This is embarrassing: Magnatek failure?

[jefe_4x4]

I dismounted the camper from the truck at the end of Spring and lowered it onto my storage jacks for the summer. We had a round of friends visiting, 7 in all, so Jeanie and I slept in the camper a few nights when every bed was taken in the house.
I usually keep a minder on the battery but this time I put a 2amp tapering charger on the battery. The battery showed 12.8 v.
To the question: Does the TC to truck pigtail need to be plugged in to make the TC systems work?
I've never stayed in the camper, off-truck, so have no experience.
The problem is I have no circuits. No juice is getting to the panel. I plugged in the 30amp plug into house current: Nothing. No electrical appliances work inside or outside the camper. I checked the 2 breakers on the panel: all in on position. I checked each individual fuse: all good. I usually hear a hum when I plug in the AC 30amp umbilical. No hum.
I suspect it's the Magnatek 6325 that came with the Lance in 1998. I"ve never had a problem with it, and we have minimal electrical needs on board, but i read that they are a cheap item prone to overheating.
I did a search and found there are some amazing electrical geniuses on the TC forum. I am not one of them. If you are one of them, I could use a little help here.
regards, as always, jefe

[silversand]

Jefe:

Somehow, you and bigfootford should get on the phone together; you could probably work out what components may or may not be working. I def. don,t like the sound of that ground fault not being able to reset! This is not a safe situation.

[WNYBob]

You struck a nerve - power from a Train room! What scale, I'm into N-Scale. Reply in a private post.

[jmckelvy]

jefe 4x4 wrote:
........
The battery is at 12.6 volts now and it's clear that the 2amp charger had no juice and the charge was slowly going down due to the parasitic drag from safety appliances.. So, the question is: shouldn't the 12v circuits work with 12.6 v.even when not being plugged into the 30amp 110vAC?.....

Yes they should but in your case the battery may have been run down from the loss of AC power. Let the battery charge overnight then disconnect AC power and check the 12 volt items for proper operation.

[bigfootford]

jefe 4x4 wrote:
O.K., the plot thickens. After reading all your responses, I checked all the 110v breakers in line with my circuits, I used my non-contact voltage tester and worked my way back from the TC to the GFCI plug. No circuit. Tried to reset the reset button and it won't stay in. So, I hooked up another 80 feet of extension cord and ran it to our attached garage. This should work, right? Wrong. THAT GFCI was also non-responsive. Two in a row? I found a closer plug inside my train room and tested that plug. Works fine. Ran 50' of cord out the 12' rollup to the camper and plugged in the 30amp cord. Bingo! The soft, telltale hum of my old Magnatec was detected. I then worked my way thru the Box testing every single circuit. All work fine and my 110v night light was glowing nicely. All the new upscale bulbs were good.
The battery is at 12.6 volts now and it's clear that the 2amp charger had no juice and the charge was slowly going down due to the parasitic drag from safety appliances.. So, the question is: shouldn't the 12v circuits work with 12.6 v.even when not being plugged into the 30amp 110vAC?
Thanks ever so much for your kind attention. There is not an RV forum on the planet that has as much knowledge as youse guys possess.
I think Lawrence Welk, the king of malaprops, talking to his band summed up the day as well as anyone:
"My poys, der are good days and der are bad days, and dis is one of dem."

Yes the 12vdc circuits should work.

Measure at the magnetek like I pointed out.


The following is in reference to your shore/gfi issue only, nothing to do with 12vdc for now.

Your camper has a ground fault somewhere in the 110 circuit that is tripping those GFI's.... Not good. Plugging into a non GFI protected could provide a shock in the camper or touching the outside while standing on the ground, so be careful.

Is you fridge a 3 way by any chance?


Even if it is not unplug the shore power inside the outside compartment and retry the GFI shore power outlet.

Jim

[jefe_4x4]

O.K., the plot thickens. After reading all your responses, I checked all the 110v breakers in line with my circuits, I used my non-contact voltage tester and worked my way back from the TC to the GFCI plug. No circuit. Tried to reset the reset button and it won't stay in. So, I hooked up another 80 feet of extension cord and ran it to our attached garage. This should work, right? Wrong. THAT GFCI was also non-responsive. Two in a row? I found a closer plug inside my train room and tested that plug. Works fine. Ran 50' of cord out the 12' rollup to the camper and plugged in the 30amp cord. Bingo! The soft, telltale hum of my old Magnatec was detected. I then worked my way thru the Box testing every single circuit. All work fine and my 110v night light was glowing nicely. All the new upscale bulbs were good.
The battery is at 12.6 volts now and it's clear that the 2amp charger had no juice and the charge was slowly going down due to the parasitic drag from safety appliances.. So, the question is: shouldn't the 12v circuits work with 12.6 v.even when not being plugged into the 30amp 110vAC?
Thanks ever so much for your kind attention. There is not an RV forum on the planet that has as much knowledge as youse guys possess.
I think Lawrence Welk, the king of malaprops, talking to his band summed up the day as well as anyone:
"My poys, der are good days and der are bad days, and dis is one of dem."

[bigfootford]

Two issues here.

1. No TC shore power...

-- There is a breaker for the shore power in the magnetek. Cycle that and all the breakers. Off and then back on....

--Check your shore power outlet and make sure it has power... Plug a tool in there or something you know works.


2. No house DC.... But the camper battery shows 12.8vdc



Open the door to the fuses and with your meter check the screw that has the big red wire to the other screw that has the Green, black and bare wire on it (DC - or ground as they call it)... You should see 12.8 vdc.

If you do then leave the meter on the ground and check the fuses on at a time. Both sides of the fuse.



If you do not see the 12.8 on the big wire we will have to dig a little deeper in the well.
You might have a stuck relay in the magnetek. But that will not keep the shore power from lighting your night light.

Here is a link to a good start for understanding the wiring of the magnetek.

http://windsurf.mediaforte.com/roadtrek/magnetek/Magnetek_6332_wiring_diagram.html

Jim

[silversand]

The Maganatek 6300 series PDF service manual, with the detailed step-by-step testing procedure (from page 6 onward) with photos: here-->

Whoops, on edit, Ticki2 already provided the link (but fast-track to page 6).

I agree with the above: test your GFI by resetting it (at the house end, and in the camper)...

[Tamnative]

Is the house plug that you are using a GFI plug? Most exterior plugs are or should be. If so check to see if it has tripped. Also check to see if you have a GFI in the camper.

[ticki2]

It sounds like you are not getting any power to the camper through the chord . When plugged in check if there is power to the breakers . The mystery is you should still have 12v in the camper even without the converter . It appears that the 6325 does not have a charger built in . This may help in checking some things .

http://www.hayseed.net/~jpk5lad/RV%20Information/MagnaTek%20Pwr%20Converter/RV%20Binder1.pdf

[silversand]

Jefe:

Is this--> the model you have?

I had our American Industries 30A power converter (basically, the same as Magnatek) fail about 6 years ago. After testing the 'box", I called American (their parts rep.), and they, even before me mentioning that their PC board was shot, suggested I just buy the replacement PC board/controler. I orderd it, and had the replacement in my mail box in 48 hours. Installed the board myself (with soldering gun), and everything was fine 6 years later, and still 100%. Cost me $90 delivered.

If your Magnatek guts (the PC board) proved to have failed, you may be able to order just the board; and easy install.

If you want to spend the big bucks, you can rip out the Magnatek (or, get an internal conversion guts kit) and retrofit a much better multi-stage 40 or 50 amp charger/converter...

Good luck.

[Reddog1]

Any power to the fuses, and have you checked the fuses themselves?


Wayne

[Kayteg1]

You are not getting AC power to the camper.
Start with checking breakers and plugging control light into extension cord.

[jefe_4x4]

Pro,
Thanks for your reply.
Yes, I have a small night light permanently plugged into 120v AC in the camper to show if we actually have an AC circuit. No circuit. No night light lit. No electrical anything works, AC or DC. I thought the 12v. lights in the camper would work through the battery circuit whether it is on the truck or not: plugged in or not.
jefe

[towpro]

you said you plugged the 30 amp into the house and nothing. Do you have any 120v things in the camper to try? AC, Microwave? do they work when plugged into AC? if not, I would see why your not getting AC first, since your magnatron runs off AC 120v.