Forum Discussion

komiller118's avatar
komiller118
Explorer
Nov 06, 2015

New guy with converter trouble

Hey folks. I am new to RV dot net but have been camping for a long time. My beautiful bride and I currently own a 2009 Puma 25RS Palomino. On our last camping trip lighting started to dim. Now I had just about every light inside on along with all the running lights. Well I checked the battery voltage and it was very low, thought battery was bad.... less than 10 volts. Never had issue before. We made it through the week and came home. I pulled the battery and put on a charge for several days, took it to local NAPA where I bought it and it tested good. So I started poking around. I pulled the panel/converter cover and started checking wires. With the battery connected, I have battery voltage at the converter output wires, with the battery disconnected, I have 13.7 volts at converter output wires. All this is with NO load. With battery disconnected and a load, I have only 6~ volts at converter output wires. The converter is a WFCO 8955 PEC. I called WFCO, they suggested checking voltage with battery disconnected and a load and if voltage was less than 10 volts, there was probably a fault in the circuit board. With all that being said, what say you the experts........?
Thanks in advance for your input and help....
  • komiller118's avatar
    komiller118
    Explorer
    Nov 10, 2015
    I sent randy an email but have not heard back. I talked to tech support at WFCO and did some of there testing and two different techs say it is a bad converter. I ordered a replacement from amazon.
  • fallsrider's avatar
    fallsrider
    Explorer
    Nov 10, 2015
    komiller118, I am in the midst of a dead converter myself. A new one is on the way. (see my post MagneTek 3240 replacement)

    Have you talked with Randy at Best Converter yet? Apparently he is very knowledgeable. I went with his recommendation to buy a new PowerMax Boondocker for our TT.

    It certainly sounds like you might have a dying converter. Not that I'm an expert now, but when mine first started showing signs, the lights would dim. Turning off a light or two would cause it to stop at first, but within a couple days, it died quickly.

    Yours showing a significant voltage drop with only one light turned on sounds similar to mine.
  • komiller118's avatar
    komiller118
    Explorer
    Nov 06, 2015
    Well, I have considered possibly a bad ground from battery, but have a small lake under the camper, so I haven't crawled under it yet....., but at the panel and at battery, I have not had any issue using ground to check current draw and and using test light and multi meter.....
  • hawkeye-08's avatar
    hawkeye-08
    Explorer III
    Nov 06, 2015
    That would indicate one of two things, either bad converter or very loose wire somewhere.
  • komiller118's avatar
    komiller118
    Explorer
    Nov 06, 2015
    I do have 13.7, but as soon as I turn on even one light, output drops to less than 10 volts. all of this with battery disconnected.
  • donn0128's avatar
    donn0128
    Explorer II
    Nov 06, 2015
    Dead converter.
    If your reading less than 13.5VDC across the converter output with the battery disconnected then it has failed

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