Converter constantly cycles b/w battery & shores

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   I was thinking that also. What type of battery/batteries do you have? If they are flooded cell, have you checked the electrolyte level recently to make sure the plates are covered? You could very well have a bad battery. If the plates are exposed, you may have a damaged battery that may or may not charge properly if water is added to cover the plates (distilled only please).

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StephenH Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List podders Helping podders - pHp Joined: 29 Nov 2015 Location: Wake Forest, NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 6290	Topic: Converter constantly cycles b/w battery & shores Posted: 06 Jun 2019 at 1:36pm
	I was thinking that also. What type of battery/batteries do you have? If they are flooded cell, have you checked the electrolyte level recently to make sure the plates are covered? You could very well have a bad battery. If the plates are exposed, you may have a damaged battery that may or may not charge properly if water is added to cover the plates (distilled only please).
	StephenH Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS

BSCowboy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 30 Mar 2019 Online Status: Offline Posts: 9	Posted: 06 Jun 2019 at 3:04pm
	All, thank you for the advice. I don’t have the reader on me, I’ll stop and pick one up. If this is a bad battery and won’t hold a charge or something else, then I need to remedy that situation. I drove a couple hundred miles to my next stop, this one for longer than one night, and everything works without the converter cycling. I will still follow up and have the battery checked. On a side note, I just had to replace an Optima Battery in my truck after owning it less than a year. First Optima to ever go bad on me, good thing it was under warranty. So, assuming this isn’t a bad battery, then I somehow drained the battery (prolly left something on w/out knowing) and the Converter was simply trying to charge the battery and run everything while the low battery itself was also under load. In other words, the low battery was causing an imbalance in the whole system. Lesson for the day; don’t drain the battery. Duly noted. In the event I do drain the battery the best option is to let the converter charge the battery by reducing the 12 v load (by pulling the pertinent fuses). Thanks again everyone!
	Take care, Bryan Smith

StephenH Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List podders Helping podders - pHp Joined: 29 Nov 2015 Location: Wake Forest, NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 6290	Posted: 06 Jun 2019 at 3:37pm
	Good. I'm glad it worked out for you. I have not had to pull fuses, just run the refrigerator on shore power or propane and never on 12V. I only did that once when we first got our RPod and found out that even dual 6V batteries can't run the refrigerator overnight. I think the tow vehicle we had at the time was not putting enough current through to both run the refrigerator and charge the battery. I also had a converter go bad and had to get a battery charger to connect to charge it up until I could get a replacement installed. Now I carry it just in case.
	StephenH Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS

offgrid Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290	Posted: 06 Jun 2019 at 4:43pm
	Yes, no need to pull fuses, just keep the 12 loads off as much as possible, and leave the charger to do its thing. If the battery can hold a charge everything will be ok. If not, then it’s probably time to think about a replacement.
	1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold

GlueGuy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 15 May 2017 Location: N. California Online Status: Offline Posts: 2630	Posted: 06 Jun 2019 at 6:24pm
	We leave our RP-179 plugged in almost all the time when we're not using it. Even with us going out there and turning on the lights and running the stereo a bit, our converter almost never cycles. The only time we hear the fan come on is if we have had it unplugged from shore power for more than a couple of hours.
	bp 2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River 2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost

Ifishlbj Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 06 Sep 2018 Location: 78633 Online Status: Offline Posts: 9	Posted: 07 Jun 2019 at 9:02am
	My converter fan cycles when the vent/fan in the bathroom is on low. The fan on the converter comes on briefly after the rig has been unplugged from shore power for a few days. I believe this is normal operation.

offgrid Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290	Posted: 07 Jun 2019 at 9:17am
	The converter fan is going to run based on the internal cooling requirements of the converter. It will run faster when the converter is supplying more current to the battery and so is running hotter. Its not tied to anything else. Here is what WFCO says about it. Should my fan run all the time? No. The fan is controlled by the load. The fan will start running at a low speed when you have approx. 3.0 to 6.0 DC Amp draw. It will increase in speed as you add more load until you have approx. 14.0 to 15.0 Amps draw. At this point, the fan is at its maximum speed and will stay there even if you add more load, should amperage drop below 3.0 to 6.0 DC amps, the fan will shut off.
	1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold

GlueGuy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 15 May 2017 Location: N. California Online Status: Offline Posts: 2630	Posted: 07 Jun 2019 at 10:49am
	So if the fan is running, that implies that the load is > 3 amps or so?
	bp 2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River 2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost

offgrid Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290	Posted: 08 Jun 2019 at 4:24am
	3-6 amp range yes, that’s the implication. I haven’t measured it. The fan is probably controlled by internal heat sink temperature rather than directly by current.
	1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold

BSCowboy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 30 Mar 2019 Online Status: Offline Posts: 9	Posted: 08 Jun 2019 at 10:50am
	Follow up: Everything is working fine, it was simply that I drained the battery. Battery checked out. Thanks to y’all’s help (i’m a Texan), i now understand the system much better. And, more importantly, I feel more confident I can handle future problems. A quick question; I am running the fridge on propane b/c while running it on 110v yesterday it kept flashing the red warning sign and beeping. Nothing else was drawing power and I checked everything. I switched it to propane and haven’t had a problem since. Any idea what could cause such a thing?
	Take care, Bryan Smith