Just pulled the rig out of the barn today and parked it in the driveway. Plugged it into the 50 amp plug from the house and continued to finish leveling it with the landing gear. I noticed as I was running the gear down I could hear the motor changing pitch like the converter was cycling voltage. Never heard it do that before. Didn’t think too much of it until I was standing near the battery compartment and could hear there was definitely something like a thermal breaker popping. The battery terminals were hot as well as the thermal breaker. Now I just installed a progressive dynamics converter over a year ago with no apparent problems. Now I have never messed with the charge wizard selector button (remote pendant) but when I looked at it it was solid green which I guess means boost mode? I cycled through until I got a slow blink which I guess is the normal mode?After I did that it seemed to be working normal with no hot battery terminals. What do you all think might have happened and I’ll admit that I may have been doing something wrong with that charge wizard but it wasn’t touched from last year....I’m a bit baffled...

Landing gear should be wired directly from battery with it's own in-line fuse (or DC Circuit Breaker) and NOT thru the converter/DC Dist PanelSounds like battery voltage was low and converter was attempting to bulk charge during the high power demand

Old-Biscuit wrote:Landing gear should be wired directly from battery with it's own in-line fuse (or DC Circuit Breaker) and NOT thru the converter/DC Dist PanelSounds like battery voltage was low and converter was attempting to bulk charge during the high power demandOk thanks!

Disconnect the battery and check it.

What is the breaker amp rating compared to the converter?Breaker rating s/b 20% higher (or more) than the converter but not to exceed the wire ampacity.

time2roll wrote:What is the breaker amp rating compared to the converter?Breaker rating s/b 20% higher (or more) than the converter but not to exceed the wire ampacity.Thanks I’ll check that.... the new converter was a higher amp output than the old WFCO.

Something causing thermal battery breaker to pop

Jetstreamer
Explorer
May 25, 2018
time2roll wrote:
https://www.amazon.com/Bussmann-BP-CB185-80-Circuit-Breaker/dp/B001PYL1VM

I hope you have #6 wire.

Bought one and thanks!
time2roll
Nomad
May 25, 2018
https://www.amazon.com/Bussmann-BP-CB185-80-Circuit-Breaker/dp/B001PYL1VM

I hope you have #6 wire.
Jetstreamer
Explorer
May 25, 2018
Thanks all for good advice. My connections are solid but certainly need to upgrade the breaker. My converter now puts out 60 amps so I’m assuming the next size up breaker which is 80 amps will do? If anyone has a differing opinion on this please chime in.
I have a call through to progressive dynamics hoping they can help.
time2roll
Nomad
May 25, 2018
BFL13 wrote:
Will a self-resetting breaker heat up from "cycling" continuously?
Yes that is part of the eventual melt-down and possible flames ;)
BFL13
Explorer II
May 25, 2018
Will a self-resetting breaker heat up from "cycling" continuously?
ScottG
Nomad
May 25, 2018
DrewE wrote:
Artum Snowbird wrote:
The most notorious reason for a high load is a loose connection. That loose connection causes a huge resistance in the circuit. What used to run fine under a ten amp fuse now wants 20 amps. The connection heats up and corrodes some more, burning the wires.

Take a good negative to the load. If that fixes it, look at the negative line back to the battery. Same with the positive side.

Many loads do not increase their current in response to a high resistance supply, but rather consume less current (lower voltage, less current, see Ohm's law). It's mainly things with some sort of active power supply that would behave otherwise. That's not to suggest that good connections are at all unimportant, of course; too much power dissipation at a poor connection could possibly start a fire, in the worst case, besides various lesser evils.

A poor connection at the breaker can cause it to trip prematurely since the breakers are thermally activated (at least these self-resetting ones generally are). The heat from the poor connection is conducted into the breaker. They also tend to get more sensitive with age, I gather.

I suspect the main problem here is that the converter is putting out more current than the old one, and the breaker is now undersized...and quite possibly also the wire that it's there to protect.

Very good explanation of a much misunderstood condition Drew.
In short, a loose connection does not increase current from the power supply. A loose connection lowers the current carrying capacity of that very connection and creates heat. If the connection is loose at a breaker, that heat causes the breaker to trip prematurely - not because there's suddenly more current.
ChuckSteed
Explorer
May 25, 2018
Normal operation of converter.. it was in BULK mode with solid green light.. I’d be removing and cleaning the battery terminal posts and the cables connecting to the battery and then observe
DrewE
Explorer II
May 25, 2018
Artum Snowbird wrote:
The most notorious reason for a high load is a loose connection. That loose connection causes a huge resistance in the circuit. What used to run fine under a ten amp fuse now wants 20 amps. The connection heats up and corrodes some more, burning the wires.

Take a good negative to the load. If that fixes it, look at the negative line back to the battery. Same with the positive side.

Many loads do not increase their current in response to a high resistance supply, but rather consume less current (lower voltage, less current, see Ohm's law). It's mainly things with some sort of active power supply that would behave otherwise. That's not to suggest that good connections are at all unimportant, of course; too much power dissipation at a poor connection could possibly start a fire, in the worst case, besides various lesser evils.

A poor connection at the breaker can cause it to trip prematurely since the breakers are thermally activated (at least these self-resetting ones generally are). The heat from the poor connection is conducted into the breaker. They also tend to get more sensitive with age, I gather.

I suspect the main problem here is that the converter is putting out more current than the old one, and the breaker is now undersized...and quite possibly also the wire that it's there to protect.
Artum_Snowbird
Explorer
May 25, 2018
The most notorious reason for a high load is a loose connection. That loose connection causes a huge resistance in the circuit. What used to run fine under a ten amp fuse now wants 20 amps. The connection heats up and corrodes some more, burning the wires.

Take a good negative to the load. If that fixes it, look at the negative line back to the battery. Same with the positive side.
time2roll
Nomad
May 25, 2018
Jetstreamer wrote:
Maybe it was some sort of overload due to low battery... what should I be seeing as far as lights on that charge wizard for normal automatic operation?

Ok on edit I did review the owners manual for proper operation with the remote pendant...probably too high of a charge... I’ll keep an eye on it..
Actually the PD converter is probably operating as designed. The batteries were a bit low so the PD charges up to 4 hours at 14.4 volts and very close to max amp rating. This is something the WFCO probably never did as WFCO is notorious for NEVER going to boost mode at 14.4 volts. This is why a 40 or 50 amp self resetting breaker has no trouble with a 55 amp WFCO... they just trickle charge at 13.6 volts.

I assume you have a 60 to 80 amp PD and should have installed #4 wire and a 100 amp breaker near the battery and really get your charge on. BTW those self resetting breakers are very unreliable. I recommend Bussmann Hi-Amp (amazon).