Parallax Convter 7300

[TayzGpa]

I am not quite sure how to word this so I'll try to be as clear as I can.

I bought a 2006 Wildcat a couple of months ago.

One evening I decided to use the outside "night lights" (don't know what else to call them). My camper has 2 white round outside lights and 2 amber (oval shaped) outside lights. Anyway, I turned all four on using the two switches inside the camper. After a few minutes I noticed an "electrical smell" coming from the converter. I opened the cover and felt around on the insulation on the wires and noticed that the white wire marked "Neg Batt" was extremely hot. Hot enough that I could not hold my finger on the insulation. I suspect that is where the electrical smell is coming from. I turned off the outside lights and after a few minutes the white "neg batt" wire cooled down. I turned them on again and sure enough, the white wire got hot again.

Does anyone know what might be causing this to happen and how might I go about fixing it (if possible)?

I was connected to the 30 amp outlet at the camp ground. Everything seems to work ok and the wire only gets hot when I turn on the outside lights.

[TURBS]

First of all I would start by checking your battery or batteries if you have multiples.
checking them would mean using a battery hydrometer or taking them to a parts store to put a load on it or them.

If those check ok I would start troubleshooting the converter with a Digital volt ohm meter.
If you don't have one then its time to buy one and leave it in the camper.

I will post a trouble shooting guide on your parallax.

here is a great flow chart.

http://www.parallaxpower.com/7300/Flowchart7300.pdf

TURBS

[TURBS]

Also when you check battery or batteries check the condition of the cables and the ground connection.


TURBS

[TayzGpa]

F100Turbo, thanks for the quick reply.
The battery "should" be ok. I just bought it 2 months ago (WalMart).
It says it is for "Boats and RV's". I will however, check the cables and ground connection. Thank you again, and thanks for the link.

[TURBS]

My pleasure.


Turbs

[BarryD0706]

Can you tell (or make a guess) as to what the gauge of that wire is? The only thing I can think of to make it hot (with no other symptoms) is that the wire is too small.

[TayzGpa]

Barry, that's kind of what I thought, but as far as I can tell it is "factory" wiring. I'm gonna say, 8g. Just a guess.

[BarryD0706]

Perhaps it's conducting heat from a loose connection at the end of the wire. But there's got to be something wrong with one or more of those 4 lights as well. Lights don't draw that kind of current.

[TayzGpa]

Agreed. Will check the connectors and see if I can find anything loose or anything.

[TayzGpa]

Well, Ok... I guess the short version of this story is to say that I wound up disconnecting the "Batt Neg" wire from the converter and even though the wire looked good (not corroded, burned, etc), I cut off the exposed wires, trimmed back the insulation, reconnected to wire to the terminal and tested by turning on the outside lights. Left it running for about 4 hours. When I checked the wire, it was warm, but not hot. Not NEAR as hot has it had been before. So I'm calling this journey complete. Thank you all for the tips and help. You are AWESOME!

[TURBS]

Originally Posted by TayzGpa

Well, Ok... I guess the short version of this story is to say that I wound up disconnecting the "Batt Neg" wire from the converter and even though the wire looked good (not corroded, burned, etc), I cut off the exposed wires, trimmed back the insulation, reconnected to wire to the terminal and tested by turning on the outside lights. Left it running for about 4 hours. When I checked the wire, it was warm, but not hot. Not NEAR as hot has it had been before. So I'm calling this journey complete. Thank you all for the tips and help. You are AWESOME!

Good deal!