Thanks for all the great suggestions! I've replied to most of them below, but if I didn't reply to you directly it's because others said the same thing.
To sum up, I'm pretty sure that the UPS damaged those two chargers, as MrWizard suggested =/. I'm glad it didn't damage more stuff.
Are there any UPSes that you guys have had good luck with? I just need something to keep my desktop on for 2-3 minutes when we trip a breaker. That's why I went with the
CyberPower CP1000AVRLCD Intelligent LCD Series UPS 1000VA 600W AVR Mini-Tower, which is both lite and cheap and has good reviews.
Also, I don't know enough about how they work to understand exactly what happened. This unit seems to be working fine so I would like to keep it and save the shipping cost to send it back to Amazon. Would it keep this from happening again if put surge protectors on all of our outlets? We already have them on all of the important equipment, but looking back I had these 2 chargers plugged straight into the outlet when this happened. (Yes, that was stupid of me...we're new to full-time RV'ng but I've already learned that voltage goes all over the place in many RV parks.)
wa8yxm wrote:
You said a UPS with an automatic voltage regulator.. More info on that please (Since it was the major change)
I have had many USB cords fail over the years. Those mini and micro connectors are the worst but a standard A failed me earlier this month. I keep spares because of that.
The NOTE might charge if off.. one of the chargers I used with my S-III would not keep up if the screen was on (I figured out how to use it screen off as a navi-comnp) I got a bigger charger later.
Have not had that problem with the S-5 that replaced the s-iii
It's the CyberPower
CyberPower CP1000AVRLCD Intelligent LCD Series UPS 1000VA 600W AVR Mini-Tower. I work full-time from our RV so I need my desktop to stay powered on when I trip a breaker. It's meant to just give me 5 minutes or so of power while I flip it back on.
I work a lot with computers (I'm currently a network engineer but cut my teeth doing tech support) and I saw a lot of UPSes have the batteries die because they were flipping to battery constantly due to voltage fluctuations. I wanted one that would regulate the power to my desktop without going to battery.
My wife's S5 is still charging and my S3 is charging off one of the chargers. My Note 4 is still charging off my computer. I think the UPS damaged the chargers, like MrWizard suggested.
MrWizard wrote:
Did you try all these chargers in a different outlet on a different circuit?
At first read it sounds like the ups damaged the chargers
A lot of low cost u p s use really cheap msw inverters, to supply the backup power, which is supposed to be for only a few minutes supply for the desktop pc to close files and shut down
This is quite possible, and I suspect that is what happened. If so it pisses me off. It is a cheap UPS that I purchased just to keep power going to my desktop for a few minutes when we trip a breaker (which happens a LOT in campgrounds when we run our a/c).
I've tested all of the outlets in the RV and appliances work in all of them. I put more about this at the top of my post
RoyB wrote:
About the only thing A UPS UNIT may do is trip some GFCI circuits. I am assuming you are wanting power from the 120VAC outlets and not the 12VDC circuits.. Normally when parked you only have the 12VDC circuits working as the 120VAC is only powered up by plugging into the shore power pedestal or being run off the generator...
Check your GFCI wall receptacles that have the PUSH BUTTONs in the center and see if one of those has tripped. Usually several 120VAC receptacles down the string will go off when the GFCI one gets tripped.. You should have a GFCI receptacle whereever water is located like the kitchen sink area, the bathroom area, the wash up area sink in the bedroom hallway etc... I suspect yopu will three of these installed in your trailer.
This is what a GFCI 120V RECEPTACLE looks like
Also it is kinda neat to fill out your signature line or profile line to show what RV items you have. No one can help very good not knowing what RV UNIT you are talking about...
Roy Ken
Great tip! I searched and could only find one outlet with the test / reset button. I plugged something else into it and it's working. Also, when I hit "test" it did cause some other outlets to go out, like you said it would. However, after hitting reset the phones still won't charge off that outlet.
I don't think that's what is causing the chargers to not work, but it's a great tip for future reference. I'll go search the RV later today to find out of there's more.
I also updated my sig. Thanks for pointing that out :)
Ductape wrote:
At work we had a lot of problems with bad contacts on the end of cheap micro USB cords. Try a new cable.
I'm 99% sure it's not the contacts. I shouldn't have that problem on 2 chargers at once, and it also wouldn't explain why one phone charges off the 3rd charger and the other doesn't. Unless the contacts went bad and the charger in the phone got dirty / went bad at the same time. That's just too coincidental...
MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Guessing by process of elimination (of hair on head).
You can do this the hard way or the easy way. Your choice...
Google USB METERS then GOOGLE USB (to whatever) adapters are needed to connect to the phone or other gizmos. These things are CHEAP and worth their weight in gold.
Plug the USB meter inline.
Tah-Dah!
Is voltage anywhere NEAR 5.0 volts when connected to your device?
GIZMOS have a threshold voltage a bottom voltage limit below which they will not work. It isn't the wall wart - it is the gizmo.
I have an LED floodlight charger that does the very same thing. Not the wall wart the controller within the floodlight.
I'll check this out. I'm placing an Amazon order today. Going to include a voltmeter. I've only been full-timing a few months but I suspect I'm going to be dealing with a lot of power issues...
