Bad converter?

[bkenobi]

My dealer keeps telling me that I'm expecting too much from my truck and shore power for charging. They've told me both supply up to 2A as does a generator. They want to sell me a solar panel so I can get up to 6A charging.

I don't expect full charge from dead instantly, but the thing never seems to charge at all and I suspect a bad converter. Using a fuse current tester, I've found that the camper pulls 0.14A when the truck is running and 0.34A when connected to shore when the battery is at 11.8v. I would have expected significantly more. Does that sound like a converter issue?

The converter (Parallax 8345) was new when I bought the TC last April. The dealer replaced ot cause the camper wasn't charging...

[Powerdude]

Have you had the battery tested? It's not necessarily the converter.

Take the battery out, put it on a regular battery charger overnight, and see what the voltage is. Charged battery should be over 12 volts.

[bkenobi]

The converer is 45A and fused at 30A to the battery. I beleive the fuse in the truck is 20A.

That TriMetric device looks great and is something I was envisioning having but didn't know it was an aftermarket option. I'll ask about it at the dealer.

[SidecarFlip]

Hard to beat an on board TriMetric. It's your always there voltmeter and tells you everything you need to know about your batteries, you amp draw and how much is left in them at all times. It's SOP with me. It's always the first modification to any TC I own.

[tattoobob]

pianotuna wrote:
Tattoobob,

I think you mean 200 watts of solar.

Little charging by the alternator is common.

The converter is NOT working correctly.

You are correct that is what I meant

[pianotuna]

Tattoobob,

I think you mean 200 watts of solar.

Little charging by the alternator is common.

The converter is NOT working correctly.

[tattoobob]

2 amp sounds like a trickle charge, is the converter/charger a 3 stage charger?

The only reason I put 200 amps of solar in is for when we're on the beach for the weekend fishing

[Kayteg1]

The converters have pretty tricky ratings, so you need to test them on long run.
I have 40 amp converter, but when I start it on discharged battery - it will overheat in couple of minutes and take several minutes to cool down before another charge attempt and overheat.
That takes long time to get the battery charged.
Ford truck has 30 amp trailer charging circuit, but with long wire the voltage drop is significant, so it takes several hr of driving to get camper battery fully charged.
With troubles like above, I would have voltmeter permanently installed and showing what voltage I have at the time.

[covered_wagon]

A low Battery (anything below 12volts) should instantly go to 13.5- 14.2 volts dc the second you plug in the shore power cord. just watch the voltage difference at the batteries... unplugged verses plugged in rv cord.

I doubt that your convertor would be only a 2 amp charger. I know it better to charge batteries at a slower rate but that is rediculoius. (sp.)

My charger is a rated 20 amp and rarely see both batteries able to be force fed more than 16 amps at a time.

Look at small print on your convertor to find actual rating. These days I need two inch thick reading glasses and a flashlite in daytime.

[bkenobi]

You're saying the line from the converter to the battery could be faulty? I've never looked at that.

[Artum_Snowbird]

Measure voltage on the converter output terminals. Should be 13.6 or more. At the battery it should be the same. If nkt, use uour jumper cable to rig up a direct line from battery neg th converter neg. If that fixes it, you have a bad negative. If not, try the same with oositive. I found my bad connection on the battery feed negative cable terminal. Tightened that and it worked