truck and everything worked, got battery to charge and then unhooked truck and have charger on battery. It's been working for now. When I get home I will check converter and rolls have to buy one. Anyon know about warranty on them.
Most Forest River trailers use WFCO converters. WFCO converters have a reputation for not working correctly. Even though I determined the WFCO converter on my A-frame was not working correctly before the 2 year warranty was up, I did not want another WFCO converter. I replaced the WFCO converter in my A-frame with a Progressive Dynamics "drop in" replacement (PD 4135) for the WFCO combination electrical panel and converter. Cost was $165 with shipping. The PD panel/converter was about 1/2" narrower. Otherwise, it fit the same opening and space just fine.

I moved the AC circuits one at a time and then testing, and then the DC circuits one at a time and then testing, re-using the circuit breakers and fuses.

The PD converter fan is very quiet, and comes on much more often. The capacitors in the PD do squeal a little (just barely hear them) when first starting to charge in bulk mode. The PD converter holds bulk mode for a longer period of time, charging the batteries to 90% in considerably less time. Unlike my WFCO, the PD goes into float mode after about 40 hours to properly trickle charge the fully-charged batteries. It was a worthwhile change.

FWIW, as I was reading reviews on converters on Amazon, I noted that Chalet and A-liner A-frames came standard with a converter that was considered even worse quality than a WFCO - the owners were looking to "upgrade" to a WFCO converter.

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Old 02-27-2017, 09:40 PM   #15
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I too went from WIFCO to PD and never looked back.
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