Converter/Charger

[D Greene]

2015 16' Sport. 229 nights of great service. Just returned from 2 week boondocking trip and charger worked normally with gen and solar. Plugged in at home and outlets and all lights work but volt meter in trailer is only reading 12.5. Usually reads 13.6 in charge mode and 13.2 in float. All breakers and fuses in panel normal. It has the WFCO three stage charger/converter.

Any ideas greatly appreciated. Thanks.
D Greene

[SilverHouseDreams]

If you put it in store mode and check the voltage at the converter/12V fuse panel what do you see?

[D Greene]

I'll check tomorrow. Thanks.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

First step: Figure out how AS decided to do the "use/store" setup in your specific trailer. On some the converter / charger is taken off the battery in "store" mode. In others, it's hooked up to the battery regardless of the use/store setting. If yours is a disconnecting setup, your switch may be in the wrong position.

Bob

[D Greene]

Mine has the manual switch. In store or disconnect position there is no power to the volt meter/tank level panel at all, that is to say no display. I'm pretty sure no charge is getting to the battery. When we got home after about an hour and half drive the display indicated 12.7. After checking fuses etc. after a few hours the reading had dropped to 12.4. It was plugged into shore power for this time and switched to on or use and volt display continued to drop.
Thank you

[SilverHouseDreams]

I also have a Sport (22FB) and appreciate the honest and obvious manual disconnect switch. I’d check fuses and confirm the breakers are on, perhaps flip them off and back on to make sure. If you think you need a replacement converter I have one I can send for the cost of shipping, as I had to upgrade for my lithium batteries.

[D Greene]

Thanks. It is a mystery. Double and triple checked all fuses I can find and all breakers off and on...twice. All connections seem sound.

[SilverHouseDreams]

On mine there was a twist butt splice used to join the wiring for the converter and the outlets on the 3rd breaker. Perhaps it lost connection there?

You could also slide the converter out and check the voltage where the AC wires enter, and perhaps where the DC wires leave the circuit board. Not sure about troubleshooting beyond that, not sure of WFCO has a troubleshooting guide anywhere beyond that.

[D Greene]

I plan to slide it out tomorrow and have a look see. Thanks for all the ideas.

[D Greene]

Well, went down this morning to pull the CH/CV and it is working perfectly. 13.6 volts at the display. Trailer hasn't been moved so a loose connection doesn't seem likely. I wonder if a ch/CV nearing the end of its life could work intermittently? Anyway thanks for your time in offering ideas.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

On my AS, when the use/ store is in the store position, absolutely everything in the trailer is shut off. No panels no nothing. The converter / charger is still hooked to the battery in that mode.

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If the battery is still charging, it's voltage can easily be below 13.7V. The charger will only put 30 or 50A into the battery. It might take it an hour or more to get above 13V. A battery monitor system that lets you look at current in and out of the battery is very helpful in this case.

Bob

[D Greene]

It occurred to me that the diagnosis and resolution of my mystery issue might be helpful to others. After some quick work with my multimeter the problem was an intermittently failing charger/converter. Replacement was quick and easy and now working perfectly.