12DCV Fluctuations

[mlafleur]

Hi all,
A weeks ago I replaced a couple of LED lights in the kitchen area. Very bright white lights, a good change from the other LED yellowish lights that were there. Lo and behold, three days later, one of them went out. I opened up the reflector and surprise: it was blown to smithereens. Like 100 pieces of electronics. I took it back to the store (Camping World) and they refunded both LEDs, I figured it was a bad batch.

This weekend, I purchased some more and replaced 6 of them. Well, three of them blew this morning in the span of 5 minutes. Again broken into 100's of pieces.
For a little while I have suspected something is wrong with the 12V system: fans (kitchen, furnace, etc) along with the incendescent lights in the bath room fluctuate periodically, but not on a regular cycle. Today, after the LED incident, I took measurements on the DC supply. When the fans run faster, voltage reaches up to 17V, and "normal" speed shows voltage of 13.5V. The converter is from WFCO, model WF-8855.

From the WFCO web site I took a look at the trouble shooting flowchart, (https://wfcoelectronics.com/trouble-shooting-charts/) and seemingly the only serviceable parts are polarity fuses. Are converters known to go bad? It doesn't look too hard to replace, and Amazon has the exact same one for $145. Should I cut the chase and replace it right away?
Thanks,
Maurice

[007matman]

I think I would..

It's not.difficult to.do.. I did mine last year after it stopped working altogether.

[wahoonc]

Definitely sounds like a converter issue. On the WFCO website they have a trouble shooting guides. I would replace it with a more robust Progressive Dynamics unit from Best Converter. Contact the owner Randy and he will tell you what the best one is for your needs.

Aaron

[babock]

Dump the WFCO and buy a Progressive Dynamics. The WFCO converters are junk. One of the first things I replaced. Sold mine on eBay for around $80.

[RCW]

My guess would be a converter. But dont overlook the battery. Been in the automotive repair field for 40 yrs and you would be surprised some of the crazy problems I have seen caused by batteries.

[TitanMike]

Time to put in a plug for a good battery monitor. My Victron BMV 702 (with USB Dongle making it a BMV 712) will record peak/min voltages in it's history.

I can open the app on my Smartphone and read maximum voltage since the last time I cleared the history. One of it's nice features besides monitoring battery state of charge and charging parameters (voltage/current).

[pgandw]

17V is excessive and will cause issues with most vehicle electronics. Most 12V electronics for vehicles - including LED driver circuits in RVs - can't take more than about 15V. Which is why the max output of the converter is limited (factory spec) to 14.4V.

Fred W
2019 Flagstaff T21TBHW A-frame
2008 Hyundai Entourage minivan
camping Colorado and adjacent states one weekend at a time

[babock]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

Time to put in a plug for a good battery monitor. My Victron BMV 702 (with USB Dongle making it a BMV 712) will record peak/min voltages in it's history.

The BMV 712 replaced the 702. The 712 has a fraction of the power draw that the 702 has.
https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/2...tional-videos/

[mlafleur]

Thanks everyone,


I just ordered a Boondocker 1260CL from Best Converter. It should arrive this Thursday. Randy told me it's plug and play. Will keep you posted.
Regards,
Maurice

[Bama Rambler]

Excellent choice. Thanks for coming back and letting us know what you did.

[IsleDog]

Double check your LED's too, some will not handle anything other than 12v. I had a hard time finding any that could accept a range from 10-28v when changing out my lights in my previous popup.

[mlafleur]

Hi,


It took me 30 minutes to install the new converter. Readings from my multimeter tell me it is stable at 13.6V. I installed a new LED in one of the fixture, and so far it holds good.


Thanks everyo;ne.
Maurice

[TitanMike]

Hopefully your problem is gone.

Don't overlook the role batteries play in voltage fluctuations. A bad (sulfated) battery not only loses capacity, it's ability to act as a "filter" is diminished.

You'll often see it in vehicles where lights go dim when engine is at idle but bright when engine speeds.

You have to take the entire system into consideration when you have issues like you describe. Can even be the actual LED fixtures themselves.

[rsdata]

Can I ask what you paid for the Camping World LED replacements?

I would think it might be the LED replacements, since you did NOT mention that the original LED bulbs had any problems...

As others have pointed out some cheaper LED driver circuitry does not play well with voltages much higher than 14-15 VDC.

My bathroom fan and incandescent light is on the same circuit. If I turn on the fan with the bulb burning it will dim, and when I turn OFF the fan the bulb will actually get brighter for about 2 seconds before going back to normal.