This is embarrassing: Magnatek failure?
I dismounted the camper from the truck at the end of Spring and lowered it onto my storage jacks for the summer. We had a round of friends visiting, 7 in all, so Jeanie and I slept in the camper a few...
Forum Discussion
I PM'd Jim today with this info:
I'm going to get an electrician out here to fix my 3, non-working GFCI's. I checked all the breakers involved. All good. The circuit the original extension cord was plugged into has no circuit power. It also has 2 GFCI's for about 5 wall plugs, one of which is outside.
I did the Magnatec tests and had these findings:
With only the battery connected, none of the 12v appliances would work. The battery is now charged up to 13.72v, which should be enough to run the TC 12v. systems. It does not. When I finally got a good cord with power to the camper's 30A plug, all systems were a go inside the camper.
1. There is a Magnatec reset button on the ceiling near the center bulkhead but there is no reset click or sound associated with it. It makes no difference. I cycled the breakers as you recommended and put my meter on all the fuses to no avail. All have continuity.
2. With my multi meter I tested the charger part and the results show the charger PCB is defective. The voltage slowly rose from 3v. to about 8v.
3. The voltage between C and D did not rise and actually dropped so it looks as if the SRC is also defective.
Jeanie reminds me that when we plug into the truck plug when the camper is on, everything works fine. I'm thinking we've been just running with the two truck batteries all along since the TC battery has no apparent connection to the camper right now, but does have heavy leads going to the truck batteries via the camper plug in the bed.
It looks like it's time to get a Progressive Dynamics PD9140, or whatever will fit the space and replace the old Magnatec. What say ye, oh wise one.
Jim responded with:
You do have something going on... 2 gfi's bad, or acting up... Did you hook a drill or heater etc up to those outlets to see if they were actually defective?
(jefe: yes, I put a 4watt night light into each plug. No circuit)
I understand about the magnetek not being used over the years... Strange but oh well.
So were you always running the camper off the truck batteries?
(jefe: yes, maybe in retrospect by default)
I would do the conversion to the 9145 or 9245...
9245 with the Pendant/wizard... As a note, if you were to do the talked about upgrade neither of the 9sx45's will fit in the magnetek box... Either have to do a 9260 or a boondocker from Randy. 9x60 works great with 2 batteries.
(jefe: I only have one big TC battery)
Without knowing how your camper is wired and stuff I can not recommend how to install the converter to maximize operation.... Ideally you need any converter as close to the batteries as possible...
Will wait for the smoke to clear... Get the GFI topic cleared up... Charge your batteries manually...
Let me know if I can be of help... Might be out of touch a bit for the next few days...
In the mean time I'll play in B flat.
Jimbo
regards, as always, jefe
I'm going to get an electrician out here to fix my 3, non-working GFCI's. I checked all the breakers involved. All good. The circuit the original extension cord was plugged into has no circuit power. It also has 2 GFCI's for about 5 wall plugs, one of which is outside.
I did the Magnatec tests and had these findings:
With only the battery connected, none of the 12v appliances would work. The battery is now charged up to 13.72v, which should be enough to run the TC 12v. systems. It does not. When I finally got a good cord with power to the camper's 30A plug, all systems were a go inside the camper.
1. There is a Magnatec reset button on the ceiling near the center bulkhead but there is no reset click or sound associated with it. It makes no difference. I cycled the breakers as you recommended and put my meter on all the fuses to no avail. All have continuity.
2. With my multi meter I tested the charger part and the results show the charger PCB is defective. The voltage slowly rose from 3v. to about 8v.
3. The voltage between C and D did not rise and actually dropped so it looks as if the SRC is also defective.
Jeanie reminds me that when we plug into the truck plug when the camper is on, everything works fine. I'm thinking we've been just running with the two truck batteries all along since the TC battery has no apparent connection to the camper right now, but does have heavy leads going to the truck batteries via the camper plug in the bed.
It looks like it's time to get a Progressive Dynamics PD9140, or whatever will fit the space and replace the old Magnatec. What say ye, oh wise one.
Jim responded with:
You do have something going on... 2 gfi's bad, or acting up... Did you hook a drill or heater etc up to those outlets to see if they were actually defective?
(jefe: yes, I put a 4watt night light into each plug. No circuit)
I understand about the magnetek not being used over the years... Strange but oh well.
So were you always running the camper off the truck batteries?
(jefe: yes, maybe in retrospect by default)
I would do the conversion to the 9145 or 9245...
9245 with the Pendant/wizard... As a note, if you were to do the talked about upgrade neither of the 9sx45's will fit in the magnetek box... Either have to do a 9260 or a boondocker from Randy. 9x60 works great with 2 batteries.
(jefe: I only have one big TC battery)
Without knowing how your camper is wired and stuff I can not recommend how to install the converter to maximize operation.... Ideally you need any converter as close to the batteries as possible...
Will wait for the smoke to clear... Get the GFI topic cleared up... Charge your batteries manually...
Let me know if I can be of help... Might be out of touch a bit for the next few days...
In the mean time I'll play in B flat.
Jimbo
regards, as always, jefe
