So here is the skinny;Travel trailer is hooked up to shore power. Battery disconnected. The furnace and television were on one day when I noticed an electrical smell from the panel. Noticed it’s from the 12v fuse board. The negative lead is warm to the touch, soldering points for negative are blackened. Negative screw terminal has some wiggle to it. I’ve noticed that the lights have been intermittently dim with a light flicker from time to time. This is accompanied by a light “whine” from the 12v fuse board. Once I turn on an additional switch, the trouble goes away. My furnace fan has given me trouble in the past year. It’s a little louder and blows with less force. Where should I start?

Your converter is frying itself with no battery hooked up

Burnt areas probably have a loose connection. Replace the burned components and tighten/inspect the rest.Otherwise what is the make and model of the panel? Might be best to replace the entire unit.

newman fulltimer wrote:Your converter is frying itself with no battery hooked upI agree it should have a battery hooked up. It also sounds as if you are describing a loose solder connection on your terminal. And that will cause heat and a poor connection. If true, you need to get an electrical tech to repair it before it gets worse or starts a fire.

I thought the battery might play a part. I disconnected it upon advice that it would drain the electro lights while hooked up to shore. I picked up an exact replacement 12v fuse panel for my Paralax 7300 series electrical panel today. Reconnecting battery now. Come to think of it, I had the issue of lights flickering(not dimming) and a lie whine/buzz prior to taking the battery off.

Ok I’ll go ahead and install the new 12v fuse panel that has the burnt solder tonight and get the battery back on.

Burning smell from electrical panel | Good Sam Community

MitchF150
Explorer III
Apr 24, 2019
I've got a 2003 Prowler with the OEM converter that can run just fine without a battery connected. Been doing it while parked on the side of my house for what... 16 years now.

Sure, I put the battery in when on the road. But at home, the battery comes out because it seems to grow legs and walk away if I leave it in..

As I understand it, even with a battery connected and connected to shore power, it's the converter that is still providing the 12v power to the trailer and not the battery.. The battery is just being charged from the converter, not providing the 12v power. Sure, once you disconnect the shore power, the battery is now your 12v power...

Anyway, like was already said, the loose ground connections are probably not good, so start there. But, if you already have burnt connections then replace those and go from there.

Good luck!

Mitch
SconesyCider
Explorer
Apr 24, 2019
Here’s an update
Just finished putting in the new 12v fuse panel. I noticed that the neutral coming from the converter was burnt, ridged and discolored at the terminal on the panel. I stripped it back and torqued to the new panel. I took the converter out of the panel and there was no burning closer toward the converter. Torqued it all to 14 and buttoned it back up. The battery is back on and everything is running normal so far. No smell or warm wires at the moment.
One thing to note is that the voltage was jumping from 11 to 12 to 13 and back down while the furnace, refrigerator and lights were working. After the renwiring everything is a solid 13 with things running or not. The battery test at 12v.
Almot
Explorer III
Apr 24, 2019
SconesyCider wrote:
I disconnected it upon advice that it would drain the electro lights while hooked up to shore.

? There is usually nothing contained in the lights that could be drained.
wa8yxm
Explorer III
Apr 24, 2019
time2roll wrote:
Burnt areas probably have a loose connection. Replace the burned components and tighten/inspect the rest.

Otherwise what is the make and model of the panel? Might be best to replace the entire unit.

Bingo. You may need do nothing but re-solder but without seeing the board I can not be sure..

I just bought a new soldering toy (Benz-o-Matic) eats butane like a torce -a-fire but man does it get 'er done.

Forum Discussion

Burning smell from electrical panel

About Technical Issues

Related Content

Burning Smell

Burning smell from new trailer furnace

Burning Smell and super hot lights

Burning man?

burned plug