Battery/converter

Glamping4fun · 06-06-2016, 06:52 PM

I have a 2012 Salem Forester 26Tbud. Last summer when we were camping and had Full hookups at 30amp sites, we bought a new RV battery and our A/C would be running and then we would have no power after about 4 hours of it running. We would have to recharge the battery before anything would come back on. Our question is Why is the battery draining so fast and why wouldn't it run off the electricity poll at our campsite instead of the battery?

uhduh camping · 06-06-2016, 07:06 PM

Sounds like converter is not working properly. You should use a voltmeter and check to see what the output is.

You still need to use battery for all of lights and other things that use 12V electricity. Your converter, being on shore power should keep battery charged.

When battery has full charge and not connected to shore power do the 12V items work? If not, that could be a battery disconnect switch.

ScottBrownstein · 06-06-2016, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glamping4fun

I have a 2012 Salem Forester 26Tbud. Last summer when we were camping and had Full hookups at 30amp sites, we bought a new RV battery and our A/C would be running and then we would have no power after about 4 hours of it running. We would have to recharge the battery before anything would come back on. Our question is Why is the battery draining so fast and why wouldn't it run off the electricity poll at our campsite instead of the battery?

What did you do to charge the battery? The thermostat and much of the AC unit needs 12 volt to run. If your converter wasn't charging the battery then it would run down and you would have to re-charge it...if the converter was running it would have been supplying 12 v from shore power and it wouldn't even matter if there was a battery at all.

**Flybob** · 06-06-2016, 07:15 PM

Check the two large fuses ( 30-40A) in the converter. If you try to charge a very low battery these can blow and the converter will not supply 12V to the battery or trailer appliances. You will run totally on battery and deplete the battery rapidly as you are seeing.

Glamping4fun · 06-06-2016, 07:16 PM

So we would hook the Voltmeter to the converter and what should it read if it is good? What is shore power?

Glamping4fun · 06-06-2016, 07:18 PM

We used a mobile battery charger and as soon as we charged the battery back up then everything worked But would drain the battery.

**Flybob** · 06-06-2016, 07:18 PM

When you are connected to shore power ( Power pedestal) the battery voltage at the terminals should be about 13.8V or higher. I not the converter is not charging the battery.

uhduh camping · 06-06-2016, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glamping4fun

So we would hook the Voltmeter to the converter and what should it read if it is good? What is shore power?

Shore power is campground power or any power you plug your RV into. You should see at least 12V DC on the output side. Make real sure you do not measure 120V AC input side.

Glamping4fun · 06-06-2016, 07:27 PM

We checked the 30-40 Amp fuses and they are not blown.

**Flybob** · 06-06-2016, 07:33 PM

When plugged into campground power what is voltage at battery terminals. Do you have a battery cut off switch?

Glamping4fun · 06-06-2016, 07:37 PM

We plugged the camper in to shore power yesterday when we got home from camping, and when he went out today about 3pm there was no power to anything. So he unplugged it from shore and the battery was dead so he has had it on battery charger since. Its not at a full charge but he did check it and it was reading 12.

Glamping4fun · 06-06-2016, 07:41 PM

We do not have a battery cut off switch. He said its reading 11V when plugged in to shore.

**Flybob** · 06-06-2016, 07:43 PM

OK. Either the converter is dead, the fuses that looked good are really bad or you have a battery cut off switch, 11V on a 12V battery is zero charge

Glamping4fun · 06-06-2016, 07:59 PM

Thank you, we are leaning towards the converter being bad. Do we need a battery cut off switch in the future? He used the troubleshooting suggestions in the book also and hooked the voltmeter to the positive probe on the +vcc output terminal lug and the negative test probe on the NEG- out put terminal lug and it read 0. Any suggestions on where to get a converter? Amazon?

**Flybob** · 06-06-2016, 08:06 PM

If you are going to go to the trouble of replacing it, Most people recommend Progressive Dynamics. They have an replacement and it is a much better charger.

Glamping4fun · 06-06-2016, 08:17 PM

Thank you for your help!. It's greatly appreciated.

uhduh camping · 06-06-2016, 08:23 PM

It was plugged into shore power at the time it was tested, right?

pgandw · 06-06-2016, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glamping4fun

We do not have a battery cut off switch. He said its reading 11V when plugged in to shore.

I'd be very surprised if your unit did not have a battery cut-off switch. The only units I know of that are made without battery cut-off switches standard are pop-ups - and these have batteries out on the trailer tongue.

That said, your battery cut-off switch is on for everything to be working while the battery has any charge left in it. There's only a few possibilities:
- converter circuit breaker is not "on". Usually, the converter has its own circuit breaker on the AC panel. Physically turning a circuit breaker off, then on is the proper way to reset a circuit breaker.
- converter is not providing any DC power, leaving the battery to provide all the DC power. But you should not read 0 volts on the converter battery terminals if the battery is powering the camper DC. That reading really bothers me, and does not make sense unless the battery was disconnected when you took the reading.
- somewhere, somehow, the connections between the battery and converter are not there. A blown fuse or a disconnected wire would be suspects.

If you have a WFCO converter, Progressive Dynamics makes well-repected drop-in replacements for the most common WFCO models. But the converter is the most expensive component to replace, so I would make real sure it is indeed the converter that is not working.

Also, I would consider your battery is pretty much toast, having been discharged as far as it has - probably more than once. Many converters will not charge a dead battery, and may/may not pop the big fuses in trying to do so (mine did).

Last but not least, you need to disconnect the battery - either manually or with a switch - when in storage without being plugged in.

Fred W
2014 Rockwood A122 A-frame
two Interstate 6V 232AH golf cart batteries, disconnect switch installed
WFCO converter that will not go into trickle charge mode

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