Univolt is it working??

[Igor68]

1968 univolt: Took the cover off, blew all the dust out, put it back together and hooked it back up. I put a multimeter on it and it said 11.17 volts. Ove hour later it read 11.40, 2 hours later it was at 11.7. I figured this is the battery voltage, right? So how can you run the 12v stuff in the trailer if it takes so long to charge? The readings were with no lights on or anything else 12v. Once the batterys are at full charge (13.8v) does it make more power to run the 12v stuff or is this not working right. I have never used a Univolt before. It makes a buzzing sound when on, and there is some kind of smell that you can smell when you re-enter the trailer. It may just be "old smell" as the last owner parked it from th etime they bought it and the owner before them had it parked for a number of years also.

HELP

Igor

[RichardT]

Take the battery out for a minute to really test it, it can run without the battery indefinitly , but it is best to have a battery in.
Check it under load by turning on some lights.

[john hd]

igor

what do you have for a voltmeter?

some can be off by as much as a couple of volts. a quick test is to turn on some lights with a battery installed, then turn the univolt on/off see if the lights get brighter when you turn it on.

it is good you are seeing and increase over time. your voltmeter just might be slightly off.

because univolts are ferroresonate chargers they need the battery in the circuit to operate properly and will actually show a higher voltage with a battery connected vs. a no load reading without a battery in the circuit.

john