Is my converter dead?
We are camped in a full hookup RV park with our Casita trailer. After going out for errands this afternoon, we returned to our trailer to find everything in the trailer dead. The fridge, lights, ... all dead.
Here's what I did:
1) I checked the campground 30A pedestal and it was OK.
2) Then I unplugged the electrical cord from the pedestal to see if our RV battery would get everything going again: no deal. Everything still dead.
3) I checked the battery with my multi-meter and nothing, dead.
4) I checked the converter's fuses in the RV and both fuses had blown. I changed out both 30A fuses.
5) Thinking at this point that the converter died sometime these past few days, I replaced the RV battery. OK, everything (fridge, lighting) is working again. The battery I bought at Autozone shows 12.2V so it's a little low.
6) I plugged the RV back into the 30A campground pedestal and the battery still shows 12.2V so it looks like the converter isn't charging the RV battery. I checked the fuses and they're OK. I checked the RV electrical panel and used my multi-meter to test the battery cables leaving from the panel (to go to the batteries): 12.2V so this (I think) tells me the converter isn't charging the battery.
7) Final note: throughout all this time, the camper's 110V outlets worked, even before I replaced the dead battery.
I think I have two questions:
Question 1: My electrical knowledge is (very) low so, based on the above, am I correct to assume that the converter is dead?
For the time being, I plugged in our portable solar panel to keep the RV battery charged and we're still plugged into the RV park pedestal so we can charge our laptops and devices using the 110V outlets in the RV.
Question 2: when the fridge is turned to 'gas', it uses propane and a minimum of battery power to run. When I plug the RV into the 30A park pedestal, the fridge automatically switches to 'AC'. Does this run on 110V OR does this use the battery?
Reason I ask is that until we can get the converter replaced, I want to minimize RV battery usage since our solar panel is pretty small. I don't want to have the fridge on 'AC' if that uses the battery for its entire operation.
Thanks!!
Here's what I did:
1) I checked the campground 30A pedestal and it was OK.
2) Then I unplugged the electrical cord from the pedestal to see if our RV battery would get everything going again: no deal. Everything still dead.
3) I checked the battery with my multi-meter and nothing, dead.
4) I checked the converter's fuses in the RV and both fuses had blown. I changed out both 30A fuses.
5) Thinking at this point that the converter died sometime these past few days, I replaced the RV battery. OK, everything (fridge, lighting) is working again. The battery I bought at Autozone shows 12.2V so it's a little low.
6) I plugged the RV back into the 30A campground pedestal and the battery still shows 12.2V so it looks like the converter isn't charging the RV battery. I checked the fuses and they're OK. I checked the RV electrical panel and used my multi-meter to test the battery cables leaving from the panel (to go to the batteries): 12.2V so this (I think) tells me the converter isn't charging the battery.
7) Final note: throughout all this time, the camper's 110V outlets worked, even before I replaced the dead battery.
I think I have two questions:
Question 1: My electrical knowledge is (very) low so, based on the above, am I correct to assume that the converter is dead?
For the time being, I plugged in our portable solar panel to keep the RV battery charged and we're still plugged into the RV park pedestal so we can charge our laptops and devices using the 110V outlets in the RV.
Question 2: when the fridge is turned to 'gas', it uses propane and a minimum of battery power to run. When I plug the RV into the 30A park pedestal, the fridge automatically switches to 'AC'. Does this run on 110V OR does this use the battery?
Reason I ask is that until we can get the converter replaced, I want to minimize RV battery usage since our solar panel is pretty small. I don't want to have the fridge on 'AC' if that uses the battery for its entire operation.
Thanks!!
