Converter

[JohnF]

I was raising the front of the 5th wheel today and my batteries quit. I checked the power panel and found the ac breaker for the converter tripped. I reset it and now every thing is fine. Could an excessive 12volt draw on the converter cause that breaker to trip?

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by JohnF

I was raising the front of the 5th wheel today and my batteries quit. I checked the power panel and found the ac breaker for the converter tripped. I reset it and now every thing is fine. Could an excessive 12volt draw on the converter cause that breaker to trip?

Could be. Or it could be a sudden inrush of power for charging and running a slide, tongue jack, etc.

If resetting it does the trick for a day or two chances are it was just a one time event.

I am having a similar problem on my house.
Circuit breakers that have given me no problems during cooler months tend to trip when I load up circuits in my kitchen with plug in electric appliances on hot days. The wall where my panel is installed is in direct sunlight and the panel gets extremely hot even when power draw is low.

Add a little more heat from an electrical load and "Pop", off the power goes.

[CHICKDOE]

don't know exactly how to answer. you were raised using the batteries only and they quit. that would sure indicate low batteries that had not been recharged. you then found the circuit breaker for the converter tripped. if that had happened earlier (not as a result of lifting the front) that would explain why the batteries were discharged as the converter had not been recharging them (who knows for how long). you say you reset the breaker and all is well. that implies you must be plugged into shore power (or generator) and the converter was actually supplying the 12 vdc power (remember, batteries were low).

i suspect the flipped breaker was not a result of raising the front. after all, it did not trip again after you reset it and raised the front using the converter.

why it was tripped i do not know. it's possible the converter was overloaded at some time but who knows? if you have reset it and are hooked up to shore power let the converter run for some time to get the batteries recharged. they should be able to run the jacks and other devices without needing the converter on-line. might want to get the batteries load tested as they may be bad and they were what overloaded the converter.

[jelapoin]

Where is the power converter on a Cedar Creek 40 CFL? I checked in the fuses box and could not see it.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by jelapoin

Where is the power converter on a Cedar Creek 40 CFL? I checked in the fuses box and could not see it.

Should be behind the fuse/breaker panel.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by bikendan

Should be behind the fuse/breaker panel.

It could also be mounted in a compartment close to the batteries, depending.

If it's a usual WFCO Power Center the converter can be found by removing the cover for the breaker/fuse panel. On mine it fits in the compartment just below the actual AC bus with breakers and the fuse panel. Remove the visible phillips head screws and the cover, which has the door in it, will pop off revealing the Converter.

The reason I say the Converter can also be near the batteries is some converters are enclosed units unto themselves. Install near the batteries with some short lengths of #6 or #4 awg wire and the batteries will charge quicker as there's less line loss. The #8 wire that connects the fuse panel to the batteries is usually enough to run the circuits that are used daily. The heavy draw circuits like slide, tongue jack, etc, are usually wired direct to the shutoff switch with their own inline fuses.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

It could also be mounted in a compartment close to the batteries, depending.

Mike, my Rockwood trailer had the panel and converter 2/3 the trailer length away from the batteries.
My current PrimeTime has them at the rear wall of the trailer. The only way they could be any farther from the batteries, would be if they were on the rear bumper.
My point is that location varies wildly between models.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by bikendan

Mike, my Rockwood trailer had the panel and converter 2/3 the trailer length away from the batteries.
My current PrimeTime has them at the rear wall of the trailer. The only way they could be any farther from the batteries, would be if they were on the rear bumper.
My point is that location varies wildly between models.

We're on the same page.

My converter is under the Refrigerator along with the breaker/fuse panel and also 2/3 of the way back in the trailer.

I was just offering that if the converter wasn't found along with the breaker/fuse panel, it may be a separate unit nearer to the batteries.

My old trailer had a Magnatek converter that was buried in an impossible to access compartment and the breaker/fuse panel was 6 feet away. The battery was 20 feet away from the converter.