12V power issues on Winnebago Access 31c

[delvarela]

Hi Everyone,
I hope someone can point me in the right direction.

House batteries not charging when engine running or when plugged in to shoreline power. Check all the fuses and found one of the 30A main converter fuse blown. I replace it and still plugged in to shoreline power but no 12V power at all to rv. Then I hooked up a battery charger to house batteries and the same fuse blows again right away. With the battery charger hooked up to house batteries I get 12V power to RV. Do I have a bad converter? Thanks in advance I'm attaching a picture to show which fuse keeps blowing.

[BFlinn181]

Have you removed or installed batteries lately? It sounds like batteries not hooked up properly. Why not disconnect all batteries, (after taking photo and labeling cables) then try hooking up one battery. See if the fuse is O.K. and the converter/charger is putting out proper voltage. Then add the next battery and again check function of converter/charger.

[delvarela]

No I haven't messed with the batteries at all. The problem started when we left the lights on and the house batteries were drained.

[delvarela]

Tested the wires going to the house batteries and there in no voltage whatsoveer with 110 plugged in or with Generator running. I'm thinking it's a bad converter?

[powercat_ras]

Originally Posted by delvarela

Hi Everyone,
I hope someone can point me in the right direction.

House batteries not charging when engine running or when plugged in to shoreline power. Check all the fuses and found one of the 30A main converter fuse blown. I replace it and still plugged in to shoreline power but no 12V power at all to rv. Then I hooked up a battery charger to house batteries and the same fuse blows again right away. With the battery charger hooked up to house batteries I get 12V power to RV. Do I have a bad converter? Thanks in advance I'm attaching a picture to show which fuse keeps blowing.

Suggested troubleshooting:

- disconnect positive battery line at positive battery post, be sure not to short to ground
- replace the missing 30 A fuse
- connect to shore power
- see if lights, fans, etc. work in RV

= if they work with no battery connected then converter is good and battery is so depleted the converter current flow into it is so high it's blowing the fuse. The resolution is to take out the battery and get it tested at an auto parts store and see if it's still good, replace if bad. If still good but totally dead (less than about 11.5 volts) you need to put it on another battery charger for a while and get it charged back up to a resting voltage of at least about 12 volts before putting it back into the RV. Once it has some charge the converter should finish the recharge without blowing the fuse.

= if nothing works then converter is bad.

Good luck.

[powercat_ras]

One other thought - - - it's possible that the converter got replaced with one that puts out more than 30 amps at some point in your Winnebago's life, and that this is the first time your batteries got so depleted that the converter had to output it's max , and it's more than 30 amps. A lot of Winnebagos use converters that put out a max of 45 Amps DC. In any case the short term fix would be to have the battery charged to the point where the converter output was under 30 amps. I am not suggesting you put a larger fuse in place of the 30 amp fuse, that could be a fire hazard or might cause your fuse panel to fail due to putting current thru it beyond it's design capacity.

[marcham]

Fuses blow due to high current. You have a short either in the converter or between the converter and batteries.

[OLYLEN]

Or the battery bank it self has a shorted battery. With the batteries totally depleted this is problematical.

LEN