Electrical - smoked up the cabin
I need a starting point. A couple weeks ago we were camping - battery went low so hooked up the generator. Ran for some time then I got a wife of hot wires. Turned off the generator - finished our ...
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Pardon my continuing this saga - but I'd just like some more input after a day of troubleshooting.
I ended up re-testing the fuses on the converter using a continuity test - they're both bad. Relaced them and the controller works. ergg
I constructed a matrix to test this thing logically - with and without the controller starting with DC then pairing in AC as each progressive test passed. I finally ended with all systems in place (AC-DC converter + AC shore power + DC batt power), everything is working as expected.
EXCEPT! I didn't yet hook up my solar panel feed to the battery yet. I tested the voltage coming from the panels (after the solar controller) - 18V ?
Q1: Is 18v what I should be expecting from a solar controller? Seems high?
But the solar is the only thing I haven't hooked back up yet - I just don't want to fry anything (more?).
Onto frying things:
Q2: If when I put in the battery backwards, what is the most probable thing that smoked so badly?
If the fuses blew at the DC-AC converter, it seemed that was protected (and it works).
If the solar charger was hooked up backwards to the battery too - I'd think the solar controller would fry (but it seemingly operational, lights on, etc - just 18v output which could have been happening before).
The only other thing I can think of is the Control Center - but it too, seems to be working.
I really want to find out what was smoking- smoke means hot and something somewhere getting converted to heat/soot - meaning less viable. I haven't found burnt wires or boards (tho getting into the components isnt' easy or possible).
Any ideas for some better starting points? Ugh.
Please don't hate on me for my derp'iness, it's been a long day and as a stream ecologist, I have a lot of work to get done out there.
I ended up re-testing the fuses on the converter using a continuity test - they're both bad. Relaced them and the controller works. ergg
I constructed a matrix to test this thing logically - with and without the controller starting with DC then pairing in AC as each progressive test passed. I finally ended with all systems in place (AC-DC converter + AC shore power + DC batt power), everything is working as expected.
EXCEPT! I didn't yet hook up my solar panel feed to the battery yet. I tested the voltage coming from the panels (after the solar controller) - 18V ?
Q1: Is 18v what I should be expecting from a solar controller? Seems high?
But the solar is the only thing I haven't hooked back up yet - I just don't want to fry anything (more?).
Onto frying things:
Q2: If when I put in the battery backwards, what is the most probable thing that smoked so badly?
If the fuses blew at the DC-AC converter, it seemed that was protected (and it works).
If the solar charger was hooked up backwards to the battery too - I'd think the solar controller would fry (but it seemingly operational, lights on, etc - just 18v output which could have been happening before).
The only other thing I can think of is the Control Center - but it too, seems to be working.
I really want to find out what was smoking- smoke means hot and something somewhere getting converted to heat/soot - meaning less viable. I haven't found burnt wires or boards (tho getting into the components isnt' easy or possible).
Any ideas for some better starting points? Ugh.
Please don't hate on me for my derp'iness, it's been a long day and as a stream ecologist, I have a lot of work to get done out there.
