2002 Starcraft 2108 electrical problems

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I need some help here.  Have been dealing with this for a year now.  I have a 2002 StarCraft 2108 pop up. I've owned it since new and never had issues until last year.  At the beginning of last season I pulled the battery off the charger.  Went to hook up the battery in preparations for a trip.  Blew the in line fuse.  Disconnected, replaced the fuse...tried again...pop.  Didn't have time to mess with it so off we went on our weekend trip.  No power that trip.  Once back.  I messed with it some more.  This time the in-line was fine, but the 20amp fuse at the converter blew.  I am no electrician by far.  I've researched this online for hours and I've seen other symptoms like mine but nothing the same.  What I can tell you is I have checked 100 times.  Battery is being connected correctly!  Two black lines with in-line fuses to positive, single white ground to negative.  Called the local RV dealers.  All said they would not work on a pop up this old.  At this point I put a tarp on it and walked away for the season.
Fast forward to this season.  Purchased a new battery.  Ran the wires and checked that there was good clean connections and that I did not have a nick or rub causing a short.  Pulled the converter out (well as far out as the wires would let me) and checked all the fuses and connections.  All looked fine.  Tried battery again.  Same results.  20 amp at the converter blows.  Last step is plugging in to shore power.  No lights in camper.  As far as I can tell nothing is getting power.  Converter makes a clicking noise.  When I turn off the breaker(only has one breaker marked main) it stops.  I don't have the model of the converter.  I totally forgot to get that info before I lowered it in frustration.  Any ideas? 
 
Disconnect the converter from the house bus if possible. I suspect you have a short in the converter. Taking the converter out of the equation will tell you if there is a short in the house somewhere.
 
Others will be along with great electrical knowledge.  I will add, if you are not comfortable troubleshooting, there are mobile RV mechanics that will come to your location and troubleshoot, often with lots of experience, often much cheaper than a dealer.  Google 'mobile rv mechanics and ZipCode'.  You'll get people willing to look at it.  I had a quirkiy issue like this, turned out I had a poor positive wire making contact with ground.
 
Is there any label on that 20A fuse that blows?  Difficult to guess without some clues about what the fuse is designed to protect.  Also, we really need the make/model of that converter/charger; otherwise we are just guessing wildly. A photo of the front panel of it would help too.  I think Starcraft used an Elixir converter/charger back then. It's a cheaply made unit with a poor track record for reliability. It is no longer made but owners have substituted units from Progressive Dynamics or Boondocker.  You might also find an Elixir unit on Ebay - they show up now & again.


It seems you have a problem whether the power source is battery or converter, so I'm inclined to doubt there is a battery hook-up issue.  Does that 20A fuse blow when you connect to shore power? Or just the clicking sound and no power anywhere?

A mobile RV tech would probably be willing to work on it if you need help.
 
Thanks for the replies. I will try to load up a picture later today.  I don?t believe the fuse is labeled.  No fuses blow with shore power. Just clicking noise. Looks like I?ll be looking for a mobile mechanic.
 
Here is the converter. 20 amp fuse that blows is marked battery protection.
 

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Those pics were horrible!
 

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"Battery Protection" is a euphemism for the circuit that detects miswiring to the battery, e.g. reverse polarity. Your description of the wires sounds correct, but something is obviously wrong.  This excerpt from a Centurion manual may help:
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0273/4347/files/DOC012218-004.pdf

Best Converter recommends the PD 4135 as a replacement for the Centurion 3000 you have.
http://www.bestconverter.com/Centurion-CS-3000-Replacement-_c_63.html
 
Well it’s been a minute. So to follow up with the fix. I called around and the quotes I got to have someone replace the converter were ridiculous. I ended up ordering a replacement online (WFCO 8725 I think it was) for half what any dealer was going to get it for. It ended up sitting in the garage until the weather was good enough to work on it. Took detailed notes and pictures on how the old one was wired up and went at it. A couple hours later a couple of scrapped knuckles later the converter was replaced and had no issues with shore and battery power. Thanks for you’re inputs.
 
That’s awesome. That wasn’t so bad after all and just think of the money you saved. Thanks for getting back to us. It’s only been almost a year. 😅😂🤣 Just kidding.
 

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