Power surging from shore power in my Excella 500?

[NVDeputy]

I just brought my 79' Excella 500 home from the storage lot where I've kept it most of the year, in order to get her checked out for our upcoming trip later this month. I have discovered a new problem which I didn't have before with the AS: Upon plugging into our shore power ( using a heavy duty extension cord as I always do) the power " surges " inside the trailer . I only turned on the overhead lights, resulting in a " surge which dimmed way down momentarily, then back to normal. The normal period being several seconds, them, dim, and back to normal. My house's power is unaffected when it was plugged in, also.

Anyone evperience this before? I replaced my power converter last year with a WFCO 55 amp. All was working fine the last time I plugged her "in", in the spring. I dont believe its the converter, but Im no electrician, either!

Thanks for the help!

[Lumatic]

Does this happen regularly, or was this an isolated incident. My first guess is a battery problem.

[HowieE]

Sounds like your unit is kicking in and out. Try and get close to the converter and see if you can detect the fan coming on and off as this happens. The fan will be on when the converter is charging. Or put a volt meter across the output terminals and watch the voltage as this happens.

I had to replace my daughter's WF converter 2 years ago and it looks like I am about to change it again.

When she first plugs the trailer in the lights dim as the battery goes down. What I have to do is disconnect one of the hot legs off the converter and reconnect it and the converter starts up and puts out 13.7 volts.

I talked to WF tech. support last week and mentioned I had had to replace the converter every 2 years and he suggested I install a better quality converter, not a WF, using the knock out in the rear of the WF and just use the old unit as a electrical panel.

In short Chinese electronics are not built to last.

[overlander63]

I remember having a similar problem with a WFCO converter. It wasn't as rapid as your problem, it would take 3+ months being used, then shut off. I unplugged the trailer from 120 volts, waited about 5 minutes, then plugged it back in, and it worked again. Try unplugging, waiting a few, then reconnecting. If that fixes your problem, you've got a converter telling you goodbye.

[NVDeputy]

Thanks for the response. Well, I dont know what I did, ( I know I disconnected it at least once while checking out the 3-way fridge ) but it now is working "fine"...Im always skeptical when something " fixes" itself.
But, I have plugged into shore power at my home and its beenabout 5 days now, and when I go try the lights again, there is no surging. And I haven't really done anything. My output across the WFCO terminal =13.7 consistent volts also.

Now I'd like to figure out why the electric isnt working in my Dometic RM-100 refrigerator... always fun