Forum Discussion

ivbinconned's avatar
ivbinconned
Explorer II
Jul 14, 2018

Cruiser/ converter issue??

Will the converter charge the battery when there is just one single battery installed? There is two boxes for two batteries.
I put in one but it has run down to 8.5 volts and all 110 volt plugs work.
Would seem converter is not working.

Two year old trailer!!

9 Replies

  • Almot's avatar
    Almot
    Explorer III
    Majority of trailers and 5-ers are plagued with poor quality parts, appliances and unskilled assembling labor. I can make a long list of deficiencies in my trailer that were either present from the beginning, or appeared after ~50-60 days of total use.

    Could be some other reason, not the converter itself. Don't forget to switch the multimeter from AC to DC when checking input/output :)
  • Thank you. Leaving home in an hour. Will do this checking on Wednesday.
  • Almot's avatar
    Almot
    Explorer III
    Yes, converter feeds off a regular 110V. From the male socket on the outside wall of your rig to input terminals on the converter. Check voltage on input terminals of converter when plugged in, then - on the output terminals of converter. You need to access input and output terminals of converter.

    Before anything else, check voltage on battery cables - when plugged in, with batteries disconnected.
  • Thank you Roy taking the time to write. I have done most of that for the exception of noticing any "inline" breakers or fuses. I see none of those.
    The converter is behind small wood panel that I took off right be side the electrical panel. Hard to see in there.
    Is the converter plugged into a regular 110 plug in?? If so it is some where out of site. And if so I was thinking perhaps it's unplugged. I may have to pull electrical panel out in order to see everything.

    I farm and ranch and repair trailers for a living so I know how to connect batteries. Battery went in fully charged and all led lites in living room and kitchen were working.
  • RoyB's avatar
    RoyB
    Explorer II
    The convert/charger should be putting out 13.6VDC or what other smart mode it may be in when connected to shore power or running off of generator and you should be able to see this DC Voltage at the battery terminals...

    If you just installed the battery this raises a ref flag as you may have the battery leads reversed... The best to tell is look on the battery case and find the symbol '-' or the word 'NEG' and make sure this is the terminal being connected to FRAME GROUND close to the battery. It could be a WHITE wire which is common for RV Trailers...

    Using a multimeter at the battery terminals you should read 12.6-7VDC if the battery is fully charged. The when you apply shore power or hook up to the generator this battery DC Voltage should jump up to 13.6VDC or what ever DC VOltage the converter/charger is doing at the the time.

    If you indeed had it connected in REVESE ORDER you may have an IN-LINE Fuse blown or in-line circuit breaker tripped close to the battery. There is also two fuses near the converter/charger unit that is called the REVERSE POLARITY fuses that also may be blown...

    Also note that the trailer ceiling lamps should be working ON/OFF if all of the connections/fuses are good from the Power Distribution Panel where the converter/charger is usually located when NOT on Shore Power or generator. Those lights work from 12VDC source... If any of the fuses have been blown feeding the battery terminal than this will not work.

    Most likely you may have sparked the battery terminals or connected the battery cables to the wrong position when you hooked it up. I have my battery terminals marked with RED FINGERNAIL polish to identify POSITIVE cables... ALot of folks take a picture of the connections with their cellphone and can easily go to the picture when working around the cables.

    NO HARM should have been done to anything if this has happened... That is why the in-line fuses are there for protection... In the RV WORLD the wiring colors are BLACK for positive and WHITE for frame ground. In the Automotive world the battery leads are RED for positive and BLACK for frame ground so you can see how easy this gets switched around.

    with your battery DC Voltage at that very low DC OUTPUT is really bad for the battery cores inside and hopefully you can get the DC VOLTAGE up to something over 12.0VDC to keep internal damage from happening inside the battery. It may already be damaged and will have to be replaced with a new one... If i fin one this low is telling me I may have a bad cell inside the battery and usually try to bring the battery back to life using an outside battery charger.

    Roy Ken
  • You either have a failed converter or an open connection to the battery.
    Check the voltage output on the converter first.
  • Check to see if there is voltage to the battery connection. The converter doesn't care how many batteries there are.

    Check the reverse polarity fuses on the converter.

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