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Old 12-15-2011, 11:36 PM   #1
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Burning electrical smell

I searched the archives and couldn't find an answer so here goes. I bought a 2007 Wildcat two weeks ago and began full time living in it 5 days ago. A few days ago, I began noticing a faint burning electrical odor coming from the area of the breaker box/fuse box/converter. I noticed that the fan seemed to be running a lot and the cover felt warm. I opened the cover and everything looked fine... No loose wires, no hot wires, no burnt looking parts, etc. so I just figured I was running too much 12V stuff at the same time. Well the rv repair guy was here today to work on the furnace and he took a look at it because the smell was still present. He checked all the connections with his meter and said all readings were normal so we checked the battery. It was low on fluid and appeared to be the original battery so he said replacing that should take care of it. I replaced it at noon an went back to work but when I got home at 6, the smell was stronger than it's been. No breakers are tripping and no fuses are blowing which I would assume would happen before stuff starts catching on fire. I haven't removed the lower part of the cover over the converter where the fan is yet to look at it. Any ideas? Sorry for the long post.
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Old 12-16-2011, 06:31 AM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bamdvm View Post
It was low on fluid and appeared to be the original battery so he said replacing that should take care of it.

I replaced it at noon an went back to work but when I got home at 6, the smell was stronger than it's been.

I haven't removed the lower part of the cover over the converter where the fan is yet to look at it.
possibly battery problem ??
I find it interesting that the repair guy said that
I can't see where that would have
anything to do with your problem

checking the converter is a good idea
have your voltmeter out and handy

Mountainman
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Old 12-16-2011, 08:01 AM   #3
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I would either buy one of those Infrared Digital Thermometer gun with laser pointer ... or try to rent a Thermal Imager For Buildings,-4 To 212 F If you are smelling something it might be a lose connection and just be the inside
of the insulation is heating up were you can not see it yet. I would check every single
electrical device and connection just for piece of mind. I am a master electrician in a
maintenance position and have used both of the above tools successfully for years
when an electrical burning smell is reported.
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Old 12-16-2011, 09:43 PM   #4
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I pulled the cover off the converter this morning and the board was burned up around the coils. The new battery was dead too. Apparently the converter was getting too hot trying to keep the bad battery charged and run the 12 volt stuff in the camper and it finally burned out. I charged the new battery back up and replaced the converter and hooked everything back up. So far, so good. I turned on a bunch of stuff in the camper to put a pretty good load on the battery and converter and so far, no excessive heat or smell. Hopefully, problem solved.

One thing I noticed was that all outlets are on one 15 amp breaker and it is double lugged to also power the converter. This seems to be a lot for one breaker. Is this normal?

Another question: Can I put an in-line DC fuse on the hot wire coming off the battery to protect the converter. If the converter is pulling too hard, it will blow this fuse before heating up? What amperage? The converter puts out 55 amps. Thanks for everyone's help.
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