Converter going bad?

13.4 v at the battery indicates the wires from converter to battery are either too small, or ground is bad. You should see the 13.8 v at battery to properly charge. This reason for battery not getting recharged while on shore -power.

At 13.4 v it could take days to charge without using trailer.

This will vary depending on which converter he has. Here's one example
http://www.progressivedyn.com/troubleshooting_pwr_con.html

dbn1164 wrote:
To clarify my original post I have a trail cruiser c191 trailer, with brand new battery. I left for 4 day camping trip battery monitor indicated fully charged battery. I camped for 4 days hooked up to electric the whole time. I packed up to go home checked the battery monitor and it indicated that the battery was in the yellow 11 volts, after 4 days of camping battery should have not been discharged.

I just checked the converter battery cables disconnected electric plugged in nothing turned on got a reading of 12.5v at converter and battery cables. Turned on the bathroom fan and 3 lights registered 13.8v at converter 13.4 at cables. I connected the battery and got the same reading's +-.3 volts. I guess the converter is working like its supposed to I'm going to leave it plugged in and check again tomorrow. Thanks for the help

13.4 v at the battery indicates the wires from converter to battery are either too small, or ground is bad. You should see the 13.8 v at battery to properly charge. This reason for battery not getting recharged while on shore -power.

At 13.4 v it could take days to charge without using trailer.

To clarify my original post I have a trail cruiser c191 trailer, with brand new battery. I left for 4 day camping trip battery monitor indicated fully charged battery. I camped for 4 days hooked up to electric the whole time. I packed up to go home checked the battery monitor and it indicated that the battery was in the yellow 11 volts, after 4 days of camping battery should have not been discharged.

I just checked the converter battery cables disconnected electric plugged in nothing turned on got a reading of 12.5v at converter and battery cables. Turned on the bathroom fan and 3 lights registered 13.8v at converter 13.4 at cables. I connected the battery and got the same reading's +-.3 volts. I guess the converter is working like its supposed to I'm going to leave it plugged in and check again tomorrow. Thanks for the help

dbn1164 wrote:
how do you check this?

Multimeter. Standard equipment for any RVer.

You gave us no useful information at all!

Do you have a motor-home, or towing some type of trailer?

How old is the RV, and battery(s)?

Does the battery have a disconnect switch? If not turned "on" the battery could not be charged, but most converter/chargers would supply 12 volt power while plugged in.

It does not sound like you bothered to use a multi-meter to check actual voltage at the battery-terminal (while RV was unplugged) to see what it's voltage was to begin with (should have been 12.6+ volts).

It could be an old or bad battery, loose ground, disconnect switch, or converter/charger, depending on further testing.

By the way; if the battery is below 11 volts a good converter/charger may not start charging the battery. You will need to use a portable charger set to around 2 amps to bring the battery voltage up to around 11.5 + volts before the converter/charger would start to work.

If you have only a 7-pin connector charging would only amount to around 10 amps charging for each hour driving. Not nearly enough time to charge a dead battery.

Having just gone through something like this. Get your volt meter check the voltage out of the converter, then check the voltage where the converter line comes into the electric pannel. Check the voltage line going out of the pannel. Once done with that disconnet the battery cables and check the voltage there. All of the readings should be about the same. My factory spec. told me 13.8 max with 13.5 min. If all readings are good then your battery needs to be replaced. Or maybe something as simple as the disconnet switch was not engaged all the way.

dbn1164 wrote:
I recently got back from a 4 day camping trip and was hooked up to shore power during the trip and when I got home the battery indicator was reading at yellow 11 volts. I am not sure my converter is charging my battery and I would like to check to see if my converter (parallex 7355) is charging the battery while hooked up to shore power. So my question is how do you check this?

Well lets try to decyfer your confusing post.
Apparently while you were camping all was ok, battery charging and all.
When you got home, battery was dead. That says the battery went dead on the way home.
If that is the case, it has nothing to do w/ your converter.
Did you plug it in when you got home ? And was it charging then ? If so, then your converter is fine. Your problem is in the 12 volt charging circuit tween your tow vehicle and your RV.

Converter can slowly fail........

120V AC in ----13.2V DC out (minimum DC output with battery disconnected)

Less than 13.2 DC out and converter is bad.


Course.converter could be not charging battery because:
Battery disconnect switch is OFF
Battery in-line fuse/circuit breaker on positive cable to converter is OPEN/tripped
Converter 'reverse polarity' fuses are blown (located on converter---large fuses 30A/40A)
Battery is bad/shorted cell
Battery negative cable is not connected to frame...tight/clean connection

Converters work,or they do not. They do not fail a bit at a time.
Check input power, output fuses and voltage.
A $10 multimeter should be a must have tool in every RVers toolbox.

These instructions are unit specific, but should be similar for other units http://www.progressivedyn.com/troubleshooting_pwr_con.html