Converter question

[TechBill]

The converter wasn't working so I pulled it out of the pop up camper. It turn out that the fuse holder was loose so I fixed it.

Now it working but it outputting over 15V DC. Is that normal for this type of converter?

It's a B-W Manufacture Series 6400 / Model 6415 converter, I know it quite old but I only wanted to run the 12V DC lamps and refer in the pop up camper from a 120V AC.

I can see that the way the converter is hooked up that it not used to charge the battery.

I have no plan to use it to charge the battery. I will not have a battery installed on the pop up camper.

There a selector switch on the converter itself but I believe it to select between the converter or 12V DC battery to power your pop up camper.





Bill

[red31]

TechBill wrote:

There a selector switch on the converter itself but I believe it to select between the converter or 12V DC battery to power your pop up camper.

That selector switch isolates the converter from the battery, adding a battery won't do anything for the converter.

My 6409 'made' 13.8v, the lights were brighter via converter than battery!

[wa8yxm]

TechBill wrote:
I agree with you on this, if I plan on keeping the trailer then yes I would invest in a newer converter that also can do batteries.

The pop up camper is pretty old and its canvas got holes all over which I patched with Gorilla duct tape. I doubt I will be keeping it much longer.

If the non canvas is good you can visit a tarp maker and they can cut you new canvas

I used blue jean material (Denim?) to patch mine, worked rather well, then scotch guarded it for waterproffing.

[TechBill]

wa8yxm wrote:
Man, I have not seen a converter like that since the ORIGINAL 3 amp Progressive Dynamics I had in a PUP..

As I said, I would put in a good one,, Something from Progressive Dynamics.

WHY: Well if you keep the trailer 3 years the new converter will pay for itself in batteries you DO NOT replace.. that's why.

Given a Progressive 9180 with Wizard (The Wiz is important) my factory Interstates made it to 9 years and I made a few "OOPS" type mistakes along the way.. I hope to hit a full decade with their replacements.

I agree with you on this, if I plan on keeping the trailer then yes I would invest in a newer converter that also can do batteries.

The pop up camper is pretty old and its canvas got holes all over which I patched with Gorilla duct tape. I doubt I will be keeping it much longer.

I just wanted to get the electrical working for at least one or two more camping this year then I most likely will put it up for sale.

However it is my goal to find a good used travel trailer with a bunch of electrical problem so it will go cheap then rebuilt the system since it something that my family will use for years in future.


Now I have put the converter back together and back in the camper. The lamps and water pump are working great so I will just leave it at that.

Thank you to everyone who posted feedback in this thread.

Have a great summer!

Bill

[wa8yxm]

Man, I have not seen a converter like that since the ORIGINAL 3 amp Progressive Dynamics I had in a PUP..

As I said, I would put in a good one,, Something from Progressive Dynamics.

WHY: Well if you keep the trailer 3 years the new converter will pay for itself in batteries you DO NOT replace.. that's why.

Given a Progressive 9180 with Wizard (The Wiz is important) my factory Interstates made it to 9 years and I made a few "OOPS" type mistakes along the way.. I hope to hit a full decade with their replacements.

[TechBill]

I crawled all over underneath the camper and traced where all the wiring goes.

Here what I found ..

Refer is not connected to converter at all, The wiring to the refer went all the way to the front hitch but just hanging there. Someone in the past cut up the refer wiring near the front hitch so I have no idea where was connected to but I am assuming it was connect to the car or truck pulling the camper so refer can run while it being towed.

Look like if I wanted to use refer then I will have to use the propane instead or use a battery and a battery charger to keep the voltage stable.


But there is a good new, I found the short in the wiring. It was the wiring to the water pump. A rat or mouse chewed on it. After I replace the wiring the converter should stop tripping hopefully.

Bill

[TechBill]

I put the converter back in the camper and tested it with lamp only. The output load dropped down to 12.24V DC and label on the housing shows output should be 12.3V DC so the converter seem to be working fine and working within the normal parameter that it was designed for.

I think I know why converter breaker was tripping now. Seem to be a possible short between the refer and the converter but surprising it never blew the fuse.

Also it look like previous owner added another ground wire to the neutral (white) terminal bar to the trailer chassis. There already a ground from the chassis to the ground bar so I believe that was tripping the breaker at the camp site with the new ground fault protection. The extra wire doesn't look like it was installed by the factory.

All the lamps are working which were one of my primary goal to have working without spending any or whole lot money on.

Bill

[ken_white]

Then you are set.

:C

[TechBill]

ken white wrote:

TechBill wrote:

enblethen wrote:
That is correct. Looks like this is a manual charge type system. Turn it off so as to not over charge battery.

Look like I found the answer I was looking for.

I found an manual on the net for my converter.

In the manual it explained that it meant to be a stand alone converter to operate the accessories in the camper and not to be used for charging battery.

Here a link to the manual - http://www.parallaxpower.com/6400_6600/6400%20owner%20operator%20guide.pdf



Bill

Bill if you read section 1, you will see it will not run electronic devices (TV, Radio, etc...) and that these items will need to be powered by the RV battery.

Correct

I only wanted to run what is built into the camper which are the lamps, water pump and refer ...

I don't take TV or Radio with me on camping trips. I was born Deaf and been Deaf all my life.

I have a house A/C unit added to the pop up camper but that will run on the 120V side of the circuit not on the converter.

Bill

[ken_white]

TechBill wrote:

enblethen wrote:
That is correct. Looks like this is a manual charge type system. Turn it off so as to not over charge battery.

Look like I found the answer I was looking for.

I found an manual on the net for my converter.

In the manual it explained that it meant to be a stand alone converter to operate the accessories in the camper and not to be used for charging battery.

Here a link to the manual - http://www.parallaxpower.com/6400_6600/6400%20owner%20operator%20guide.pdf



Bill

Bill if you read section 1, you will see it will not run electronic devices (TV, Radio, etc...) and that these items will need to be powered by the RV battery.

[TechBill]

enblethen wrote:
That is correct. Looks like this is a manual charge type system. Turn it off so as to not over charge battery.

Look like I found the answer I was looking for.

I found an manual on the net for my converter.

In the manual it explained that it meant to be a stand alone converter to operate the accessories in the camper and not to be used for charging battery.

Here a link to the manual - http://www.parallaxpower.com/6400_6600/6400%20owner%20operator%20guide.pdf



Bill

[enblethen]

That is correct. Looks like this is a manual charge type system. Turn it off so as to not over charge battery.

[TechBill]

enblethen wrote:
This may be of some help!
Schematic

Thank you for the schematic!

I can see in the schematic shows the battery was never hooked or connected to the converter circuit.

By looking at the converter schematic, suppose I add a wire from converter circuit to the battery then it would defeat the purpose of selector switch

right?


Bill

[enblethen]

This may be of some help!
Schematic

[TechBill]

Thank you everyone for your feedback!!!

I think I am going to stick with how it was installed at the factory when that pop up camper was built since I am not keeping it forever. I just wanted to get the refer and lamps working for the weekend.

As far I could determine that the way factory installed the converter, it is on it own separate circuit from the battery and it have a selector switch to choose either the converter or battery to power the water pump/refer/lamps in the pop up camper. (No break away brake on this camper it a small pop up camper)

I will have to check the diagram again but I don't see the battery being connected directly to the converter at all when it was installed by the factory so I assume they installed converter to allow folks run the accessories using just 120v without depending on the battery but offer a switch to switch over to the battery circuit if not using shore power.

Here a photo of the front panel where you can see the selector switch to choose either converter or battery.

When I took the converter out, none of the wiring from converter was connected to the battery directly and it wouldn't make sense to install a selector switch if it on the same circuit.





Bill