Hello from St John's, Arizona

[Arizonalily]

Hi...new to this site. I am in the White Mountains of northern Arizona. Beautiful country, cold and snowy right now. I am a full time, with 5 small dogs and a 2005 Forest River Cardinal, new to managing this trailer by myself.. My converter or the fuse has gone bad, no working refrigerator or furnace. Can someone out there give me some advice? Thanks so much, looking forward to getting to know you folks.

[A32Deuce]

Hello from South Jersey.

[Reverse_snowbird]

Originally Posted by Arizonalily

, no working refrigerator or furnace. Can someone out there give me some advice? Thanks so much, looking forward to getting to know you folks.

Welcome....Could you give a little more information, please?

Are you plugged into an electric connection? Is it only the refrigerator and furnace that doesn't work? Have you checked the circuit breakers?

[A32Deuce]

What is the voltage reading on the battery? Do you have a multi meter and know how to use it? Many variables to cause them not to work. Reefer control works from 12 volts along with the heater, water heater control , lights , thermostat and water pump. The more we know the more we can help you.

[spicercars]

Welcome from northern MN.

[TheWolfPaq82]

Five days and no response back from OP. Did he get it figured out ?

[Arizonalily]

Hi and sorry for the delay in responding. Two things ...my converter isn't working. Unfortunately the converter fuse is fine, it's the converter itself. Second : the battery is too small and there is only one. I guess I'll be putting out a fair bit of cash. It was suggested to me that I buy a 'group 27' battery. Does that sound right?
Thanks so much!!!

[A32Deuce]

That's what Mine came with, but when I changed batterys, I went with 2 group 31 AGM batterys,

[Arizonalily]

Is group 31 battery x 2 working well for you? Do you have them on a charger or just relying on the converter? I'll have to buy one battery and the following month get the second one and then spring for a converter. Can I make that work?
Thank you so much for your help!!!!

[grumpyer]

First I would look for a mobile tech if you are away from a dealer repair shop. How do you know converter is bad? Second go with 2 6 volt batteries in parallel as you can run them down more than 12 volt. Three, stay warm

[Arizonalily]

Thank you....especially about the stay warm part!!! This weekend is forecast for 7 degrees and Sunday 9 degrees!
I will definitely look into the 2.6 batteries. I tell you this is all Greek to me.

[CurtPutnam]

Welcome from SoCal!

[camper70]

Welcome to the forum from Western Maryland

[CHICKDOE]

first, welcome.
second, you're right, it's going to be chilly where you are!

your information is a bit sketchy. you never answered how you are hooked up. are you plugged into a shore power source. if you are changing your batteries becomes a second priority. all things should work from the shore power connection and converter, assuming it is working.

if your converter is not working i'd expect your battery to be dead after this amount of time and nothing powered by 12 volts would be working. does any 12 volt device work? lights, ceiling vent fans, slideouts? if they do your converter may not be bad. there may be a set of idiot lights on your control panel that shows battery status. what does it say?

[Arizonalily]

First...I see you are in Payson!!! My home town! ����
Second...my battery is still working but only because it's on the charger 24/7. My furnace works but drains the battery within a few minutes, same with the refrigerator. Yes, I'm on shore power. I think my only solution is to replace the converter and get a more powerful battery. Do you think this would solve the issue?

[CHICKDOE]

Are you charging the battery with the built in converter or do you have a separate auto style charger connected to it?

If you are on shore power almost any battery would work as the converter should power the 12 volt devices. If you are going to be on shore power I wouldn’t spend money on batteries until I knew the converter was working properly.

Why do you say the converter is not working?

[Arizonalily]

Trying to run the furnace or refrigerator drains the battery within 10-15 minutes. I had a RV tech look at the converter, fuse is fine but the converter isn't running.
Yes, I am on shore power and you are the second person to say as long as I'm plugged in getting batteries isn't urgent. Replacing the converter will get me back on track.
The battery I do have is only about 4 months old.
Thanks so much!!!!

[CHICKDOE]

You’re not going to make it. I’ll assume the RV tech actually took some voltage readings from the converter before he said it is not running. Does it have 110 vac coming into it?

Now if it is not producing 12 volt dc power it will not be able to run anything. The battery will supply some 12 volt power until it dies. With the converter not running there is nothing to recharge the battery.

[valleyduo]

Hello and welcome from western PA!

First priority is to get your converter working or replaced. A new battery with a dead converter will just put you right back where you are now. The converter is what provides your 12volt power when plugged in. Assuming the tech checked for a blown fuse in the main panel as well? How long has this problem been going on? Since a move of any kind, or just out of the blue?