Need help with electrical problems

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Dragginourbedaround

Dragginourbedaround

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Joined
Jul 15, 2013
Posts
1,453
Location
Southwest FL
I heard a loud explosion from our back bathroom. When I went to investigate I saw a lot of smoke and the strong smell of a failed electrical part. Our converter is back there and that was the first thing I checked. Power going in nothing coming out. Microwave is dead. All inverter circuits are dead. Inverter is dead. Tried to reset the GFCI, nothing.

When I set the generator to ?auto? it turns on within seconds, even though I'm on shore power. If I turn on the inverter at the panel it comes on and all circuits work. Even the inverter GFCI works.

All circuit breakers test good.

The converter is an OEM from the factory, I think it's a WFCO. I'm going to replace it with a three stage converter and go from there.

Any ideas on what else I should do?



 
If you have a WFFCO then I( w9ill ask one question
Is this a "Stand alone" Converter (Where the breaker box and fuse box are somewhere else) or an "All in one" where the whole shebang is one assembly?

First case (Stand alone) Progressive Dynamics 9200  or alternatively a 9100 With the OPTIONAL Charge wizard (it is built into the 9200) sometiems the 9180+Wizard is cheaper

Second case (Intergratred) The 4600 series

Match the last two digits to the last two on your WFCO..

ANd that's it. (The 4600 replaces JUST the converter part).


As for what else to do.. Fabreeze to help get rid of the smoke smell is about all.

There are one or two parts in a converter that can fail that way... I've watched it happening (Somebody else's device) now in his case he was an electronics engineer (Well above my pay grade) cost him I think $1.48 to fix.. But modern hardware is .. Not so easy to fix.
 
Is your converter an integrated power center, with 120v breakers and 12v fuse and converter all in one panel? The name would be on the front panel.

You seem to have lost both 12v and some 120v power (the microwave uses no 12v), but if the inverter is out that may have taken part of the stuff with it. What inverter do you have and what does it feed?  There may be an internal circuit breaker on the inverter that needs to be reset,
 
The converter is a stand alone. Circuit breakers are on a panel in the bedroom. I'm on shore power and I have 120 throughout the coach. I have power at the microwave outlet, but the microwave isn't working. I have a Xantrex Pro 1000. It feeds 4 or 5 outlets, the TV, bed controls and the Trav'ler satellite.

What I don't understand is how I lost the connection between the generator and shore power. Generator acts like there is no shore power. Also why the inverter is dead except when I turn it on at the panel. Used to be able to use the inverter's GFCI anytime, now only when it's turned on.
 
This needs more detailed measurements to diagnose.

The Xantrex passes through the 120v power it gets from the main load center (breaker box), whether that power originated at the genset or shore cord. If there is no external power available to it, the only power it can provide is inverting (from battery 12v). Based on your description, it appears it is getting no external power OR it is failing to sense that it is available. Test for 120v at the inverter AC input terminals to determine which it is.

The generator doesn't care about shore power and will start regardless. Auto-start, however, is designed to sense the availability of shore power at the transfer switch and activate when needed. It appears that it is NOT seeing the 120v shore power. Since you say 120v power from shore is working, it would appear the Auto start control has been damaged.

You stated there is no power (12v-15v) out from the converter to the batteries? This was measured at the output of the converter, with the batteries disconnected?

By the way, the WFCO converter you had was a 3-stage type as well. WFCO specs are decent, but some years back (circa 2004) they had some long term reliability problems. They seem to have improved since, but there are other good choices for a similar price. Many people like the Progressive Dynamics products.
 
Gary RV_Wizard said:
You stated there is no power (12v-15v) out from the converter to the batteries? This was measured at the output of the converter, with the batteries disconnected?

By the way, the WFCO converter you had was a 3-stage type as well. WFCO specs are decent, but some years back (circa 2004) they had some long term reliability problems. They seem to have improved since, but there are other good choices for a similar price. Many people like the Progressive Dynamics products.
Click to expand...

Thanks Gary, I checked the inverter and it is getting power. So, if both the generator and the inverter don't recognize power from the pedestal I think my ATS might be bad.

I checked the output at the converter with the batteries still connected.
Thanks for the info on the WFCO.
 
Update 8/12:
We have an extended warranty, so I called a mobile tech back on July 24th. They came out diagnosed the problems called the warranty co. got approval and over the last 3 weeks replaced the inverter, converter and microwave. Thought that would fix everything. But, we still had problems with the generator not seeing power from the pedestal. Like before, when I set the generator to ?auto? it turned on within seconds, even though I was connected to the pedestal. I went on Winnebago's website and they looked at the electrical diagrams. With the diagrams they were able to determine that along with everything else the power surge took out a transformer that talked to the transfer switch. They are ordering the switch. Hope that does it.
 
Final update:
The transformer was replaced and everything worked as before. I sent the SurgeGuard back to TRC and they put their engineers to work testing it. Got an email saying the engineering dept determined that their product failed and might be responsible for some of the damage. Sent me a new surge guard and did I want to file a claim for the damages. Yes I do! The extended warranty paid $2,000 leaving a balance of $594 and TRC paid the $594.  :) New inverter, microwave/convection, converter was replaced with a Progressive Dynamics 9260 (quiet as a mouse), new 612 Dish satellite receiver and two new Group 31 batteries.
 
Thanks for the final update Gene. I too had a TRC Surge Guard (50 amp.) The previous owner of our motorhome had purchased it when he bought the coach (new.) The Surge Guard failed about two years ago - it burned up and would only pass 30 amps through it. I'm quite sure that the safety features of our Magnum Inverter/converter prevented further damage.

The TRC unit was out of warranty, and I just tossed it in the trash, so I never learned how/why it failed. Then I bought a Progressive 50 amp power monitor (with a true lifetime warranty) and, so far, it seems to be working great. I'm glad to hear that TRC is talking with you about the damages.

Kev
 
Kevin,

I probably would have thrown mine in the trash, but it was passing 260 volts through to my outlets and I thought TRC should be aware they may have a problem. I have a bit of a problem here. On the one hand TRC stood behind their product and made things right. On the other I've lost confidence in them. Two times it failed and was replaced because water got in and the unit stopped working, no big deal. This is my third unit. I've only paid for one, so I can't complain about the support from TRC But this time it was very expensive and time consuming, (lucky for no out of pocket costs) and I don't want to go through that again. I'm considering selling the SurgeGuard and replacing it with a Progressive. 
 
My TRC crapped out last week. Failed safe however (Did not pass power)

My Progressive Dynamics 9180... That, it appears, died this morning.. Oh well.......
 
John, it seems if it were not for bad luck, you would have no luck at all!!

I hope you can take in stride and keep smiling!
 
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