Need help with battery drain at ELX-30 converter

For a replacement converter, the WFCO series have been popular with the A-Frame crowd for replacing the Elixirs. The WFCO have 3 stage battery chargers which is better for the batteries life. Pick one that fits your mounting area best.

http://www.bestconverter.com/8700-Series_c_83.html

As for parasitic drain, if you have a propane leak detector, it will bypass the fuse panel as will the emergency brake disconnect switch for safety purposes.

This is the front panel of your ELIXIR ELX-30 30AMP Converter/Power distribution panel




I am assuming you have pulled the four fuses in the UPPER RIGHT HAND SIDE of this panel and found that one fuse disrupted your .4AMP current drain.

These FOUR FUSEs are your 12VDC POWER DISTRIBUTION PANEL with FUSE 1-3 being for 12VDC LOAD CIRCUITS 1-3 (Left to Right).. The fourth FUSE will be a large FUSE VALUE and is your REVERSE POLARITY FUSE.

Coming out of the back of the ELX-30 you will find several COLOR wires that will go to a group of wiring using wire nuts. These are all of your 12VDC Appliance wiring divided up into three groups. I refer to this as a RATS NEST of wiring...

BLUE WIRE goes to 12VDc CIRCUIT #1
BROWN WIRE goes to 12VDC Circuit #2
YELLOW WIRE goes to 12VDC Circuit #3
RED WIRE goes to your POSITIVE BATTERY TERMINAL
WHITE WIRE goes to NEGATIVE BATTERY TERMINAL and FRAME GROUND

If you have pulled on the CIRCUIT FUSES for CKT 1, 2, or 3 then you have a drain coming from on the those three circuits. It is most likely the CO DETECTOR. These fuse control your DC Appliances which are both fed by the ELX-30 converter and your 12VDC Battery.

Without being connected to shore power the ELX-30 Converter will not be producing 13.6VDC - Only the connected 12VDC Battery will be provide power to the connected appliances in this mode.

To check if the converter is operating normal pick up a multimeter and measure the charged up battery DC Voltage at the battery terminals. It should read 12.6VDC. When you apply shore power to the trailer the Converter will provide 13.6VDC across the 12V battery terminals indicating the converter is operating normal...

Let us know which fuse you pulled to kill the .4AMPS DC load.

Roy Ken

This is typical 30AMP Trailer configuration showing your electrical system. Might give you some insite what you may find connected in your trailer.



Your 10RT trailer is probably pretty much identical to my 14RT trailer except I have a 5x8 front deck on mine with a 12-foot main box. I love my OFF-ROAD trailer. With the 15-inch wheels it will go anywhere my 4WD truck will go...

Roy Ken

Pulling the reverse polarity fuse killed the drain. Pulling this fuse also killed the 12VDC LOAD CIRCUITS 1-3 as well.

The REVERSE POLARITY FUSE is nothing more than a BATTERY DISCONNECT FUSE. This tells me you have a parasitic drain perhaps the CO DETECTOR that is causing your drain.

This REVERSE POLARITY FUSE is in-line with your RED BATTERY TERMINAL CABLE and the BOTTOM of the #4 FUSE. If you can figure out which fuse in one of those bundled fuses on the back side of the ELX30 Converter you will probably find one POSITIVE lead going directly to the CO DETECTOR which is normal.

ALot of folks will install a 12VDC BATTERY DISCONNECT switch right off the POSITIVE Battery Terminal and open this up when the battery is in storage mode.

I have around the same 1/2A to 1AMP drain on my battery associated with parasitic drains. It will drain my battery down to 50% charge (12.0VDC) in about 3-4 days if left connected up. I just open up my battery disconnect switch when I am sitting at home and not on shore power.

My trailer however sets on shore power all the time when at home where I am connected to 120VAC 20AMP service coming from my garage. I do this to get my batteries charged up all the time using my smart mode on-board converter which is a PD9200 series which replaced my ELX-30 Single mode ELIXIR Converter right after I got it in 2008.

Roy Ken

If the drain is normal, then I'll just set up a battery disconnect to keep it from draining out when sitting idle. Thanks for the info.