Power max converter keeps blowing 30 amp fuses

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IMO wrap red tape along that white wire so there will be no confusion in the future that it is positive. Or replace with actual red one.

Not clear which fuse(s) blew. The 40 amp RP fuses on the converter or some other fuse. If some other where is it?

Voltages are ok now, and nothing is smoking, so you should be ok, but first need answer to the fuse question.

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Okay so you all have been so helpful! It seems we have solved the issue by putting all wires onto one positive and one negative and using a jumper to connect the two batteries.. Now it’s putting out 14.6 and just stepped down to 13.6 and not blowing fuses. I do smell a hot electrical smell and will add that like an idiot, tried 40amp fuses that I had on hand and heard a loud popping noise the other day, but somehow seems to be working. I’m keeping a close eye on it right now and will unplug if I step out. Here is a photo update of the wiring. Any thoughts of how I know this unit is still safe to use?

wa8yxm wrote:
You say it blows a 30 amp fuse. Is there a 2nd 30 amp fuse (Check it) if yoru converter is bigger than 30 amps it may have two or 3 fuses in parallel ALL of them need to be repalced at the same time..

Also a shorted cell in one of those batteries can pop-a-fuse rather fast.

The PowerMax 55 amper has two 40 amp reverse polarity fuses. I missed that in the OP where he said a 30 amp fuse was blowing. I can't figure out how he got 26v measured at the converter output terminals with the 30 amp fuse somewhere downstream blown. All very confusing.

Needs to separate the converter from the battery wires and then check the voltage at the empty converter terminals and then on the bare wire ends so we know where the 26v is coming from.

I wonder if that white wire to the bracket shown lower left is the battery frame ground. It has two other ring terminals to it as a sort of neg buss maybe? But that is the old photo when things all worked, so can't be a neg ground on the pos post. Not a clue.

The OP has to come back and explain it all. :)

revcononthehill wrote:
Thank you for the excellent explanation.

So it sounds like I need to put the rest of the positives onto the one battery on the right and all the negatives on the battery to the left and use the jumper cables to jump them together. I’ll test the white one tomorrow to see what it is.

I put the batteries in the same way but am going to take them out so they aren’t reversed like that. Not sure why I did it like that again.

You reverse the batteries like that so it is easy to reach the two posts, now at the same end of your tray, the load wires go on. In that photo above, it looks like it would be easier to use the two posts at the bottom of the photo if the neg wires will reach.

With the batteries reversed, your parallel linked are crossed.

You say it blows a 30 amp fuse. Is there a 2nd 30 amp fuse (Check it) if yoru converter is bigger than 30 amps it may have two or 3 fuses in parallel ALL of them need to be repalced at the same time..

Also a shorted cell in one of those batteries can pop-a-fuse rather fast.

BFL13 wrote:
Red (pos) and white (neg) load wires to the same post?

Thought that may be (Red and white to same post) be aware that The color of the wire is not standardized.. Black and White both have the same meanings depending on who put the wire in (I would make Black Negative since I'm DC trained) most RV bilders black is HOT. So do not trust colors. use our meter to find out.

Recetly 'Fixed' a very expensive bit of electroics by having the owner meter the incomig power leads.. RED was negative on the supply (RV) side. and on the electronics side red was Positive as it should be.

Your volt meter is your friend which is why I have a bunch of 'em.

Get us a good pic of the batteries showing all four post.

Thank you for the excellent explanation.

So it sounds like I need to put the rest of the positives onto the one battery on the right and all the negatives on the battery to the left and use the jumper cables to jump them together. I’ll test the white one tomorrow to see what it is.

I put the batteries in the same way but am going to take them out so they aren’t reversed like that. Not sure why I did it like that again.