12 Volt Issues

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truax8

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Joined
Jun 30, 2011
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11
I noticed last night all my 12 volt lights and water pump stopped working. After much reading, I am fairly certain the converter/charger has stopped working. There is no way to get a new converter in the next few days in the middle of a camping trip. Two questions I have are as follows: Next to the tongue mounted battery there is a gaggle of wires and what looks like a relay switch with two mounting posts for the wiring system. One wire is mounted to each side. There is a small sticker on it that says auxiliary battery - push to reset. I can not find any button to push to reset switch or relay. Any suggestions for this? If that will not reset the 12v system, will a battery charger hooked to the battery supply enough 12v power for my lights and water pump to run until a new charger/converter can be ordered and installed. This problem is with 1993 Skyline Layton 29' travel trailer. Any other suggestions to help get us through the holiday weekend would be greatly appreciated.
The battery is dead now.
 
That sounds like a circuit breaker rather than a relay, so there ought to be a small button somewhere (unless maybe it has been replaced in the past). You could also try placing a jumper wire betwacross the two poles, but make sure it is  thick enough wire. At least 10 gauge.

But yes, you can hook a battery charger to the battery and it should do fine. A 10 amp charger will easily run the pump and 3-5 lights, and will recharge your batter(s0 overnight as well.

Do you have a voltmeter? Or maybe find somebody who does? That's the easy way to test to see where the power stops.
 
I was lucky enough to fond a replacement breaker for under 5 dollars just down the road. I replaced it and still no luck. Is it possible to hook these guys up backwards?
 
If your converter has failed and you have access to an automotove "SMART CHARGER" you can use it , hooked to your battery, as a temp converter.. Please use a smart charger though, not one of the older "Dumb" ones as they do not know when to quit.

For a G-24 battery a charger in teh 20-25 amp range is about as big as you want to go
27 and 29 arond 30
30 around 40

Smaller is ok too.

Breakers can not be hooked up backwards.. Batteries, however, can be.
 
One thing I forgot to mention. After I gave up for the night and went to bed, my wife says the lights came back on during the night. She did not say how long they were on but the would not work again today. Overheating issue perhaps?
 
That's a good possibility, maybe the converter's cooling fan failed or is blocked by dust and debris.
 
Quick question: What converter do you have... At least one make and model actually has two devices in one box, ONe is an AC to something approximating DC converter, this runs lights, water pump and other stuff that does not care about the quality of the DC.. The other module is the battery charger, it also runs radios and the like that DO care about the DC quality.

This unit uses a ralay to transfer the lights to batter when power (Shore power) fails.

If the converter section fails but the transfer relay does not.....

So we need to know the model .
 
Magnatek Series 6300A Model 6332 is the model on the converter. I hooked a charger up a few minutes ago and the lights and pump work after the battery gets a charge. Any ideas where to start?
 
For now, leave the battery charger on the battery and enjoy your weekend!

Later, replace your dead converter.  The converter section comes out pretty easily and with a little creativity you can fit a more modern unit like the IntelliPower 9200 with Charge Wizard in it's place.  A Google search will turn up several people who have documented their conversions. 

Here's a good one.
 
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