Converter problem?

The more reading I do the more confused I get. The fact that I have all 12v operational while on shore power makes me think maybe I have a bad in-line fuse somewhere between the battery and the converter, or maybe my disconnect switch went south.

UPDATE: so we are back home now and, after more testing and experimenting I have come to this conclusion. The ONLY thing that works on the camper when not hooked up to shore power is the front landing gear. Doesn't matter if it's plugged in to the truck or not, it's all dead without shore power. I did pull the battery and had it load tested. The guy said it tested like a new one, great shape.

Converter?

Curious...how long should a battery like this last?

Your 2012 camper should have a multi-voltage smart mode charger in it but if it doesn't just sitting being constantly charged with a 13.6VDC charger will most likely boil out your battery fluids and do permanent damage to them.

A modern smart mode converter/charger really helps in this respect but one should still check his batteries on a somewhat scheduled basis...

Roy Ken

stro1965 wrote:
Hope it's the battery. Thanks guys.

Unplug the 50 amp shore power to get the converter out of the equation. If the 12VDC stuff still works with shore power unplugged, the battery has at least some charge (not to say it's necessarily good or bad by this simple test). If not, you were running your 12VDC loads off the converter when connected to shore power.

The fact that the 12VDC stuff works when plugged into 50 amp service but not into 30 amp service keeps bringing me back to a bad 30-to-50 dogbone adapter.

Rusty

Hope it's the battery. Thanks guys.

newman fulltimer wrote:
Your converter must be on the other leg of the 50 amp plug

Your answer would result in half of circuits not supplied with power when using an 50 to 30 amp adapter. Actually an adapter sends 120 volts from one leg to both sides of the 50 amp electrical panel therefore powering all circuits with 30 amps instead of 50 amps. The problem here is either a bad battery, bad converter or bad 30 to 50 amp adapter. Most likely the battery is the problem.

newman fulltimer wrote:
Your converter must be on the other leg of the 50 amp plug

A properly-functioning 30-to-50 dogbone adapter jumpers both hot legs of the 50 amp RV power supply cord together, so both hot buses of the RV's power distribution panel are powered by L1 from the 30 amp shore power. Therefore, the converter should have charged the batteries even on 30 amp shore power.

Having said that, I have had 30-to-50 dogbones go bad so that one hot leg of the 50 amp RV goes unpowered, which could result in the scenario you describe. The first step is to check the dogbone adapter with a VOM to ensure that it reads 0 ohms resistance between L1 and L2 on the 50 amp side of the adapter.

Rusty

I think you have bad batterie(s). Have you checked the water levels at all?

Your converter must be on the other leg of the 50 amp plug