Electrostumped

[bahumbug]

Wow. I just replaced the Magnatek Power Converter with a Progressive Dynamics 45amp upgrade. After powering up the unit (reconnecting both batteries and plugging in shore power) I heard a circuit breaker clunking. I found the culprit at the house battery and it was hot. I assumed, incorrectly, that a grounded short was the issue. However after disconnecting it from the battery positive I found it to be live 12v . Could it be from the running battery? The Isolator? The PD Power Converter LED shows that it is charging at a high rate. Any ideas?
Ron

[markopolo]

Unplug from 110v.
Put a 12v load on the battery like running a fan and turning on 12v lights to try to remove surface charge.
Turn off the loads and measure the battery voltage.
If it is low like 12.5v or so then your new 45 amp converter is trying to bulk charge it.

The wiring and thermal breaker might have been originally installed for a 25 to 35 amp converter. The thermal breaker might be getting overloaded.

What model Magnetek did you replace?
Can you see an amp rating on the breaker?

[bahumbug]

Belay that. Its not from the isolator. Apparently its the power feed from the PD Charger. I guess the Circuit breaker is at fault.
Regards, Ron

[bahumbug]

Mark, I replaced a Magnatek 6336 36 amp with a PD 4645 45 amp. The circuit breaker at the battery ia a 12 volt 30 amp.

[markopolo]

Next thing to consider is the wire gauge size.
Best to check 12v wire gauge charts for rated ampacity and length of the wire: http://www.windsun.com/Hardware/Wire_Table.htm
Then you'll know what size breaker you can use.

[bahumbug]

I guess I have a serious problem. I subbed out the 30 amp breaker which is mounted at the battery box for a 50 amper. After two hours, the green led which indicated the level of charging is still on steady and the wire is warm. The cooling fan was also on. I surmise that this problem is what may have caused the death of the power converter and caused the previous owner to buy two new batteries. I sure wish I could find some kind of wiring schematic for the power converter to and from the batteries.
Ron

The wire to the house battery is 10 ga. which may not be acceptable.

[markopolo]

10 gauge is small. I went with about 5 feet of 6 gauge wire when I upgraded my old 10 amp converter to a PD 45 amp this year.

If your model has the "Charge Wizard" here's some info: http://www.progressivedyn.com/prod_d...ge_wizard.html
After 14.v DC bulk mode expect 30 hours at 13.6v DC "normal mode". Then it should go into float or storage mode.

It should be a direct run of +positive and -negative wires from the battery to the converter with maybe a battery disconnect switch and / or a use or breaker on the +positive wire along the way.

Do you have 2 coach (house) batteries and 1 chassis (engine) battery or 1 coach battery and 1 chassis battery?

[bahumbug]

Thanks for the help, Mark. I didn't know it would charge for so long. I guess the next project will be routing 6 ga wires. Thank you.
Ron
PS 1 House Battery and one Chassis Battery. I assume one of the wires going to the House Positive is from the Chassis Battery.

[markopolo]

Originally Posted by bahumbug

.................... I assume one of the wires going to the House Positive is from the Chassis Battery.

Yes. One from the house battery will be connected to the isolator.

There might be a -neg ground wire to the frame.
There could be a +pos wire to the generator starter if you have a gen set.
Sometime accessories get wired right to the battery instead of the DC panel. And wires to an inverter if you have one.

The converter probably only charges the house battery. It is still rare to find setups that charge and maintain both the house and chassis battery.

I know the feeling of figuring all this out without schematics, no labels etc. My van was built by someone. I spent a long time just looking at everything trying understand all the wiring. Finally it all started making sense.