Suspected Converter Problem

BFL13 wrote:

LipschitzWrath wrote:

BFL13 wrote:
Besides the other wiring routes, you might have extra long pos wire converter-battery for a "battery disconnect switch" located way inside the rig, requiring extra miles of wire. Not sure if that "return" wire is from that or what. Something to watch out for.

Where might this battery disconnect be hiding? I feel like I have looked in almost every nook and cranny of this camper and never seen one. Would it be unheard of for my camper to NOT have one?

My new battery lug crimping tool arrives tonight so I will be redoing all the battery cables tonight.

No, not unheard of. Komforts had them in the kitchen on the wall by the microwave. Was a push -pull knob thing. Some RVs have them by the door. Some have a red switch , some rockers. If you can't find one probably isn't one.

If you can, IMO by- pass the wall junctions for your two short wires converter-battery. the pos and neg don't have to be the same length since it is a circuit. (You will now have one going farther to the second battery)

The zoo from battery to DC panel doesn't matter so much, but always nice to have it simple and know what each wire is for.

I peeked around last night, couldn't find anything resembling a battery disconnect.

That said, I did complete the battery cable upgrade last night. I added a single stud-type junction block in the crawlspace to serve as a ground junction. From there, I ran a new 4ga ground cable from the converter to the junction block. I also ran separate 4ga grounds to each of the two batteries. I then ran a 4ga ground from said junction block to the frame ground. In addition, rather than removing the existing 8ga grounds running from frame-converter and frame-batteries, I also hooked them to the junction block, providing several additional redundant ground paths to the frame.

On the positive side, I first took the existing 8ga positive converter output (presumed to feed the DC panel inside) and hooked it to the same stud on the circuit breaker that the "return" wire back from the DC panel was hooked to. The thinking there was to essentially turn the "return" wire into a second "feed" wire.

Next, I ran a new 4ga cable from positive converter outlet to the same stud referenced above, essentially taking the place of the aforementioned wire. Lastly, I ran two new 4ga cables from the opposite stud on the circuit breaker to each of the batteries.

I kind of went overboard on the "balancing", as now each battery has its own positive and negative (and 4ga, at that). But hey, I had the wire laying around and the lugs came in 25-packs, so the added cost was minimal. Besides, if I ever decide to go with a bank of 4x 6V batteries, the cabling won't have to be redone.

So what was the result? Essentially zero voltage drop, that's what! I plugged in the converter, and instantly it went into boost mode. I measured 14.46v at the converter outlet terminals. I then took a deep breath and measured at both sets of battery terminals - 14.48v!

We are going to see if Sam's Club will exchange the two batteries for us to be on the safe side. THey have an 18-month free replacement and we bought them last May, so fingers crossed. I really do think that they're okay, but now that my charging issues are resolved, I'd rather start fresh and be sure.

The wife and I are headed out to the lake this weekend for camping again, so I will be able to report back with some real-world testing. Although, now that I installed a 200w solar system, I don't know how much use the converter is going to get. That's a nice problem to have.