Fishin_Fool
Member
- Joined
- May 16, 2023
- Posts
- 20
I've been having trouble with all of my tank sensors when doing a level test on my control panel. They all (fresh, gray, black, propane) read full, even though I KNOW they are empty. LP gas is about 1/4 full based on the tank gauge. This was going on for quite a while. One day recently, I was still trying to determine what the problem was. I started turning off breakers and kept checking levels. When I turned of the converter/fridge breaker, all of a sudden, the levels read normal. This had me scratching my head. I talked to a tech at Camping World about it. He asked me to check the output from my converter. While on the phone, I measured it (as I have before). It read 12.2VDC. He told me it is supposed to measure 13.6 under normal circumstances. I didn't realize it was supposed to read that high. He then told me to check the converter DC output but use the AC scale on my meter. It should show 0VAC. When I checked, there was 4VAC of noise coming out of the converter. The tech then said the converter was bad and the AC ripple on the DC line was the cause of my weird tank level readings. He said the converter was not really strong enough to even charge the house batteries at that level. He asked what rig I have and said the converter (45A) seemed a bit underrated for what I have. He recommended I upgrade my converter from 45A to a 55 or 65A. So, I ordered a 55A replacement and after an hour or so, I had a converter that works perfectly. Output read 13.7VDC with 0VAC ripple. Converter fan cycles, which I hadn't noticed the old one was not cycling when the temp gets a little high or the batteries are charging. I just wanted to post this experience and share the knowledge for anyone that may have voltage/charging problems that seems a bit out of the norm. I'm experienced with troubleshooting electrical systems and this one had me stumped for a while.
