# New Converter Not Charging Batteries



## skymaxracing (Jul 20, 2011)

Ok so we were 5 days into our 30 day camping trip and the lights start to dim. Long story shorter the converter was not charging the batteries and then finally the converter died. My wife reminded me that we hadn't heard the fan since our thanksgiving trip when the lights started dimming during that outing as well. I hooked the battery charger up on the battery and kept it there as my own external converter for several days while I ordered a new converter main board from bestconverters.com. My new wfco 8955 (main board) arrived and I quickly replaced. Things started to be looking up, lights were good output reading was good, and then no fan and no charging of battery. I relize the fan only comes on when it gets hot enough, but this thing was hot. If I remember correctly it was reading 13.6 at the converter and 13.6 at the junction box near the battery. The terminals were reading 10 something with the battery unhook. So now I have order the whole power center converter on ebay for $50.00 less then just the main board and hoping that is the fix. I have been reading and people are talking about the PD9260C and I'm wondering if I should change my order as it is with the same ebay company. I have 2006 26rs with the 3 stage converter. I have replaced my connectors at the terminals and the ground. I'm just wondering if anyone has experienced this before or if I have a loose wire, I received a bad converter. Sorry to be long winded but the wife told me to call the rv shop and I told her I wasn't paying that kind of money for something as simple as switching out some wires. Unfortunately with the shipping costs and restocking fee I'm already in for about $50.00 with very little results other than spending quality time learning laying on my back learning about converters. ANy help would be greatly appreciated. Last thing someone in the campground told me to unhook the battery and see if the lights stay on then my converter was working, so I did and the new converter still had the lights on, it just wouldn't charge the battery and it is a new battery.


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## duggy (Mar 17, 2010)

skymaxracing said:


> Last thing someone in the campground told me to unhook the battery and see if the lights stay on then my converter was working, so I did and the new converter still had the lights on, it just wouldn't charge the battery and it is a new battery.


When you say "the new converter still had the lights on", do you mean the lights on the ceiling of the trailer, or the indicator lights on the converter. If the converter is working properly, it should power the 12 volt things like lights. Just don't try to run a slide on converter only. It doesn't have enough output for that.


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## skymaxracing (Jul 20, 2011)

duggy said:


> Last thing someone in the campground told me to unhook the battery and see if the lights stay on then my converter was working, so I did and the new converter still had the lights on, it just wouldn't charge the battery and it is a new battery.


When you say "the new converter still had the lights on", do you mean the lights on the ceiling of the trailer, or the indicator lights on the converter. If the converter is working properly, it should power the 12 volt things like lights. Just don't try to run a slide on converter only. It doesn't have enough output for that.
[/quote]
yes, the lights on the ceiling of the trailer, but the fan after 3 days never once kicked on and the converter was extremely warm, everything appeared to be working fine except for the charging of the battery, which is a big "except". I could power the 12 volt side of the camper for about 2 days before the lights would start dimming and the battery was dead. I'm just wondering why the voltage isn't getting back to the battery, curious as to if anyone else has experienced the same thing. I guess I'll just put the whole new unit panel and all in when it arrives and see what I have. If it still doesn't work then I would have to assume a wire somewhere is the problem. Thanks for the response!


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## duggy (Mar 17, 2010)

skymaxracing said:


> Last thing someone in the campground told me to unhook the battery and see if the lights stay on then my converter was working, so I did and the new converter still had the lights on, it just wouldn't charge the battery and it is a new battery.


When you say "the new converter still had the lights on", do you mean the lights on the ceiling of the trailer, or the indicator lights on the converter. If the converter is working properly, it should power the 12 volt things like lights. Just don't try to run a slide on converter only. It doesn't have enough output for that.
[/quote]
yes, the lights on the ceiling of the trailer, but the fan after 3 days never once kicked on and the converter was extremely warm, everything appeared to be working fine except for the charging of the battery, which is a big "except". I could power the 12 volt side of the camper for about 2 days before the lights would start dimming and the battery was dead. I'm just wondering why the voltage isn't getting back to the battery, curious as to if anyone else has experienced the same thing. I guess I'll just put the whole new unit panel and all in when it arrives and see what I have. If it still doesn't work then I would have to assume a wire somewhere is the problem. Thanks for the response!
[/quote]

I'm wondering if you're actually just drawing off the battery, rather than the converter. If the battery ends up dead after two days, that means it is being drawn down by the lights and such. The reason the converter might not be charging the battery, could be because there is a break in the circuit between the converter and the 12 volt system. If the battery is disconnected, do the ceiling lights still work, when you're plugged in to 110.


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