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BSCowboy View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: Converter constantly cycles b/w battery & shores
    Posted: 05 Jun 2019 at 7:04pm
Howdy,

My first post and second trip in my 2019 Rpod 179.

I have a progressive industries internal EMS installed. The code it’s displaying when I am plugged into shore is E0, so everything should be fine with the shore power, but the converter keeps cycling between the battery and the power.
When on power the fan turns on in the circuit box and the battery goes to 12.4. When the fan is running the battery goes to 13.5. Each time the battery indicator says it’s full.

Other things
The microwave only works on shore power, so it beeps whenever the converter switches.
The Dometic fridge keeps cycling so I turned it to propane and the warning indicator keeps flashing. I’ve confirmed that the propane is on and there is propane in the tank.

CraY thing is that I lived in this thing for a week plugged into my house prior to this trip and everything worked perfectly. Pulled up to the RV spot tonight and nothing seems to be working right?

Any thoughts or suggestions?
Take care,
Bryan Smith
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Jun 2019 at 7:28pm
i’ve Flipped all the circuits off and turned on the inverter, the battery drops to 2/3 full at 12.3v.

I turned off the Dometic fridge and turned it back on after 20 mins or so, the fridge is working now.
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Bryan Smith
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offgrid View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Jun 2019 at 7:44pm
Not sure what you mean by the converter cycling between battery and power? The converter will charge the battery when it’s on shore power, and does nothing when you’re not on shore power.

One thing I’ve noticed with the WFCO charger is that at a relatively low battery state of charge it can get into a cycle in and out of bulk power mode. It senses low battery voltage so goes into bulk power mode, at which point it puts out its max current. The high current makes the battery voltage rise until the charger drops into absorption charge mode. Once in absorption mode the current falls off and the battery voltage drops, sending the charger back into bulk charge mode, and so on.

If you think that might be your problem you can remove as much load as possible from the battery and let the charger recharge it fully, then see if the problem corrects itself.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Jun 2019 at 7:58pm
Ahh, that’s exactly what’s happening.

Thank you!

My apologies, I am quite ignorant of how these systems work. I’ve turned all the 110v circuit breakers off and don’t have anything else turned on at all. I’ll let the shore power recharge the battery (it now says ithe battery is 2/3 full, at 12.4v, and is charging.
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Bryan Smith
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Jun 2019 at 12:05am
It's not the 110 volt loads that is causing the converter to cycle, it's probably the 12V loads.
bp
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Jun 2019 at 6:51am
Originally posted by BSCowboy

Ahh, that’s exactly what’s happening.

Thank you!

My apologies, I am quite ignorant of how these systems work. I’ve turned all the 110v circuit breakers off and don’t have anything else turned on at all. I’ll let the shore power recharge the battery (it now says ithe battery is 2/3 full, at 12.4v, and is charging.


One of the circuit breakers runs the charger, don’t turn that on off. Do turn off any 12v loads you can and especially be sure the fridge is not running on 12v. You can run it on propane or 120v (with its circuit breaker on).
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Jun 2019 at 9:54am
I forgot to mention, Offgrid, I didn’t turn off the circuit for the main or the converter. I left it overnight and flipped them back on today; the same thing is happening.

So, I removed the stereo & microwave fuses for the 12v side as GlueGuy pointed out. I switched the microwave circuit back on and the cycle was still cycling.

The solar charger (I think of it as a trickle charger) has readout staying the battery is 75% full, while the KIB panel that tells me the level of Gray, Black, Fresh, and Battery indicates the battery is full.

Still not sure what to do. Any thoughts?
Take care,
Bryan Smith
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Jun 2019 at 10:32am
It sounds like the converter is alternating between high output, and something less than that. It implies that there is either some other load than the battery (which will cause the battery to drain rather quickly), or there may be some issue with the battery (or batteries). 

If you have a DC current meter (with the clamp), then I might be inclined to monitor the current at the battery + terminal. Typical current drain if all the auxiliary DC loads (like the fridge) should be only 10-30 milliamps or in that neighborhood. If your DC load is over an amp, I would be looking around to see what else is pulling all the current.
bp
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Jun 2019 at 11:45am
Bryan,

The idiot lights on the panel do not indicate the battery is "full." If you look, there are two sets of scales. The one reads the tank levels. The other is for the battery. That one reads from bottom to top: (L)ow, (F)air, (G)ood, (C)harging. So the lights are not indicating that the battery is full but rather that it is charging.

Things to check:
Refrigerator: Are you running it on 12V, 110V, or Propane?
Are you running an inverter to power 110V equipment for when you do not have shore power? Is that turned on?
Those would be the most likely big draws. Lights, thermostat, TV antenna booster, and stereo systems should not be that significant a draw to cause this behavior.

Go and get a clamp-on meter that can read DC as well as AC amperage. Check the power draw. as BP suggested above.
StephenH
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Jun 2019 at 12:51pm
What is the battery voltage with everything (charger and all 12v loads) shut off? I’m starting to think it could be a bad battery cell. If you’re not sure that everything is off, disconnect the negative battery terminal connection, wait half an hour, then take the voltage reading.
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