Power converter gone bad?

Question

This is my first experience at camping as awhile back we purchased a 2002 Aero Hybrid camper. There are times we desire to camp without power hookups so I purchased a 2400 watt generator. In my backyard, I plugged the camper into the generator just to make sure everything worked, which it did until I tried the A/C. Didn't really think the a/c would work with the generator but I didn't think there would be any harm in trying. Anyway, when I plugged it in everything shut down and we thought that we smelled a burning sensation. After disconnecting the generator and plugging RV back into power, everything seemed to work.

This past weekend we were camping with full hookups so we did not use the generator. Our first evening all the lights went out and the furnace blower quit working. My understanding is that all of those things work off DC? The AC items, electrical outlets etc, continued to work.

A friendly camping neighbor took a look and thought that our power converter is bad. Is that what sounds like the issue here? All of the fuses are fine. He also thought one of our buses?(a black box with a switch) is also bad. Does it sound like I should go ahead and replace the power converter and that one bus?

The power converter is a Centurion 3000, Model CS4500. From a little research online it appears that they are out of business or no longer manufacture those converters. Any recommended alternatives?

Any help would really be appreciated as I would prefer to not have to take the camper into a service center.

tucsonjim · Answer

These are classic symptoms of a dead converter. The 120V AC side supplies the power to the converter and all the appliances that run on 120. The converter provides the 12V DC power. You are correct in that the lights and blower motor are 12V. Since the converter was not putting out any power, the battery eventually degraded enough that the lights dimmed and the blower quit.

I've had this happen, and replaced the converter twice in my unit with the exact same failure mode. Please note, that there are typically 1-2 fuses on the side of the converter itself which are there to protect you if you happen to accidently connect the battery cables to the wrong polarity. To trouble shoot them, disconnect your rig from shore power, disconnect the negative battery cable and pull out the converter. You can then access the fuses to make sure they are okay.

One final step I take to trouble shoot my converter is once it's out of the cabinet, CAREFULLY reconnect the AC shore power and measure the DC terminals to verify there is no 12V current. If there is still 12V, then the problem is most likely not the converter.

royb · Answer

I'm curious of your word BUSS. I think you are referring to a black circuit breaker in the AC side of the power panel. This may be the circuit breaker feeding your converter/charger unit. If it is bad then you may not be getting 120VAC going to the converter which would also result in NOT getting DC voltage to your circuits.

However both the the converter and the working battery both feed the same point on the 12VDC distribution panel. If the converter is bad the 12VDC then can be feed from the battery. I am guessing your battery may be run down as well and may also have to be replaced. Once you run a battery down below 50% charge and not recharge back up in a timely manner then it may also be bad and need replaced...

First you need to determine if you are feeding 120VAC to your converter/charger unit. Once you are feeding 120VAC to converter then maybe the resulting DC coming from the converter will solve your other problems.

Hopefully the battery will recharge as well but chances are it may not come to back to life.

This is where a multimeter is a very helpful item to have around the RV TRAILERS and know how to use them.

Here is a simplified wiring configuration for the 30A RV Trailers that might give some clues on what may be missing.

Roy Ken

skipnchar · Answer

The standard test for the converter is to plug the RV into 120 volt outlet, Disconnect the negative battery lead from the battery, then measure voltage across the positive and negative leads AT the converter. No voltage means bad converter. Should get something like 13.5 volts. If you run this test with the battery connected to the RV then you may well read the battery, NOT the converter.

It would be my guess that your neighbor has correctly diagnosed your problem. For what it's worth, it's not likely that the issue was caused by trying the AC on the generator. Usually it will simply fail to power it and sometimes trip a breaker but it's not common for it to do any damage to the converter.

Good luck / Skip

old-biscuit · Answer

Converter....110V AC power in 13.6V DC output.
Converter bad....no DC output and no recharging of batteries. Batteries run down then no DC power.

You can disconnect battery cables at converter then with AC power in check DC power out.....should be 13.6V. If it isn't putting out that kind of DC voltage the converter is bad.

BestConverter.com. Get in touch with them. They will answer any/all questions...recommend replacement and have good pricing plus great customer service.

mexicowanderer · Answer

Forgive me but when I read "Burning Sensation" that stopped me in my tracks. The source of the "burning sensation (odor?)" has to be identified and dealt with. Things do not emit smoke and remained undamaged. Sniff the converter. If the converter does not smell funny, try the circuit breaker panel.

I try and remember the most golden of electrical rules...

Wire and appliances do not have to trip a breaker before they can start a general fire in the woodwork. I have seen many fires start in properly protected 15-amp circuits.

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