Ok..I'm new and did a dumb thing

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Bronco-Jeff

New member
Joined
Jun 12, 2006
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The 30 amp power cord was to short to reachthe pole at my deer lease. So I cut the cord and put in a section of lighter weight cord to make it reach. My air conditioner worked but the 12v lighting did not. Two weeks later I got a regular extention cord and wired it correctly.

Now the air conditioner turns on, runs 5-10 seconds and stops. None of the 12v lighting works. I checked the 110v breakers, all OK. I checked the the fuses on the 12v side all OK.

Here are may questions.

Did I kill the converter/charger?

Is it hard to replace?

Any other suggestions or things to test before I replace the converter/charger?

Thanks for your help.

:'(
 
It is not likely you trashed the converter but here is how to check..

Measure the battery voltage for the "House" battery,  Do this with the rig unplugged. Leave the voltmeter connected to the batteries and plug in.  Make sure your BATTERY DISCONNECT switch is in the ON position (Batteries connected)  Now... Re-read the battery voltage... Come back in an hour or 3 and read it again. 

post results

As to did you do a dumb thing.. Yes, you could have caused a fire with that lighter cord
 
Jeff,

Sounds like you have 2 separate problems: First, you don't have enough current capacity to run the a/c (that's probably why it's kicking out). DO NOT run an a/c under low power conditions; you will eventually destroy it. Measure the voltage with it running. If it's down around 105-107 volts or less, you're asking for trouble. Get a decent Extension cord with at least #10ga. wires. How long is the run?

Secondly, from your post it appears that the 12V lights never worked. Take a multimeter and check if you have 12 volts at all at the fuse panel. Converters will have fuses or c.b's on them too. Did you check them? If fuses, measure them for continuity. Just looking at them won't always tell you if it's blown. Same with the fuses in the panel - measure them.

Added: the converter MAY have a low voltage cut-out that prevents damage to it if the input voltage is not up to snuff.

Good luck! :)
 
Beyond the suggestions you have already gotten, replace the cord you have butchered up with an entirely new one.  To extend that new cord, use a 30amp extension cord of the kind you can find at most any RV parts shop.  Keep it is as short as possible.  You are dealing with with high amperage 120VAC lying on the ground and exposed to the weather.
 
Not to suggest that you might be this dumb but,...

Once upon a time I had a popup.  It took me a while, and several tries actually, to determine that the Converter had a switch on it and that the required switch position depended on wheather you were running from 110 vac or a battery.
 
Get a voltmeter and see what happens to the 120 VAC wen you turn on the a/c unit. Chances are it dives to under 100V, in which case it is a good thing the a/c shuts down. For 30A you need 10 gauge wire for runs up to maybe 100 feet and 8 gauge over that.  The a/c unit draws a lot of amps when it starts - and maybe it's old or in poor repair and draws more than it should. It could easily be pulling 25A-30A during the start cycle. I suspect what you hear when it starts is the fans coming on  & running but the compressor never actually gets going. If it does not successfully start in 10 seconds or so, it shuts down.

It sounds to me as though your power pole has marginal power to start with and you are losing a lot of it through a long and possibly undersized extension cord. You never did say how long a cord you hende dup with and what size wire it has.

There should be nothing related to this that affects your converter. I fit failed, it is not because of the power cord mistake. I gather there is no battery in this trailer and you run from the converter only?
 
Guys,

Thanks for all the assistance. It was the cord. I removed the original power cord that I cut up and got a new 25 ft. extention cord. Cut off the end and wired it in place of the original. Connected it to the other 25 ft extention cord. Works Great.

Thanks again Bronco-Jeff
 
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