This topic contains 14 replies, has 6 voices, and was last updated by Roger & Sue Fell 2 months, 1 week ago.
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Hi Misty, sounds like you have a blown fuse on your converter for DC power and your battery is getting low. I can only guess not knowing what converter you have, but look on the converter unit for the fuse. Also make sure the converter is getting power to the 115 volt plug in for converter.
Most of your lights, RV forced air furnace, electronics for fridge/ hotwater heater and A/C, fresh water pump all run off your 12 volt system. Your Battery is a part of that system, and will be charged by your converter.Check the converter and its 115 plug and if that is not the problem post back and we all might be able to help you guys.
Good luck and……….Happy Trails!!!
Dutchman seems to have a pretty good site for service and manuals. Without knowing which components are in your trailer, it’s hard to help you, possibly some pictures of your power center would help. In general, make sure all your breakers are on. Most power centers have two 12 volt fuses,usually 30 amp, to protect the 12 volt converter from hooking up the battery incorrectly, if either burns out the battery won’t charge.
http://dutchmen.com/service
Often, if there has been a power outage or surge or nearby thunderstorm, the GFI circuits in the trailer will trip. You should have an outlet somewhere in the trailer that has test and reset buttons. Take a lamp or something you can plug in and test your outlets, as the GFI outlet normally protects quite few other outlets, mostly anything near water and your exterior outlets. In my unit, the GFI outlet with the test/reset is by the bathroom sink. If it is tripped, push the reset button until it clicks.
Hopefully, some of this helps.
#1 did not having the surge protector in place when we had our random block power outage short out something? Maybe a fuse?
Probably not.
#2 can some one explain what runs off the battery vs. what runs off the “shore” hookup?
Furnace, fridge electronics, water heater electronics, stereo, water pump, lights, fans, propane detector.
#3 does having the battery hooked up while connected to house/shore power charge it?
Yes.
#4 how can we tell if converter is fried vs. fuses? Can i assume since the tv still works with camper getting power from house hookup converter safe?If your tv plugs into a power outlet, it’s running off shore power. That doesn’t mean the converter is being powered, check breakers and GFI outlets.
i am in need of some advise on what to check on our camper. My husband hooked up our 30amp camper to our house using combination of dogbone and extension cord on friday. Everything seem ok until this evening (sunday) i noticed the interior lights were very dim. I asked if he had connected to the house with surge protector also as we just happened to have a short power outage early saturday morning. He did not.He also did not have battery hooked up. Sooooo..
The battery must be hooked up even when using shore power. Hook the battery back up and see if the lights get bright again. Maybe when you say he had the battery unhooked, he just had it unhooked from the charging wire from the converter, so the battery was powering the lights but not being recharged and eventually wore down.
If the lights are still dim, look for the power center and you should see a row of cct breakers, look like black sideways light switches. You can try and reset them.
Also if using an extension cord make sure it is a thick heavy duty one and not super long as that can cause issues of low voltage.
About the only time you blow these fuses is if you hook up the battery backwards. On RV’s white goes to the negative, black goes to positive post. If you find this confusing put some red tape on the black cable so you don’t forget.
Glad that the problem was resolved. Simple easy fix. Now prepares bill for advice. Lets see $90 dollars and hour. 52 cents a letter that was typed lol. You have to love what at first turns out to be omg what happened its going to cost a fortune to fix to a couple fuses.
James and Michelle just a strollinBlown fuses are certainly a simple answer to what could be a complicated issue!
That’s awesome Misty! Nice trouble shooting Roger & Eddie.
That’s what fuses are for, so you DON’T burn anything! Happy to help!
One thing to remember, this just happened to me two weeks ago. FOr a year the drivers seats controls would always blow a fuse, I would replace it with what was in there a 15 amp fuse. Month later blow it again. I figured I had a short somewhere and not having any electrical experience I took it into the dealer for a check up. Few hours later they called said it was fixed. I was all excited and when I went to pick it up he showed me the electrical panel that had the layout of the electrical system printed on it. It showed that a 25 amp fuse was supposed to be in the spot. Someone had put a lower amp fuse in it and I never noticed. SInce they know I bought the coach used they were nice enough to go threw the panel and put correct size fuses in for me. They ended up replacing two other fuses that were of the wrong size and nice enough to use my fuses that I had at no cost. Don’t always assume whats in there is the correct size
James and Michelle just a strollinHi James, Good post! I’ve been down that road before, never take anything for granted.
Happy Trails!!!
All the more reason to have an intimate knowledge of your unit. Most come with a huge sheaf of manuals, and most of the answers are in the manuals. If you take something apart, take a picture first so it can go back together the same way.
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