My RV has a Magnetek 6345 converter installed. I've noticed that when connected to shore power, with the battery disconnect relay in the off or disconnected state, the converter starts supplying 15V to 16.5V on the 12V side, making some appliances in-operable. If I turn the battery disconnect to on, the voltage drops to a normal level and everything works normally. This only happens when connected to shore power.One side note that might be an issue....When I installed a new dash stereo, I wired it to the house battery and intend to put in a switch between house and vehicle battery. Currently it is just wired to the house battery. However, there is a wire that connects to the vehicle batteries positive side to retain the channel and setting memory. I don't know if there is any issue with having the memory lead connected to the vehicle battery, while the main power is connected to the house battery, and they are sharing a common ground. I hadn't thought of this when changing the main power from the vehicle to house battery. I thought I would add this just in case it is an issue or creating some sort of weird loop.Any ideas? Any tests I can run to isolate the high voltage? Is this just a faulty converter?

I assume the high voltage is on the filtered outputs- the ones on the right hand side of the fuse panel. Two things- that really needs the battery connected, it isn't designed to work without it, that said, there is an adjustment pot for charging voltage, though that high sounds like a part may have failed.

I,d be checking my house batteries ,if there holding 16.5 they will boil the water out of them.

Yes, the source I measured was a 15AMP circuit supplying power to the RV and dash Stereo.If I adjust the pot, will it lower the voltage when the battery is connected, as well as when it is not? And if no battery is connected, will it harm the converter?Just trying to figure out my options, especially since I know there will be many times the shore power will be connected and someone will forget to turn the battery disconnect switch on :)

midnightsadie wrote:I,d be checking my house batteries ,if there holding 16.5 they will boil the water out of them.The high voltage is when the battery is disconnected. The 16.5V is from the converter when running off shore power. When supplied from the battery, the voltage is in the normal 12V-13V range.

First there is something you need to know, then there is something you need to do.I often talk about the good, the bad and the Ugly when it comes to Converters.. The Best I have found is a family of them, all technically equal, cosmetically different,, That is the Progressive Dynaimcs Wizard controlled units like the 9200 or 4600 line.. Pay attention to tghe 4600 line2: The worst: Magnetek 6300 line.. Yup, yoursThe solution.. Gut the thing (rake the electrronics out from behind the fuse/breaker panel) and replace with a 4645 or (well as close to the last 2 digits as possible) from Best Convewrters or another store.Easy drop in replacement, you have to add one jumper wire, and it works, you go from teh bottom of the converter pile to the top in one easy move.

Converter putting out 16.5V, some appliances don't work.

38 Replies

Reflex439
Explorer
May 17, 2016
2oldman wrote:
If by chance an inverter is in your future, an IC (inverter-charger) comes with a darn good charger. Then you just kill your converter.

I really don't have a use for an inverter over say 150-300W for small stuff. Most inverter/chargers are well above that, and would be very inefficient for such as small load. I purchased everything I could so its 12V native. The Microwave and air conditioner are 120V but I'd never run them off my batteries either. Refrig off LP when not on shore power.
2oldman
Explorer II
May 12, 2016
If by chance an inverter is in your future, an IC (inverter-charger) comes with a darn good charger. Then you just kill your converter.
Reflex439
Explorer
May 11, 2016
Pretty much decided to upgrade the converter and that solves all my issues. Seems like a very easy install, and they are not expensive, so I'll probably just go ahead and order one and not wait.

NinerBikes wrote:
I would let my wife take my rig out. But that is it.

I would not let the kids take the rig out. But that is just me. In my life, I have found that anything lent out rarely comes back in the condition it was before being lent out, so I've eliminated that generosity in my life, from past lessons learned. YMMV.

My kids are very responsible and nearly always return things in the same condition or better. I love lending my car out to the daughter, since she has it washed and the interior cleaned, and the gas tank as full or better.

My only task would be making sure they know how everything works, and all the little details, including "dont use the battery disconnect switch no matter what the manual says" :)
Chris_Bryant
Explorer II
May 11, 2016
MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Chris, I found the Magnetek ferroresonant converters to react to increased capacitance by increasing set voltage. I smarted around with the 7-series by switching caps in and out. But a 5K electrolytic raise voltage by 0.40 volt for example.

Yeah- I'm not certain how this linear charging circuit reacts to the capacitance of the battery- there are no instructions on adjusting open circuit voltage, just with a fully charged battery.

FWIW, I have some miscellaneous converter docs at http://bryantrv.com/docs2/docs/parallax/, including schematics for the 6300 (I always make my document and image directories browsable, as I don't have everything cataloged)
NinerBikes
Explorer
May 11, 2016
I would let my wife take my rig out. But that is it.

I would not let the kids take the rig out. But that is just me. In my life, I have found that anything lent out rarely comes back in the condition it was before being lent out, so I've eliminated that generosity in my life, from past lessons learned. YMMV.
MEXICOWANDERER
Explorer
May 11, 2016
Chris, I found the Magnetek ferroresonant converters to react to increased capacitance by increasing set voltage. I smarted around with the 7-series by switching caps in and out. But a 5K electrolytic raise voltage by 0.40 volt for example.
CharlesinGA
Explorer
May 11, 2016
Call or email www.bestconverter.com and ask their advise. They answer the phone at any time, it is family run by RV people and they know their products. They will not steer you wrong and while a little more expensive than other sources, it is good to be able to talk to a knowledgeable person and get good information from them. I replaced the Parallax in my View with a PD upgrade kit and it works fine, and I will not be worrying about fires or boiled batteries.

Also just installed a Progressive Industries (different company) Electrical Management System hardwired module to protect from lo/hi volts, off freqs, miswired shore power receptacles, surges, etc. on my shore power input.

Charles
Chris_Bryant
Explorer II
May 11, 2016
By far the best solution is to replace the converter section with the PD4045 replacement. In the mean time, you might be able to "tame" the output by adding the largest capacitor you can find- the actually make a "battery eliminator", which is actually a 1 farad 35 volt capacitor.

Some of that 16 volts you see may be due to the meter you are using- there is no filtering on the output, so a lot of that is AC ripple. Some meters will rectify that voltage to DC.
Reflex439
Explorer
May 11, 2016
2oldman wrote:
IOW, do you drive with the refer on?

Usually travel with the refrig off, and mostly use LP or A/C. I dont think I ever used DC on the refrig long enough to tell if it even works. I'll test that next week.
joebedford
Nomad III
May 10, 2016
My RV has a battery disconnect switch apparently. Never use it.