The hum is killing me

[Land Grover]

When I plug in the old girl (85 excella), the batteries begin to charge. That's a good thing. However, there is a persistent humming the entire time. I don't really notice it when there is noise, but the other night I tried to sleep on the couch (kids in the bed) and the hum was killing me.
Is this normal? Is there some way I can make it stop, besides unplugging the entire trailer. The main switch doesn't stop it.
Help me,
Kris

[AIR-Quarius]

The only thing that used to hum in ours is the AC unit...and found out later the motor was fixing to go out of it. So -- where is the humming coming from?

[brunoffrance]

Hi there,
Same problem with mine and the solution is to switch of the Power converter during the night.... as there was, by the prior owner, an inside button for that....
No more 12v inside but very quiet night.
After some years, I've had to change the power converter and the new one is really without noise.....
If that can help you....

Bruno.

[Land Grover]

I'm sure that my converter is the original and a new one would be a nice upgrade.

[Scott J-24]

Upgrade to a new 3-stage converter! Lots of info available here on the forum with step-by-step instructions, looks like a straight forward upgrade. Both you and your batteries will be much happier without the original Univolt converter.

[Alden Miller]

I agree with Scott, it's time for a new converter. Ours was loud enough that you could hear it outside the trailer. I can't even imagine it would have been possible to sleep on the couch since it is underneath it. I put in a new three stage converter and it is blissfully quiet!

-Alden

[tinman1]

Recently replaced mine with upgrade to a 3-stage converter. Ordered an Iota DLS-55 with IQ/4 from Best Converter. Very quiet and works well.

[Mike Leary]

You must have a different wiring lash-up than we do. We can turn the GFI breaker off and it will stop charging, but the rest of the 115 volt circuits continue to work. Gee, my old univolt keeps plugging along, no problems charging my AC Delco "Voyagers".

[Bill M.]

Look around up front for a 110 volt switch in an odd place. Ours is behind the sofa on the left side. We found it with a flashlight at 11 pm one night about 3 days after it got accidentily turned off because we did not know it was there. Many Airstreams have a switch to cut off the converter. Airstream says they put in the swith for people sleeping on the sofa. You still have the 12 volt power with the converter off. You just need to turn it on a couple of hours per day to keep the batteries up. If you do not have a switch you could pull the sofa and add a switch to the converter outlet. My 2 1988 models have both had the switch for the converter.

[silvertube65]

My univolt was under the oven in our 73 and had a switch in the entry way under the cutting board. This worked very well but finally we also could not deal with the hum when it was on so replaced with an intelpower unit. Easy job and the best money I have spent on the Airstream to date ! The battery remains in constant readiness and everything is quiet. No one else has mentioned the loss of around fourty pounds of univolt with the app three pound new unit. Every pound lost allows more stuff to come along.or helps on mileage, whichever!!

[Aage]

It's not only the hum that will go away, but also, your battery will live a much longer and healthier life with a new three-stage battery charger.

Don't wait; it's one of the best investments you can make. While you're at it, replace the fusebox with a new one as well. Mine lost its temper due to being constantly over-heated to the point where there was serious degradation of the wiring. Not saying this happens every time, but it can.

[Dan@LED4RV]

Originally Posted by Land Grover

When I plug in the old girl (85 excella), the batteries begin to charge. That's a good thing. However, there is a persistent humming the entire time. I don't really notice it when there is noise, but the other night I tried to sleep on the couch (kids in the bed) and the hum was killing me.
Is this normal? Is there some way I can make it stop, besides unplugging the entire trailer. The main switch doesn't stop it.
Help me,
Kris

Kris,
The new converters are much quieter. They do have a fan and when they are working (current is being pulled) the fan ramps up. In the daytime when there are other noises is when it runs the most but other noises block it out. At night the fan runs very little. All in all, I think you will be very happy with the upgrade.