converter buzzing...a little guidance appreciated

[fourboysdad]

Heyo gang. I have a 2010 jayco 26bh travel trailer. there is a distinct buzzing sound coming from the breaker panel. I don't believe it's the fan. Here is what I know:

1. When connected to shore power with no lights on, there is a buzzing noise.
2. When disconnected from shore power and drawing from battery with lights both on and off, no buzz.
3. When disconnected from shore power but connected to TV, no buzz.
4. The battery is topped off and fully charged and the multimeter shows 12 volts.
5. When connected to shore power, the outlets are at 120vac according to mister multimeter.

Here's where it gets weird:

6. When connected to shore power with no lights on, there is a buzzing noise which stops immediately when i turn a light on. That's the weird one for me.
7. When connected to shore power and I turn off the converter breaker, the buzzing immediately stops, but the lights still work so I'm assuming they draw directly from the battery if the converter is off?
8. I made sure the converter, when on, is distributing power by disconnecting the battery and checking the lights...they work.

Whew...all that to ask this: i'm thinking either my converter is damaged, or the breaker supplying its power is damaged. Am I on the right track?

btw...the converter is pretty hot to the touch when it's buzzing.
btw2...a few weeks back, we were at a festival and drew power from a large generator the festival brought in to power the rv section. I did not use a surge protector...hindsight is 20/20.

Anybody have thoughts? Thanks very much!

[Wayne_Dohnal]

My PD9160A was silent for a few years, now it makes all sorts of noises, some similar to what you described. I shut it off when we're sleeping. It otherwise works correctly, including supplying its full output.

[fourboysdad]

Artum Snowbird wrote:
Here is what I think. Your converter is putting out full output. It's not getting to the battery. Put your multimeter on the converter output terminals and see what it says. It should say 13.7 volts. Put your multimeter on the battery. It should say the same as the converter output terminals.

If the two do not have the same reading, either the negative or the positive to the battery is loose. Run a jumper cable between the battery positive to the converter positive. Did it fix it? No? Run the jumper cable from the battery negative to the converter negative.

Hot means working hard. Not broken.

Thanks. Ok, dumb this down for me if you would:

What makes you think the converter is putting out full output? I don't know how to tell.

I'm sure the battery leads are tight and cleaned. I will recheck the voltage tomorrow morning.

[fourboysdad]

BFL13 wrote:
Which converter do you have?

It's a Prgressive Dynamics 4000series

[fourboysdad]

ScottG wrote:
Sounds like the metal laminations of the converters transformer are vibrating. An annoying but not dangerous condition that happens to xfmr's sometimes. the noise changes with items turned on because it changes the xfmr's load.

Is there a way to fix this as it's rather loud, especially near the kiddo bunks?

ScottG wrote:
More troublesome is the battery voltage. 12V is rather low, is it really just 12V or is it more like 13.2 or more with the rv plugged in? If it's only 12.0 then the converter is shot.

My multimeter is a basic one...i'll recheck in the morning and confirm. Is there any reason to think the battery is bad? i couldn't think of one...

[BFL13]

Which converter do you have?

Few years back, Jayco swapped from Iota DLS (no IQ4 option) to PD 46xx? It may (or may not) help to know for the buzzing.

[Artum_Snowbird]

Here is what I think. Your converter is putting out full output. It's not getting to the battery. Put your multimeter on the converter output terminals and see what it says. It should say 13.7 volts. Put your multimeter on the battery. It should say the same as the converter output terminals.

If the two do not have the same reading, either the negative or the positive to the battery is loose. Run a jumper cable between the battery positive to the converter positive. Did it fix it? No? Run the jumper cable from the battery negative to the converter negative.

Hot means working hard. Not broken.

[ScottG]

Sounds like the metal laminations of the converters transformer are vibrating. An annoying but not dangerous condition that happens to xfmr's sometimes. the noise changes with items turned on because it changes the xfmr's load.
More troublesome is the battery voltage. 12V is rather low, is it really just 12V or is it more like 13.2 or more with the rv plugged in? If it's only 12.0 then the converter is shot.