Where is the Trailer inverter circuit for charging the battery?

[aullie70]

I have a 2009 30' Cherokee Grey Wolf. Left for two day camping trip with a fully charged brand new (1month old) deep cycle battery. Brought along the Yamaha 3000 Watt inverter and run it all day. By evening the lights were dimming and the furnace and fridge were shutting down. The fridge was on propane by the way. I recognized it to e a dieing battery so I tried my smart deep cycle battery charger plugged into the Yamaha. It would not take a charge. All the lights flashed like it was a defective battery. Hooked up the truck with jumper cables and not much improvement. The lights on the microwave were even dim but would work if used. So generator was producing. My question is, where is the circuit in the on board trailer inverter that should be charging the battery when the Yamaha is running and plugged into the trailer. Seems to me it must not be feeding any juice to the battery at all.
I left the truck battery hooked up all night and restarted the yamaha in the morning. Reconnected the smart charger and the deep cycle battery is now charging fine. Very frustrating trailer all around.

[Bama Rambler]

Are you getting power from the battery when not hooked to A/C power or an outside battery (truck)?
If no, then it could be a blown fuse or fuses. I'd check all the fuses even if they don't look blown.

[aullie70]

I am getting juice from the battery when I recharged it. I found the manual for the inverter and it says I should be getting 13.6V from the battery leads on the inverter in the trailer when connected to shore power or the yamaha in this case I presume. I'm buying a multi tester as I type this to check that out. I looked at the fuses and they appear good.

[bikendan]

Just to clarify, you're talking about a CONVERTER, not an INverter.

[aullie70]

The yamaha is an inverter generator 3000 Watt. EF3000I I believe. The electrical panel in the trailer I thought was also called an inverter but I could be wrong

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by aullie70

The yamaha is an inverter generator 3000 Watt. EF3000I I believe. The electrical panel in the trailer I thought was also called an inverter but I could be wrong

no, you have a WFCO CONverter as your pic label states.
it converts 110v AC to 12v DC.
an inverter does the opposite, 12v DC to 110v AC.

[aullie70]

Thanks for the clarification, I've learned a lot on this forum

[aquaholic3]

Ok, let's see if I can help. If you read your own pictures you'll see that it says converter right on the unit. A converter converts 120v AC into 12v DC power.
An Inverter does just the opposite. 12v DC into 120V AC. Just google inverter generator for an explanation of why it is an inverter generator instead of a regular generator.
Check for blown reverse polarity fuses, the 40w orange ones you see in the fuse panel. Did you accidently hook up or even touch the cables to the wrong terminals on the battery when you changed it? One second of reverse polarity will blow those fuses. Then the converter won't work.

To locate the Converter in your RV just take that whole front panel off the unit
and you will see the "converter" underneath the distribution panel portion of the power unit. There's usually a tin panel in front of it to protect it. Open the flip down door and there's 2 screws near the top (I can see 2 chrome screw heads in your picture)and tip the top front down to remove the panel. Voila' there's the converter supplying 12v power to the distribution panel and hopefully sending a charge to the battery. Be careful when doing this as you are exposing 120v breakers and wiring that's dangerous. Don't touch anything in there if you don't know what you're doing.
WFCO converters a not a high quality unit and it's possible the converter/charger section has gone bad. If so they can be easily replaced with better quality converter/charger units. Go to BestConverter - Converters, Inverters, Electrical Supplies, Electronics to find replacements.
you can check out this webpage to see what I'm talking about. It shows you how to trouble shoot the converter. Specifically page 7 of the manual. https://www.rexandsonsrvs.com/manual...ter_Manual.pdf

[aquaholic3]

https://www.rexandsonsrvs.com/manual...ter_Manual.pdf
Sorry, the link to the manual wasn't complete in my first post. This is the manual for Similar WFCO converter units and should help identify things

[aullie70]

Thanks again, I'll definitely check it out. I see some of the 12V text in your reply. I read that info and it was somewhat helpful. I am almost positive I didn't reverse the leads but will check the fuses again with my meter. I have some reading to do I guess. Thanks for your posts everyone. I'll update once I figure this out.

[aquaholic3]

Good luck and we hope it's nothing serious!

[aullie70]

OK so I tested the battery leads on the converter with just my battery connected. 12.1 volts. As shown I checked the voltage with the inverter runing and the same result of 12.1 volts. The manual says I should be getting 13.6 V at the converter is powered by shore power. I disconnected the leads from the inverter and got nothing with the inverter runing. At the same time I still have 110Volts at the receptacles. According to the manual this means the converter must be replaced. OUCH!

[aullie70]

I assume some small component has burned out on the board of the converter, anyone ever repair one of these before, I hate to throw it way if it is just a burn capacitor or diode.

[aullie70]

Nothing on the board looks to be burnt or swollen. From the tiny est diode to larger capacitors all looks good. I did notice there is a 15A fuse soldered into the board. I test this fuses leads and found no resistance indicating to me that it is blown. Anyone else out there ever experience this? Promise this is my last question. I will post my final solution whenever that happens.

[aullie70]

Attachment

[Filthy Beast]

Just to add a note, if the fuse has no resistance, the fuse is good. That said, you cannot really test a fuse while in the circuit using an ohm meter. You can test with power on, if you see power across the fuse it is open, if you see no power the fuse is good.

[aquaholic3]

if the fuse blew there is a reason and it would probably blow again. You would be far better off to replace just the converter/charger part of that WFCO. Best Converter has several possibilities. You'd just remove the converter from the bottom of the panel and slide the new on right in. just a few wires to change and you'd have a much better charging system. example is the boondocker mainboard assy.

I'm using the Boondocker 55 amp replacement system now, but I'm building a whole new system around a 100 amp boondocker deck mount unit.

[aullie70]

OK, I alway thought of a fuse as a strand of wire which overheats and burns. In any case you know more than I do I'm sure. I will pull it out and send to my electrician friend to check. In any case if the inverter is burnt which it seems to be it will be disappointing, especially if I need to buy a new one.

[aquaholic3]

My WFCO stopped working in my Coachmen after only 2 summers, I replaced it with the Boondocker and was very pleased. I pulled the WFCO from my new Flagstaff almost immediately after I bought it. Put the Boondocker in that I had removed and kept from the Coachmen. I put the bad one back in the Coachmen and told the dealer about it being bad when I traded it. He said very common issue and he had no problem and had a replacement available.

[aullie70]

Interesting