Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 
 

Go Back   Hi-Lo camper travel trailer forum > Hi-Lo Tech > Electrical Systems, Charging and Solar
Click Here to Login
Register FAQ Community Calendar Today's Posts Log in

Electrical Systems, Charging and Solar Electrical components and wiring, batteries, charging systems, generators and solar topics.
Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 12-11-2023, 10:57 PM   #1
Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: southern california
Posts: 59
Default 12v converter charger troubleshooting

My 12v converter appears to have stopped charging the battery. I went out to go camping recently and I noticed that the batteries were not charging and were almost dead. The batteries are a pair of group 31 deep cycle batteries that were new last April. I pulled the batteries and had the dealer charge them and test them and the batteries are good. How do I troubleshoot the converter?
__________________

quickfarms is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-12-2023, 10:57 AM   #2
Site Team
 
JackandJanet's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Pine, AZ
Posts: 4,692
Default

Quickfarms - I don't know what converter you have, but the battery charging circuit on the ones I know about goes through a pair of 30A fuses that are inside the converter and if either (or both) of these are burned out, the battery will not be charged. They are there supposedly to prevent damage if the batteries are installed incorrectly (reverse wired) but I've found they can fail if you raise the top with the trailer plugged into shore power or do anything else that puts a heavy current draw on the converter.

Those fuses MAY be easy to get to once you open the front panel of the converter, or, they may be wired inline kind of behind the front fuse panel that you'll see when you open it. Here's a link to a thread where I show these fuses on my old, OEM Elixir converter: https://www.hilotrailerforum.com/f28...d-repair-6454/. Those fuses would be what I check first.

I replaced the Elixir converter with a new one that puts those fuses up front where they need to be.

- Jack
__________________

__________________
Hi-Lo 1707T - Tire Minder TPMS on Tow Vehicle and Trailer, 300W Solar Battery Charger, Equal-i-zer WDH, Progressive Dynamics Converter, Fan-Tastic Fan, LiFePO4 battery 12V DC Electrical System, SoftStartRV mounted on A/C
2024 F150 Platinum FX4 3.5L PowerBoost SCrew
JackandJanet is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-12-2023, 02:53 PM   #3
sam
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Niagara Falls,NY
Posts: 4,224
Default Converter troubles

If is the original converter it may give you peace of mind to change it out. How i knew our converter was bad the lights would dim when the furnice kicked in. On our second HiLo DH just changed it out because it was the original. We purchased the Boondocker converter from Best Converter. Very good customer service. Great technical advice . If you are out camping you can always use your jumper cables from your tow vehicle to your HiLo battery. Also a portable battery pack charger may come in handy for you.
sam is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-13-2023, 03:08 PM   #4
Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: southern california
Posts: 59
Default

It’s an ELX-45

All the fuses look and test good and the circuit breaker is on

Does the monitor show charging with a fully charged battery

Any other things to check?
Attached Images
File Type: jpg IMG_3692.jpg (317.8 KB, 13 views)
File Type: jpg IMG_3690.jpg (281.1 KB, 8 views)
File Type: jpg IMG_3687.jpg (235.6 KB, 4 views)
quickfarms is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-13-2023, 04:12 PM   #5
Site Team
 
JackandJanet's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Pine, AZ
Posts: 4,692
Default

There's nothing built-in on the trailer that will show you if the converter is charging that I know of. If you have a multimeter, test the voltage at the battery terminals with the converter ON. If you see voltage above 13V, the converter IS delivering power to the battery. If it's below that, probably 12.5V or less, the battery is NOT receiving a charge.

- Jack
JackandJanet is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-03-2024, 09:54 PM   #6
Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: southern california
Posts: 59
Default

Both of the yellow wires from the converter go to but connectors and to the top terminal on the fuse board

The black battery and the red wire from the master switch go to the bottom bat terminal

Based on the wiring diagram it looks like the converter wires should be connected to the black battery wire and the red wire from the master switch should be connected to the battery terminal

Connecting the black battery wire to the red master switch wire would explain why my master switch does not appear to do anything
__________________

quickfarms is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3
Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Hi-Lo Trailers Worldwide or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:21 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
HiLoTrailerForum.com Copyright 2010
×