Another Converter Issue?

[5picker]

Originally Posted by JohnVtx

He is reading it on the cable. bad ground not getting to battery.

I'm sorry I don't understand.
If the wires are disconnected from the battery, and he measures battery voltage at 11.6v... how/what is.. "he is reading it on the cable?"

[ShermanD]

I may be asking a stupid question, but did you buy a "deep cycle" battery or a "High Current" battery.

your symptons sure sound like you have a "high current" car battery instead of a "deep cycle" marine/RV battery.

[Bama Rambler]

If your battery is at 10 volts or so, it's going to take a lot longer than a couple of hours to recharge it.

You really need to get a load test on that battery. Even though it's new, it could still be bad.

[Witch Doctor]

Check and clean your ground wire for the trailer, You will not get to 14.6 with a WFCO converter. (bulk Charge) If your reading 13.6 at the battery with the converter on then it's not the converter. To draw your battery down that quick you have either a bad ground or short...

[DirtSquirt]

I took the batteries to Canadian Tire and had them both tested. Apparently both are bad!

Lousy luck? Or is it possible that my trailer is doing something to the batteries to kill them so quickly?

JLeising - As soon as I get a new battery, I will test the amps while charging.

JohnVtx. I will take a pic of the wires coming from the battery. I don't see anywhere where anything could be tripped. Maybe I am missing something.

5picker - I tested at the converter and got 13.56V. I tested on the battery terminals with the battery connected and got 13.56V. I disconnected the battery, immediately checked at the battery terminals again and got 11.96V. 45 minutes later it was at 10.96V and had been disconnected for that whole time.

ShermanD - It's a deep cycle marine/rv battery.

And this "he" is a she!

Thanks for all your help everyone. I will replace the battery (got it at Costco so shouldn't be a problem). I have a hard time believing I got 2 bad batteries in a row though so still think something must be going on. I also wonder why my converter never seems to go into bulk charging mode.

I will keep this post updated.

[themounties]

I had a problem a month ago and it turned out to be 2 fuses on the back of my converter not sure if yours has them or not but I disconnected power from pedestal and took breaker panel off it was hard to get to but got them out and put two new fuses in and everything works fine now, not sure if someone mentioned this yet.

[boondocking]

If the two (reverse polarity) fuses were blown you would not get a reading of 13.56v at the battery terminals, so that means they are OK.

Also, no need to check for anything (circuit breaker) tripped. If it was tripped you would not get a 13.56v reading at the battery terminals.

[Bama Rambler]

If the batteries were bad the charger could have been in bulk mode, but the batteries could have been pulling the voltage down. I wouldn't worry about it until you get the new batteries installed.

Discharging the batteries completely will ruin some batteries pretty quickly.

[Witch Doctor]

AS I stated earlier a WFCO will not ever go into bulk charge, and will not drop down to float at 13.1 even after not reading any loads for 48 hrs, per the manual. It will stay at 13.6 absorption mode. At 13.6 it can take over 24 hrs to bring you to 90% charged. I went through 2 WFCO and then got smart and bought a Progressive direct fit 55amp. But that's not your problem you have a short or bad ground somewhere in your system. You can drain a battery in an hour if its a direct short... You can try with your meter going neg. on the battery with one probe and pos. to the frame and see if you are getting a reading......

[Iwannacamp]

My ole trailer did similar...replaced converter with progressive. The cables would spark badly if you had that big of a short. Enough to scare the average person...assuming the battery is charged when hooking up.



Sent from my iPhone using Forest River Forums

[Witch Doctor]

Or if not hidden in the belly someplace

[boondocking]

Originally Posted by Witch Doctor

AS I stated earlier a WFCO will not ever go into bulk charge, and will not drop down to float at 13.1 even after not reading any loads for 48 hrs, per the manual.

Is that why WFCO have so many class action suits against them because they have been lying to us consumers for years and finally got caught.

WFCO Specs:
Bulk: 14.4 V
Abs: 13.6 V
Float: 13.2 v

[MNtraveler]

Originally Posted by 5picker

I asked him if he checked the voltage at the battery.

He said it was 13.5v at the battery with the converter on and then disconnected the wires and had 11.6v.

How could the converter voltage not be getting back to the battery?

You can get good V readings on the cables but the power is not getting through (or not fully) if the battery wires are not solidly attached. In essence you are testing and jumping current from the wire from the converter to the wire that is attached to the frame/ground. In the future I would suggest testing at the cables AND just touching the battery terminals themselves to see if it's the same reading.

Two bad new batteries at once that are both seems like a crazy anomaly. Not accusing anyone of anything but two incorrectly installed batteries at once is way more likely and could have damaged the batteries too.

Interesting to see how this turns out.



Land of 10,000 Lakes
2016 Forester MBS 2401R
Nights camped 2016: 19; RV to date: 22

[DirtSquirt]

Yes. I made the mistake of installing the battery incorrectly years ago blowing the reverse polarity fuses. Since then, I always label the battery terminals red and white and with reminders as to which one gets hooked up and unhooked first. I agree that it seems impossible to have gotten two bad batteries in a row. I have ordered a new battery and will be installing it tomorrow. I will keep this thread updates for sure.