Converter Whistling??

[megsfinlay]

Anyone else ever experienced this? When we turn on a 12 volt light the converter emits a high pitched whistle (dog has a complete meltdown that's how loud it is...)

Any ideas? It is a replacement WFCO, brand new, replaced an ancient Elixir.

Our thoughts: brand new fan, will eventually go away??

[megsfinlay]

Add: everything checks out, fully functioning.

[donanddona]

I told the doctor that it hurt to lift my arm, he said don't lift it!!!! No seriously, is it the only light? What type of light? Can you exchange it with another bulb? switch it with an LED?

[megsfinlay]

We tried all the 12v lights and it did with all. Did not do it when the heater fan kicked on, though.

Note - my hubs just said it's not doing it now.. Am I the only one that dislikes 'it just freaking stopped?' worse than just knowing it was a bad part???

[vinmaker]

Could it be a fan making the noise?

[Flybob]

This is normal ( but can be annoying). The convertor uses a switching regulator rather than a large heavy transformer to reduce the 110VAC to 12VDC. The regulator switches on and off at varying frequency to keep the voltage constant as the load changes. When there is very little load on the convertor the frequency is as low as it can go and it skips a pulse. This causes the frequency to get into the audible range. Higher load devices such as furnace etc, will not cause this. Usually caused by low wattage Incandescent bulbs or LED lighting. If it gets annoying, try turning on more lights, It will vary from convertor to convertor, If it is really bad the dealer may swap it out, but no guarantee it will be better.

[megsfinlay]

That makes perfect sense Flybob. My husband actually wondered if that is what is happening when he noticed it had stopped making the noise rather suddenly. And when turning on more 'items' it got noticeably quieter.

Thanks for the reply! We really feel better now.