Wiring help

[Jason Wood]

So I started making some good progress on the Red Dale. The floor is in and the front wall is back in place. Today I started to work on some wiring. The guy I bought it from said he couldn;t get the lights to work and just bought magnetic lights for the rear bumper. I got under the camper and took a good look at the wiring. I'm guessing that it is a faulty ground that's stopping the lights from working. I'm going to open a few up and test for continuity just to make sure.

What really has me stumped right now is the converter. It is much different from what I had in my Apache Pop up. This one has a fuse box with a 15amp breaker and then a separate converter/charger that houses the 12v fuses. From what I can tell...the shore power comes into the 110 breaker box and then goes through the breaker and feeds the 4 110 outlets in the camper. One of those outlets is right next to the converter and the converter is plugged into that outlet. I'm guessing that the converter is pulling power from the outlet and converting it to 12v and then going out to the 12v fixtures and back to the battery to charge it? 

The weird part is that I don;t have my battery connected at all right now and when I was connected to shore power today to test the front wall outlet the 12v fixtures worked even when my converter switch was switched to battery??? 

Does this mean there is something faulty with the converter wiring? Switch? Any help trying to understand this would be great. I posted pics from my phone into my album but can't post album pics in this post. Let me know what I can do to figure this out.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

[Jason Wood]

Thanks Jackie...the battery switch is what has me stumped right now. I found a manual for a similar Phillips converter online and it boldly states that there is a Manual Battery switch. So why would the 12v lights work when there is no battery and the switch is on battery??? I just don't get it.

[Richard W. Cobbs]

Do the 12 volt lights work when the switch is in either or both positions?  Is there power going to the positive cable for the battery in either or both positions?

[Jason Wood]

Richard,

Yes the 12v lights work when the switch is in either position...even though the battery is not connected at all. I have not checked the wires to the battery for power...I'll try to do that tonight but we are supposed to get more rain. 

[Jason Wood]

Thanks...so if I'm understanding the train of thought...While connected to shore power and the switch set to battery...I should have power at the positive wire going to the battery as a charger. If the switch is set to converter...I should have no power going to the battery? 

Then if I'm not connected to shore power and switch to battery I should have power coming IN TO the converter 12v distribution center?

[Richard W. Cobbs]

One thing to look out for is; if you are switched to converter and the converter is also supplying a charge to the battery all the time that you are connected to shore power, you have to monitor the water level in your batteries!  Many of the converters overcharge the batteries and boil the water away!  I use a knife switch on my batteries that I have go outside and close when the shore power goes away.  It is a little bit of a hassle, but better than filling batteries every two weeks!  

Good Luck,

RWC

[Jason Wood]

That's a great idea Richard! While everything is opened up I think I'll wire a switch inside.

[Lakota Wolf]

the battery option is basically a trickle charger for the batteries. You dont need to even have batteries if on shore power, the converter, converts the incomming a/c current to d/c current for the lights. I prefer to run a seperate charger for batteries because the converters usually only minutly trickle very little current to keep the batteries fully charged, or even worse, cook them to a quick foaming death.

[Jason Wood]

Lakota...that's a pretty good idea. I have a Sears battery charger I use for the lawnmower battery etc. It has a "smart" switch to prevent over charging. I think I paid $15 for it. If I get another one of those I could use that for the camper battery. The only time we use the battery is to run the fridge while we are traveling...other than that we always have shore power where we camp. Thanks again for the reply!

[Tony durfey]

One easy way to look at it is, to view it as what it really is.  A 12vdc power supply with a built in switchable (on/off)  battery charger.  Hope this helps, Tony, Joy and Cool Paw Luke

[Jimco_W001]

Jason,if things are working I would not worry about it.Or if its not broke don't fix it.I would put the battery in it and try out everything and check the battery voltage when the shore power is connected or not.This will tell you if the converter is working and charging the battery or not.You might have to change the position of a switch on your converter to do this test.

[32rhnxf5d8lrx]

I don't think there is anything wrong.  The converter is producing and distributing 12vdc power throughout the rig.  If there was a battery connected, it would also be charging that battery.

When you pull the plug (shore power), everything should go dark (since you have no battery).  If there was a battery, the dc fixtures would still work.

That's my take on it.

[Jason Wood]

So...I connected the battery yesterday to get ready for a trip this weekend. I hooked everything up correctly and did not have shore power connected. I put a multi-meter on the battery and the voltage went UP and continued to do so!?!?! I disconnected everything and tested the battery again...the voltage was still climbing. I reconnected everything and turned on all of the DC lights, fan etc. and tested the voltage again...it started lower but climbed up and eventually settled in the 12.4 range. I shut everything off...unplugged shore power and left the battery connected. I haven't been able to test yet today. I have never seen a battery voltage increase seemingly on it's own...how bout anyone else?