Bad battery charger/converter

[debcon60]

Does anyone have ideas of where to buy new battery charger/converter for a 1970 sovereign AS. Ours is overcharging and getting hot. It has evened burned through the bakelite panel at some point in time.

Thanks for the help.

[tphan]

Hello from Longmont, and welcome to an information warehouse. If you click on "Forums" you'll see a category of threads (discussions) on the subject of batteries, converters, etc. There is a ton of information here on that subject, as well as on every other conceivable Airstream subject, it just takes some time to read and digest it. You will also see links to purveyors of merchandise, including new converters. I like my Intellipower converter, but there's other brands. Good luck!

[Mexray]

It's hard to beat BestConverter - Converters, Inverters, Electrical Supplies, Electronics for service and advice on just which unit to use as a replacement - get their 800 phone number off their web site and they'll fix you up - they sure cured my converter problems...

Ray

[68 TWind]

Ray is right it is hard to beat Randy at BestConverter. Give him a call, I have been real happy with the Iota with the smart charge feature that he recommended.

[Hummer]

I just got in a Iota DLS55 from Best Converters which has more amp capacity than AS original and doesn't take a fork lift to handle it.
The AS original was so heavy the entire mounting bracket was broken away from wall and the structure had collapsed and was laying on the PAR pump. I was very disappointed to see how AS had fabricated the rack to hold the original converter as it was far too heavy to mount on that flimsy rack they installed. Something that heavy should have been bolted directly to the decking. I am going to leave part of it as protection from something else laying on the pump.

I am going to change the location of my power supply and put it under sink mounted on the 1/2" plywood wall to right of sink. I got six feet of red and black 6 AWG and crimp on end connectors at HD night before last and will run 10AWG to the chassis ground. (Note: the 6AWG comes in multiple colors but red and black made the most sense and less chance of screw ups down the road. I also color coded back of of fuse panel with RED and BLACK electrical tape and +/- in Sharpie marker for each.

A PO left a four foot 12GA extension cord pluged to wall behind galley. I am going to plug new convertor into this so I can unplug it quickly during electrical storms. No use risking a voltage spike coming in from a down line hit if you don't have to.

The immediate problem now is making a box to go where the Univolt was. There is lots of wasted space under/behind the galley. If I work it right it should give me lots of extra storage room and I am thinking of a box about 6"X10"X48" securely mounted to carry a rifle/ammo in. I plan to make it out of 3/8" plywood with 1X2 frame glued up with Titebond III. Chances are I will have to mount it to the underside of the galley counter unless I can run a strip down the outer wall that is secured to the frame. It will be a little hard to get to but I think I can drill and tap the frame for 8X32 screws and run light weight angle aluminum or box tubing down the outer side for a mounting shelf to distribute the weight over a longer area. It will also be secured to the wall panel with Marinetex. I think I can run "all thread" rods down to main decking to distribute most of the load as well.

I will also relocate the AS fuse panel board so it will be easy to get to but out of the way.