Magnetek power problems

[zoilus]

I want to preface this by saying I'm not a electrician and I only sort of understand what this thing does.

Its my understanding that this converts 12v power for the rv and charges the battery.

Its 6300 series A model 6345

However there is something wrong with it, a couple days ago it made a very loud pop and sometimes every couple mins it makes a electrical buzz sound that also dims my 120v lights.

This makes me think its trying to use the 45a pull it possibly has from 120v to either produce 12v or charge the battery.

List of things I've noticed:
~ electrical buzz that dims 120v lights, lasts bout a sec or two than repeats in a few mins.
~ blew my 12v bulb lights instantly when turned on.
~ my led array lights or cob bulb for 12v all heat up and eventually burn out in the matter of a few mins.

Additional information:
~I have two batteries hooked up to each other, would this cause issues? I've had it hooked up like this for a few years without issues like this.
~don't have a multi meter to test
~my rv has what seems to be a 2nd battery charger in one of the cubbys under the 5th wheel that also has my apartment sized ho****er tank (kinda sketch they next to each other)

So in theory if that 2nd battery charger works, than I shouldn't need the magtek to charge my battery? Does this sound correct?
If that is correct, would I than just need to wire the 12v from the magtek directly to my batteries or would I need to get some kinda 12v inverter for that?

I can't imagine a new unit like this is cheap since mines a 1992 rig it prob cant be replaced easily or cheaply.. But can it be removed entirely? Beyond charging 12v the only other thing this does is convert power to 12v right? So if I have a 2nd battery charger running and I take power directly off the battery than would that remove the need for this magtek unit?

Kinda worried I'm gona burn my place down with this thing not gona lie... But I also can't afford to hire a electrician so hopefully someone here has some insight into this thing...

 

[DonTom]

ts 6300 series A model 6345

Magteks are well known to be crappy converters. I would junk it and replace it with a PD Converter.

I am not sure what your two charger configuration is there. But yeah the converter keeps your house battery charged up. For temp use, you can simply connect a regular car battery charger to it to keep the batteries charged. First, disconnect the Magtek. Connect to 12V, which can be two 6V batteries in series. Check to see what info. is on your batteries to see what you have. Or count the caps on each. Each cap (or hole on top) of the battery is just above two volts so a six volt battery will have three, a 12 V battery will have six.

Do you have two six volt batteries in series are two 12V batteries in parallel ?

You mentioned "inverter" . That is a lot different from a "converter". An inverter gives out 120 VAC from your 12V battery supply. A converter charges your battery from the shore power 120 VAC or from your genny.

-Don- ABQ, NM

 

[zoilus]

They are deep cycle car battery looking things, I assumed these where 12v, its outside in one of my side cubbys.

So I shouldnt need a converter than if I hook up directly to the 12v?

If I'm already hooked up to 12v near the battery on the battery side with the battery charger, and the magtek is under my stove, than in theory I could just unhook the magtek and I'm good to go already if I just cap the ends of the wires that go into it?

 

[John From Detroit]

I support replacing the Magnetek or at least the "Guts" of it with a Progressive Dynamics (4600 to replace the guts otehr models replace the whole assembly) it will likely pay for it self over a few years of NOT replacing your batteries

Most 12 volt batteries used in RV's are MARINE/deep cycle or not DEEP CYCLE (pay attention to case) GC-2 Golf car (And GC-12) are DEEP CYCLE. the difference is the MARINE/deep cycle are really closer to starting batteries. like to be over 75% full, deep cycle go down to half full.

 

[Henry J Fate]

Buy a multimeter and begin taking voltage readings to check up on the 6345 voltage output.

I have a Magnatek 7445 in my mh which is over 20 years old. So far, none of the problems I read about have happened but I do check things on a regular basis.

Battery age and condition will affect the health of the 6345 so be sure you have healthy batteries. It is also a good idea to periodically remove the converter and clean the interior. I believe the 6345 uses fan forced cooling when needed. This draws unfiltered air through the unit which results in a build up of dirt and dust. The location of the converter is also a factor. Be sure there is not anything in the converter area that could obstruct the air flow.

It maybe that you will need to replace the converter but you should take voltage readings to confirm a bad converter and you need to qualify the battery bank as being good.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

It certainly sounds as if that old Magnetek has failed. The dimming suggests a major power draw (internal short?) and the blown 12v lights suggests extreme high voltage output. Get a replacement, either new internals or wire in an external converter/charger. Cost is about $250.

Yes you could disconnect the 120v power from the old Magtek and either feed battery power back to the Magtek's 12v buss or move all the wires (and fusing!) to direct battery connections.

 

[Kirk]

My assessment is pretty much the same as Gary. Unless you get a volt/ohm meter and learn to use it, you are only guessing and throwing parts at things and with electricity that is a very dangerous thing to do.

I want to preface this by saying I'm not a electrician and I only sort of understand what this thing does.

Kinda worried I'm gona burn my place down with this thing not gona lie... But I also can't afford to hire a electrician so hopefully someone here has some insight into this thing...

You should be worried. My first suggestion is that you not sleep in the RV until you have qualified help to resolve the problems. As a career electrical tech I would never take such a risk. If you can't afford qualified help, can you afford life insurance as you may need it.

 

[creativepart]

Totally agree on replacing the charger in your converter.

Besides the problem you are seeing now... that is a 'dumb" charger that doesn't have a float stage and can ruin your batteries by overcharging them. If your batteries are flooded it can boil the water right out of your batteries.

Newer "smart" chargers sense your battery's voltage and state of charge and will modify the charge current and voltage to better condition your batteries.

 

[zoilus]

update:

Apparently everything is on one braker so I had to re-rout power in order to turn that braker off.

The problem was worse than I thought; the power suck every couple mins caused my fridge to rev down enough every couple minutes that it was unable to keep the freezer cold and all my meat started thawing. - So I took a extension cord and plugged it into one of my outside plugs and took it to my fridge, this took the fridge off the same braker as the charger/converter.

So once I had that and everything else off the same line, I just flicked the braker off and I haven't had a problem since.

I tried using my furnace again just now and it actually fired up; this tells me that the battery charger thats hooked up on the battery side of things is working if the batteries have enough of a charge to be able to run my furance - since if the batteries are too low, the fan speed doesn't go high enough to trigger the sail switch and activate the gas - so this is a good sign that all I needed to do was unplug the charger.

Since I do not have a replacement yet I am a bit reluctant to unhook it now since I dont wana hook things up wrong later.

I looked into a Progressive Dynamics 4600 and they are 333 canadian on amazon, bit more than I wana pay for atm, so I might just stick with the current setup of a battery charger hooked up to the battery end since my 12v lights seem to be working and my furance seems to be working - so I'm not totally sure I actually need the Progressive Dynamics 4600 at this point.

I live in my rv full time so "not living in my rv" is not a option for me.

 

[Kirk]

Make sure that your smoke detector and your CO detector are both working.

 

[IBTripping]

I agree with everyone else on this thread. But, let me add that replacing the converter is an easy installation. Shouldn't take more than an hour.

 

[zoilus]

I looked into it and yeah the swap looked pretty easy, however, I live in a rv so as you can imagine funds are tight enough that if I dont have a reason to replace it than it becomes something I wouldnt spend the money on.

Really I'm having a hard time trying to wrap my head around the benefits of this above having a battery charger...

Is there anything the "converter" aspect of this is covering that isnt also directly connected to the 12v battery? Cuz if everything is just hooked up to the battery and this thing charges the battery, than I'm just kinda confused as to what exactly the converter aspect is doing since wouldn't all 12v just be taken off the battery - that is being charged by the charger aspect?

I feel like I'm missing something here, but I can't figure out what this actually does above charging the battery, unless its also giving a 12v signal into the same line as 12v lights that eventually ends up at the battery anyways?

To confirm it is two marine/deep cycle batteries.

 

[DonTom]

but I can't figure out what this actually does above charging the battery,

Not much else. It's just cleaner and works better for an RV house battery than a normal battery charger.

Your "Marine" batteries must be two 12V in parallel. Not as good as "true deep cycle", but if you don't boondock much, they will be fine.

-Don- ABQ, NM

 

[Henry J Fate]

I looked into it and yeah the swap looked pretty easy, however, I live in a rv so as you can imagine funds are tight enough that if I dont have a reason to replace it than it becomes something I wouldnt spend the money on.

Really I'm having a hard time trying to wrap my head around the benefits of this above having a battery charger...

Is there anything the "converter" aspect of this is covering that isnt also directly connected to the 12v battery? Cuz if everything is just hooked up to the battery and this thing charges the battery, than I'm just kinda confused as to what exactly the converter aspect is doing since wouldn't all 12v just be taken off the battery - that is being charged by the charger aspect?

I feel like I'm missing something here, but I can't figure out what this actually does above charging the battery, unless its also giving a 12v signal into the same line as 12v lights that eventually ends up at the battery anyways?

To confirm it is two marine/deep cycle batteries.

The converter not only charges your batteries but while it is doing that, it supplies 12 volt current to whatever you are running or will run without drawing current from the batteries. This keeps the batteries charged most all the time extending the life expectancy. Once power from the portable charger is exceeded, power will be drawn from the batteries.

This may not be much of an issue if you are plugged in, using small loads and stay within the portable charger limits. All should be good in that case and even an occasional draw from the batteries is fine. If you find that the batteries are losing charge on a regular basis, the cost of a converter charger may be worth the investment.

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

Might be stating the obvious, but batteries supply zero energy to power things. They only energy they store and deliver comes from an external source, in this case the converter/charger. Any time the converter is mains powered the house loads are being supplied by the converter and the batteries are just one of those loads, more or less depending on how full they are. Unless one exceeds the power capacity of the converter the batteries will never see discharge.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[Kirk]

I feel like I'm missing something here, but I can't figure out what this actually does above charging the battery,

Read this: The 12V Side of Life

 

[IBTripping]

I used a 10 amp charger on my house batteries for a couple of weeks at one point. All the 12 volt items worked just fine until I got a new converter. If your external charger keeps the batteries from being depleted, you should be fine.