wa8yxm
Davison Michigan (East of Flint)
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StirCrazy wrote:
looks like your converter is fried. should be 13.6 to 13.7 with no battery hooked up. so, you likely need a new converter and a new battery
I'd need to haul some serious test gear into his rig to make an "Diagnosis" but.
13.6 volts DC is not the same as 13.6 RMS.
The old Magnetek 6300 Well if you read on the older analog volt meters the DC out was like 12-12.6 but if you read on the type of hardware I have you saw 18 volts (Depending on the device. I have both kinds)
so his 12 volts... might just be poor filtering of a supply with lots of ripple. Or it may be a very smart converter that says "Well I do not sense a battery so I'll go with the lower voltage"
Some I'm told do that. never seen one but that's not the business i'm in.
But if you are planning on running w/o battery by all means.
If it's a trailer you need to tow.. Use a battery tender on the disconnected battery. re-connect to tow
Or upgrade converter to a Progressive Dynamics 9200 series. (or 4600 if it's part of the power distribuition assembly).
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Boon Docker
Mountain Foothills of Southern Alberta
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His 12.9v reading from the converter (with no battery) is 14.32v RMS.
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ktmrfs
Portland, Oregon
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Boon Docker wrote:His 12.9v reading from the converter (with no battery) is 14.32v RMS.
how do you know that? If the converter is putting out 12.9V DC with little or no ripple the RMS voltage is 12.9V
Unless you LOOK at the output waveform and KNOW what kind of meter is used you don't know what the RMS value is.
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144Grayling
Lopez Island, WA
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According to the operators manual the power converter has 3 modes: bulk, absorption and float. If the output voltage of the battery drops to 13.2 it goes into bulk mode and puts out 14.4 VDC. When the battery reaches 14.4 or after 4 hours, (whichever comes first) it reverts to absorption mode (13.6 VDC). After detecting no load for 48 hrs the converter goes into float mode (13.2).
Notice that none of the modes put out 12.9, so yes it’s probably defective. But as I said above, everything I need 12 volts for is working fine so I’m just going to live with it. I never timed how long I heard the cooling fan running (which I guess was bulk mode) but it seemed like more than 4 hrs. However long it ran, it boiled the battery. Maybe because the battery never got to 14.4 and the converter kept trying, possibly longer than it should have.
There is a caution in the manual that if it cycles into bulk mode more than once during a charge cycle to check for a bad battery. I wasn’t paying good attention and should have done that. And timed the bulk mode. And of course I shouldn’t have left the battery outside uncharged for 2 winters. So I lost all kinds of points on this one. As long as it’s not going to drive the converter crazy with zero volts battery discharge and damage it to the point it doesn't put out 12 volts, I can live with it. And as long as it’s not going to burn the trailer down trying to charge an air gap.
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StirCrazy
Kamloops, BC, Canada
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Joined: 07/16/2003
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wa8yxm wrote:
I'd need to haul some serious test gear into his rig to make an "Diagnosis" but.
so his 12 volts... might just be poor filtering of a supply with lots of ripple. Or it may be a very smart converter that says "Well I do not sense a battery so I'll go with the lower voltage"
not really a simple multimeter would do, if you really wanted to see a wavelength a simple oscilloscope will work.
He told us the model number and that's what that converter is supposed to put out as an output, from the manufacture, with no battery. We are not talking generics here but rather an actual test procedure from the manufacturer for that model.
but why the heck are we talking about RMS here, that is to get the average power from an ac power form and compare it to a DC voltage, there is no DC RMS, we do get DC ripple that is introduced from components and old unfiltered systems when they are plugged in or failing but that usually presents as a higher or lower overall voltage, and same thing you need a oscilloscope to see the ripple, so a manufacture isn't going to use that as a simple test the consumer can do as while you don't need an expensive one not many people have purchased a oscilloscope for their home tool box.
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Boon Docker
Mountain Foothills of Southern Alberta
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ktmrfs wrote:Boon Docker wrote:His 12.9v reading from the converter (with no battery) is 14.32v RMS.
how do you know that? If the converter is putting out 12.9V DC with little or no ripple the RMS voltage is 12.9V
Unless you LOOK at the output waveform and KNOW what kind of meter is used you don't know what the RMS value is.
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144Grayling
Lopez Island, WA
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Ok. I checked the converter output this morning and it’s 13.2 VDC So it’s in float mode.
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ScottG
Bothell Wa.
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Joined: 02/25/2005
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144Grayling wrote:Ok. I checked the converter output this morning and it’s 13.2 VDC So it’s in float mode.
Perfect.
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StirCrazy
Kamloops, BC, Canada
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144Grayling wrote:Ok. I checked the converter output this morning and it’s 13.2 VDC So it’s in float mode.
with a battery or without. if without it still isn't right and it won't go into any "Mode" without a battery connected as it is the state of charge of the battery that determines the load, or time at that state of charge. If this is with a battery you could be good. without. still doesn't meet specs.
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time2roll
Southern California
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WFCO does not require a battery.
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