Weekend Warrior Converter Issue

[6_7lPSDFORD]

I have a 2007 Weekend Warrior 3305 5th wheel toy hauler.

I am not the original owner to make that clear. Batteries (it has 3 6v batteries) were replaced in 2017 I was having some ground issues so I cleaned all the battery cable connections and found a bad jumper cable so I replaced it. I also replaced a blown fuse I found on the converter. It was 2 green 30 amp fuses. Only 1 was blown. I replaced the fuse and was surprised to have working lights off of shore power. The batteries were not charging off of shore power in the first place. (obviously the fuse was the problem.) it worked great for about 15 minutes and then the same fuse on the converter (only 1 fuse) blew again. Any ideas why?


All the batteries combined were making 8 volts. Maybe they are bad and overload the converter?

[Skibane]

Depending on a battery's state of charge, it can draw a huge amount of current.

A really discharged battery could draw hundreds of amps for a little while, if the battery charger was capable of supplying it.

It doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with the battery - That's just their nature.

For this reason, battery chargers are designed to limit the maximum amount of current they can supply.

Typically, this amount is less than the fuse size, or else the fuse would blow instead.

...which again brings me to the question: Why are they using a 30 amp fuse with a charger that's capable of supplying 45 amps?

[6_7lPSDFORD]

Skibane wrote:
Are you sure that 30 amps is the correct size fuse?

Your power converter is capable of supplying 45 amps.

If your batteries are drawing that full 45 amps through a 30 amp fuse, it's gonna blow.

30 amps is what the sticker states on the power converter and its also what was in them from the beginning, Im leaning more towards bad batteries, I think I might have them tested, because I do not understand why the batteries would demand that much from the converter to blow a fuse, maybe a bad cell I don't know.

I suppose I could up the fuse size but I need to look at the wiring amp rating so I don't start a fire.

[Skibane]

Are you sure that 30 amps is the correct size fuse?

Your power converter is capable of supplying 45 amps.

If your batteries are drawing that full 45 amps through a 30 amp fuse, it's gonna blow.

[6_7lPSDFORD]

Ok so I did some fooling around today, I have an inteli-power 9200 45amp converter, I did some research and found there are higher amp converters, I am wondering if my converter is too small for 4 batterys. I plugged in the trailer and replaced the fuse on the converter again, I didn't mess with anything for a while and let the batteries charge, the fuse never blew, so I put the batteries under load by starting the generator. before I started the generator the batteries were 13.6v getting power from the converter, once I started the generator the batteries droped down to 11.2 or so volts, when that happened it blew the fuse in the converter. Makes me wonder if I don't have a big enough converter, previous owner installed the converter it has in it now. Or my batteries are bad.

[Sandia_Man]

Put a battery charger on your battery bank after cleaning your battery connections and topping off cells with distilled water, if they hold a charge they should power your rig's 12 volt items. Weekend Warriors have batteries wired directly to dc distribution center so they power rig's 12 volt branch circuits with or without converter, if 12 volt items work wiring is probably OK.

WW rigs came stock with Iota converters which required a IQ4 module to make them smart, with 4 batteries I am sure it is undersized amp wise as well. Dump the old converter, especially if it is original equipment, Iota makes great converters, going with more charging amps and multi-phase capabilities (IQ4) will keep batteries happiest over the long haul.

[prichardson]

Hard to tell by picture what is going where, but this is the way they should be wired.

[MFL]

6.7lPSDFORD wrote:
Here is a picture of my batteries. I THINK they are wired correctly, the picture is crowded I know but I labeled what goes to what. H pos and H neg and obviously house cables positive and negative. Another pair of eyes is much appreciated.

https://imgur.com/a/sMZBp3b

[6_7lPSDFORD]

Here is a picture of my batteries. I THINK they are wired correctly, the picture is crowded I know but I labeled what goes to what. H pos and H neg and obviously house cables positive and negative. Another pair of eyes is much appreciated.

https://imgur.com/a/sMZBp3b

[6_7lPSDFORD]

Oh I MEANT 4 batteries!!! I guess my brain must of died on me today.

[Skibane]

6.7lPSDFORD wrote:

All the batteries combined were making 8 volts.

Yep, it almost sounds like the 6 volt batteries are connected together incorrectly.

If all 3 of them are connected in parallel, you'll only get 6 volts from them.

A pair of them need to be connected together in series to get 12 volts - and the third one can't be used for anything, since you don't have a fourth battery to connect it in series with.

If your batteries are wired to only produce 6 volts, it's possible that the converter is trying to charge them up to 12 volts - and only making it up to 8 volts before the fuse blows.

Check your battery connections.

[wanderingaimles]

3 six volt batteries?
Normally they are in pairs because the systems run on 12 volts.
Have you been running this rig for a while with 3 batteries?
How are they wired?