battery charger question.

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I briefly mentioned this earlier, but no one seems to have picked up on it.  According to the Dometic service tips on this model, it has a "climate control heater".  The wiring diagram looks like there is DC voltage applied from the same source as the door light - J2 on the control board.  And, it looks like the only way to disable the power to it is to remove 12 volts entirely from the unit or to unplug the heater cable.  Note: this is not the heater that operates the cooling system.
 
The climate control heater is a wire that runs around the door frame to keep condensation off of the surface.  On my Norcold it had a disable switch and drew about 5 amps from the 12 volt source when it was switched on.
 
Lou Schneider said:
The climate control heater is a wire that runs around the door frame.  On my Norcold it had a disable switch and only drew about 5 amps from the 12 volt source when it was switched on.
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The Dometic diagram doesn't show a cutoff switch for the heater.  As for current, I haven't a clue, but I'm pretty certain it is enough to drag a poor condition battery down.  The OP said his batteries were bad.  He also said turning the fridge on caused his lights to dim.  What he did not say was does it still do that now that he has good batteries.
 
it does a climate control switch on the bottom of the fridge door. would this be the high humidity switch?

it is not rum off an inverter, i have check the 120 outlet all the way back to the breaker box.

batteries are new and the inverter to charger the batteries is old, its only a 35 amp, i have a 100 amp on its way, but would like to fix this problem so it does not cause issues in the future. 

my fridge is a 3 way but it does not work on propane right now because of the solenoid is not working , i have not taken it out to test it yet but the gas is not getting past it to the ignitor.
 
ok so I tested the DC going into the fridge, it was reading what my batteries were 12.72 , I then checked the AC on the same DC wires and it was reading 27 AC  , does this sound right? that much AC in my DC wires? if that is to much i guess it could only be coming from my inverter/ charger?
 
Yes, I believe the climate control switch would be the high humidity switch.  See what the draw is with it on and off.

As for the high ripple on the DC line, it would have to be coming from the converter - assuming you are plugged into shore power.  If you are plugged into shore power then 12.72 vdc is too low.  It should be up around 13.5 vdc.  Low DC and that much ripple might mean you have a poor connection between the battery and the converter.
 
yes im plugged into shore power, if i disconnect the charger from the distribution block it still reads 27 AC from my batteries. I also checked the volts coming from the Inverter and it reads 13.7, when i plug it back into the distribution block it falls back down to 12.? . it reads the same as my batteries do.

here is a question. should I put the + / - from my charger / inverter and put it directly to my battery bank? and is the 27AC thats in my DC system ok? should i look into finding the reason for it?
 
RabbitCTSV said:
yes im plugged into shore power, if i disconnect the charger from the distribution block it still reads 27 AC from my batteries. I also checked the volts coming from the Inverter and it reads 13.7, when i plug it back into the distribution block it falls back down to 12.? . it reads the same as my batteries do.

here is a question. should I put the + / - from my charger / inverter and put it directly to my battery bank? and is the 27AC thats in my DC system ok? should i look into finding the reason for it?
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Assuming that by "charger / inverter" you are actually talking about the 35 amp converter/charger that you mentioned in an earlier post. No, you shouldn't have 27 volts of AC voltage on the DC side of your converter. A couple of years ago I had an old Magnetek converter charger that was allowing AC voltage into the DC side and it caused all kinds of issues (especially with a generator circuit board). Changed out the converter and the other issues were resolved. Since you said you already have a new converter coming, you might want to install that first and see if the other issues clear up.
 
Water Dog said:
Assuming that by "charger / inverter" you are actually talking about the 35 amp converter/charger that you mentioned in an earlier post. No, you shouldn't have 27 volts of AC voltage on the DC side of your converter. A couple of years ago I had an old Magnetek converter charger that was allowing AC voltage into the DC side and it caused all kinds of issues (especially with a generator circuit board). Changed out the converter and the other issues were resolved. Since you said you already have a new converter coming, you might want to install that first and see if the other issues clear up.
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I removed my converter/ inverter/ charger from my rv and had nothing for power but my battery and shore power. I still had 27 AC in my system.
 
Your meter may be at fault by not blocking DC when you're measuring AC voltage.  Try measuring a known source of pure DC voltage like a 9 volt alkaline battery or your car's battery on both the AC and DC ranges.  Your meter should read zero on the AC scale - if you get a reading it's not blocking the DC voltage in AC mode.

Other than that possibility, what kind of converter do you have?  Older converters are notorious for producing unfiltered power, essentially being nothing but a transformer and a pair of rectifier diodes, giving an output that goes from 0 to 18 volts in sync with the incoming AC line frequency.  Unfiltered DC works OK in incandescent light bulbs but is very hard on anything containing electronics.
 
You told us a lot about your converter,, Such as it's Pea Green.. But you did not say what make and model it is.. THIS is kind of important.. I know at least one that only charges the batteries at single digit amprage, even though it's capable of 45 amps or more out for lights, fridge, furnace and such.

As for seeing 27 VAC on the battery leads.. 12 times 1.414 is what, about 17 give or take (i'm not doing the math, as accuracy in this sentence is not important)  so 27 is a bit excessive.. But the converter I just mentioned has no DC output.. what it has is rectified AC out.. and, yes, ,,, that can indeed show a high AC value.
 
I suggest you test the meter using a battery from your mouse or flashlight. If you still read AC, then you can assume it is the meter and not the battery - :)

Frank
 
You did not accidentally leave a scale multiplier switch on the meter operated did you???
 
it does a climate control switch on the bottom of the fridge door. would this be the high humidity switch?
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Yes, that controls the electric heating wire that runs around the edge of the door opening to keep humidity from condensing where the metal door frame is cooled by touching the fridge interior.

Turn it off when you're boondocking to save battery power.  You can also leave it off unless you're in a high humidity area and notice condensation forming on the door sill.
 
Alfa38User said:
You did not accidentally leave a scale multiplier switch on the meter operated did you???
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it was a cheep meeter so i threw it in the trash and got a new better Fluke . it only reads 5.5 AC in the DC path. with or with out the charger plugged in or hooked up , im redoing my grounds and my connections if they look bad, im thinking with everything running that 35 amp is just to small.
 
ok so I received my new 100 amp charger in today, its 1/2 the size and weighs 1/4 of the weight. has technology gone this far since 1987? the one i pulled out was a 35 amp and weighs 50 pounds, this new one is 100 amp and weighs 10 pounds. what gives?
 
by the way, when i pulled off my old inverter my battery bank was at 12.3 v  when i installed my new inverter it jumped up to 14.2 in a few seconds . I would say its working great, you agree?
 
My understanding is that the voltage should rise to at least 14.4, and unless your battery manufacturer says differently, absorption voltage should be set to 14.8 volts, if that is possible with your charger.

Paul
 
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