UPDATED: Lights dimmed, heater going off - but i'm plugged in???

Last night my lights were very dim and watching tv my Concertone flickered off. Then at night the heater was going on but the fan kept switching from hi to lo, then hi to lo. Then later in the middle of the night the heater was turning on for a while, then going off. Plenty of propane and it was blowing hot, but after running for a while it would turn off and would not come back on unless I went over to the thermostat and switched it off and then back on.

It must be something with my 12V system. Any suggestions? I suppose the first thing is to check my battery, however, I don't know why this is all happening when I'm still plugged into the shore power. Makes me think it must be something in the converter? Battery not charging or 12v circuit not powering enough?

Has anyone else had this? Any idea what a converter costs (32QBBS)?

Without being there with meter in hand, I would guess your converter has quit. You have been pulling off the battery and now that's too weak to perform. Check all the fuses and make sure all the connections are tight. Let us know what you find.

John

My brother in law had the same problem this summer and we had to relplace the converter. I think he may have gotten the replacement off E-Bay for just a little over a hundred dollars and only took about an hour to replace. Just be sure to check your model number so it will fit. If you cant find one on E Bay they dont cost much more from your dealer

This is very weird, i'm a bit confused about my RV's electrical system.

I had the battery tested, it's fine. No bad cells, it charged up to 13V without any issues. So it's most likely the convert. I was just on the parallax website and there is a troubleshooting guide, the first thing I need to do is check the fuses, i'll do this tomorrow in the daylight.

Here is my confusion...

Last night the heater was going on and off. It would run for 5-10 minutes and then shut off. It would not go back on by itself. A little while later I would have to get up and turn it back off and then on and it would run again for a little while. I'm assuming my battery is not charging fast enough so it's getting drained by the furnace and the furnace is shutting itself off. Then when the temperature dropped enough to wake me up, the charge had trickled up enough for it to run a little while longer. That kind of makes sense, also explains why the lights were very dim.

However, my fridge is AC. When I was having trouble with the furnace in the middle of the night, the fridge was also going off, the error light was coming on. I would stand up, turn it off then back on, and it would work for a while. Then when furnace was kicking off again, the fridge would go off. But if the fridge is AC, why would it matter? I'm plugged into shore power the entire time. During the day I had my furnace off all day and no lights on and the fridge has no problems.

Also, I disconnected my battery to take it to be tested. All of a sudden all the lights went on full power, no dimming. I thought they were DC? Wouldn't they just shut off totally? And if it converts AC to DC when the battery disconnects, why doesn't the furnace or Concertone run at all when it's disconnected, just the lights.

I must be misunderstanding something.

Either way it looks like I need a new converter. I found a parallax troubleshooting guide online and I'll use that tomorrow to check fuses and use my voltmeter to check it out. Looks like I'll have to replace it (about $200). Everyone keeps saying it's an easy job, hopefully I can find an example with some pics or something. Does anyone know, is there any soldering? Or just wire caps? Plugs?

Also, I saw a link somewhere form someone who upgraded to a better converter that wouldn't fry their battery, it had several different charge phases. Anyone know about this? Maybe if I'm doing it anyway I can try this?

One last thing, some replacements seem to be the entire box, others say the bottom portion? Is that an option, to keep the top part but just replace the bottom? Any reason why I would do this over a full replacement?

Thanks for your help everyone!

Its just as easy to change the whole thing, Just take pictures of the wireing and you will be ok. We tried to just replace the bottom half, even though it was the same model some of the clips were differant, so we just replaced it all

WORK AROUND:[/b] Until you replace your converter, you can hook up a battery charger directly to the battery. The reason your refrigerator check light is coming on is you are are not getting clean 12 DC power to it. There is no soldering involved in replacing your converter. Hope this helps. Jim

I replaced my converter this summer. If you go with the same one that is in there, it's a very easy fix. I think it was a total of four wires and two screws.

Ok, now it's worse. I need to fix this asap.

I charged my battery so I could have heat for a couple days while I figure this out. When I re-connected it my CO detector started screaming. The heat hasn't been on all day and I don't smell any propane. I keep trying to reset the CO detector but a couple minutes later it fires off again. Not a small, low chirp but the full on siren. I grabbed a battery operated CO detector with fresh batteries, directly out of the package, and it hasn't made a sound so it's not propane or CO.

So I pulled the fuse. Unfortunately the same fuse is hooked to the thermostat. No heat. Ugh!

So I tried to pull off the CO detector, it's soldered to the 12V circuit. Ugh!

I ended up hooking up a small ceramic space heater to the 110V and it took the edge off the cold (it was 40 last night). But my kids and wife are demanding heat tonight "or else" :)

Would the CO detector be related to the converter, I'm guessing it must. But the battery had a full charge, i'm not sure why it would be going off?

why not call a repairman? I don't think turning things on and off is a good idea. At least it will be fixed quickly. The CO detector could be a separate problem. How old is the detector? they go bad after about 5 years and need to be replaced. They have a date on them somewhere, so check.

Are you sure it's a CO detector? My CO detector is battery operated (9 volt) and mounted on the ceiling in the bedroom. The propane detector is mounted close to the floor, and wired directly to the house 12 volt battery. There is an inline fuse for it. If I'm not mistaken...the propane detector will sound if the battery goes to low for it to operate.

John

I thought they were the same thing. It's on the floor inside the doorway. It's says Carbon Monoxide on it.

I'm getting a new PD4655, Progressive Dynamics replacement converter. The installation doesn't look too bad. It's going to take a couple days to get here. In the mean time I either have to live without heat or chop off the CO detector and just use my battery operated one until I get a replacement.

The CO detector is passed the expiration anyway, but why in the world would they solder on something that expires in a few years? I'll look on ebay or something for a new one.

Your CO detector may be one of the newer combination ones. Has propane and CO in the same unit. Propane detectors are required to be direct wired to a power source and (on mine at least) is direct wired to the battery through an inline fuse. It doesn't go through the convertor. Check near your battery and see if you can find an inline fuse, that may quiet the detector. Hold off on replacing it until your convertor issue is solved.That may be all it takes.
Good luck and thanks for keep us updated. Always looking to learn something new.

John

It definitely goes off when I pull the 12V fuse in my power center marked Kitchen (where it is at). This fuse also includes some lights and my thermostat.

I will look for an inline fuse near the battery or inside the cabinet it is mounted to, but it definitely goes through the power center.