Elixir ELX-45 converter -couple of questions

Forum searches haven't turned up an answer to these questions:

1. Appears the converter in our 2307C is not charging the batteries when the trailer is connected to shore power / generator. Found a couple of threads that reference a pair of 30 amp inline fuses behind the converter face plate in the leads that route charging voltage to the batteries - pulled the face plate & don't find those fuses.

Circuit board with the other fuses (id'ed as the "DC Distribution Panel" in the Elixir owner's manual) has 4 female spade clips to the left of the vertical fuse stack oriented such that a pair of fuses would plug into them. The manual's overall "front view" illustration appears to show them as the location of a pair of 30 amp fuses (F10 & F11), but there's no indication fuses have ever been installed there.

I find no info in the manual regarding F10 & F11 - anyone know for certain if those ARE the battery charging circuit fuses? If so, any reason why there wouldn't be fuses installed?

Photos of the converter with the face plate removed are attached.

2. Elixir owner's manual "Operation" section has an entry that says "for faster battery charge, turn on the converter and reduce DC appliance load", but I can find no further reference as to how to "turn on the converter" - I've always assumed that the converter activated automatically when the trailer's plugged into a 110/120 Volt AC source (shore power or generator) - is this not correct?

3. If the converter is NOT providing 12 volt DC charging voltage to the batteries when an AC source is hooked up, will connecting a charger to the batteries without disconnecting the positive battery cable cause a problem?

OldCar - You have to look behind the fuse panel to find them. This thread shows their location on the Elixir I had: https://www.hilotrailerforum.com/f28/converter-troubleshooting-and-repair-6454/ It appears you have the same converter. Possibly, you may have to unscrew that panel to move it off the converter so you can see behind it. You can poke around in there without danger as long as your shore power is off. I'd also disconnect the battery too.

And yes, F10 and F11 should have had fuses installed in them, but for some weird reason, Elixir decided not to do that. I don't think installing fuses there will do anything. I'm pretty sure there are no wires connected to the fuse holders at the back. The fuses are inline on the wiring behind the fan. There are other connections on the front of the fuse board that I think should have been used, but they aren't.

Edit: I looks like you have a metal plate behind the fuse panel that I don't seem to have had. It's quite possible those fuses are behind that metal plate. It's also possible they're behind the right hand fan. I think it's stupid that the manufacturers of these converters buried those fuses like they did, and it's a good reason to replace the converter with a better one from Progressive Dynamics or Best Converter.

- Jack

Thanks, Jack - I'll pull the board the fuse panel is attached to and see what's back there - looked in past both fans with a very bright LED flashlight and didn't see anything that looked remotely like an inline fuse carrier, so if they're there, they're likely behind the upper panel.

Pulling that panel will also let me see if there are any leads going to fuse 10 & 11 positions on the board - sure seems like that would have been the logical way for Elixir to have routed the battery charge wiring but who knows....

I'll post a follow up with what I find.....

You were 100% correct - both inline fuse carriers are behind the circuit board the fuse stack is part of. Both fuses were fine......

For what it's worth, the two pair of female spade clips that Elixir says should have 30 amp fuses installed in them are also soldered into the circuit board, so really no way to know what they're supposed to protect.

Thinking at some point I may route the two inline fuse leads through the bulkhead and over to the left side of the panel under the circuit breakers - that way the fuses would at least be semi-accessible behind the front panel.

If both fuses were good, I don't know why you wouldn't be getting charging power to the battery(s) when plugged into shore power. Is it possible one of the Circuit Breakers in the battery compartment is tripped? I've learned that some of them have a reset button on them that you would have to push to reset it. If the one between the converter and the battery is popped, you would not get charging power. My CBs reset automatically after they cool down - usually within less than 5 seconds.

If the battery is receiving charging current, it will read above 12.7V using a multimeter if plugged into shore power. Probably will be in the 14V range. If less than 12.7, it is not being charged. Is it possible the battery itself is faulty and has an internal short? This would cause low voltage there too.

If you disconnect the positive cable from the battery and then put your multimeter on the ends of the two cables, (taking the battery out of the circuit) you'd see if the converter is sending power too.

I'd think about the only other cause of not charging would be a break in the charging wire or the connection to ground.

- Jack

I don't believe it was mentioned if the lights operate when hooked to shore power. If they are, that indicates the converter is supplying power to the interior but not to the battery. As Jack said, check the circuit breakers in the battery box area.

wiring

oldcarguy said:

Forum searches haven't turned up an answer to these questions:

1. Appears the converter in our 2307C is not charging the batteries when the trailer is connected to shore power / generator. Found a couple of threads that reference a pair of 30 amp inline fuses behind the converter face plate in the leads that route charging voltage to the batteries - pulled the face plate & don't find those fuses.

Circuit board with the other fuses (id'ed as the "DC Distribution Panel" in the Elixir owner's manual) has 4 female spade clips to the left of the vertical fuse stack oriented such that a pair of fuses would plug into them. The manual's overall "front view" illustration appears to show them as the location of a pair of 30 amp fuses (F10 & F11), but there's no indication fuses have ever been installed there.

I find no info in the manual regarding F10 & F11 - anyone know for certain if those ARE the battery charging circuit fuses? If so, any reason why there wouldn't be fuses installed?

Photos of the converter with the face plate removed are attached.

2. Elixir owner's manual "Operation" section has an entry that says "for faster battery charge, turn on the converter and reduce DC appliance load", but I can find no further reference as to how to "turn on the converter" - I've always assumed that the converter activated automatically when the trailer's plugged into a 110/120 Volt AC source (shore power or generator) - is this not correct?

3. If the converter is NOT providing 12 volt DC charging voltage to the batteries when an AC source is hooked up, will connecting a charger to the batteries without disconnecting the positive battery cable cause a problem?

Click to expand...

I recently had to replace the converter/charger in my camper. The black and white wire on the left side are the 110V power to the converter/charger. The black wire goes to the breaker to supply power to the converter. The white wire attaches to the neutral bar. The yellow and white wires coming up on the right are the 12VDC coming up to operate all the 12v needs of the camper. These wires run behind the fuse circuit board. I would shut off the breaker for the converter and remove the fuse circuit board to determine where the 12v wires go. There should be wires that go to the battery. The unit I installed provides 14v when first turned on then after about an hour drops to 13v.

Update.....

All electrical equipment works on shore power and everything that runs on 12 volts works on battery power - problem has been that the batteries don’t seem to charge fully, and run down much faster than it seems they should (batteries are two identical group 27 marine deep cycle units connected in parallel).

There are no fuses popped in the converter, and no breakers tripped.

One of the pair of batteries installed when this thread was started turned out to have a bad cell. Took both back to my local Autozone, got a replacement for the bad one (AZ isn't always my first choice for parts, but after retiring from an AZ subsidiary, my retiree discount often saves enough to tip the scales).

Installed the replacement battery and charged both for several hours before taking the trailer to the coast for a few days - first night out, both batteries went completely dead about 2 hours after shutting down the generator. Took both batteries back to an AZ in that area, manager checked both, said the new battery had a couple of weak cells; also said my local store really shouldn't have given me that battery, as it was already 18 months old. He ordered two new-new ones in, and replaced both at no charge.

For the balance of the trip, both batteries were charged using a regular 120 volt charger every time the generator was run (B+ lead disconnected at the battery, trailer shore power cable & 120 volt battery charger plugged into the generator). Had no further low battery issues over the next 4 nights, although it did require several hours of charging each day to bring both batteries back up to full charge with the charger set on 3 amps.

Given the above, although bad/defective batteries were undoubtedly part of the problem, I also suspect the converter is not putting enough amps into the charging circuit to fully recharge the batteries when the trailer's plugged into shore power or the generator.

To provide adequate charging capacity, I'm considering permanently installing a 10 amp maintenance charger across both batteries (positive terminal on one, negative on the other), with a battery disconnect switch in the positive lead between the battery and the junction block that feeds power to the hydraulic pump and on into the trailer's electrical system. That combination would allow the batteries to be quickly and easily isolated from the trailer electrical system when it's connected to shore/generator power while making faster charging possible by simply plugging the maintenance charger into a 120 volt source (shore power or generator).

Maintenance charger that will probably be used is a waterproof NOCO Genius 10x1, with a Blue Sea marine waterproof disconnect switch for battery isolation (links below)
(https://no.co/genpro10x1) (https://www.bluesea.com/products/6006200/m-Series_Mini_On-Off_Battery_Switch_with__Knob_-_Black)s

Good troubleshooting, OldCar! A bad battery will definitely prevent proper charging and will give the appearance of a malfunctioning converter. What you plan to do sounds good - I like the looks of the NOCO Genius and you can certainly plug it into the 120V output of your generator.

I'd give some serious consideration to replacing your Elixir converter though. That is old technology and it really is not up to the task of keeping batteries healthy. You could argue that you may not even use that converter anymore with the NOCO available, but it would be simpler to have one that works well.

- Jack

Just a thought.

I agree with Jack. Just get a new boondocking converter. We have owned two HiLOS and had the fun of replacing converters in both units. Thank goodness DH has a background in electrical and did DIY on both converters.

Undoubtedly will replace the converter at some point - most likely after this camping season.

In addition to providing a means of faster battery charging, one of peripheral reasons for thinking seriously about doing the NOCO charger / disconnect switch install is to make it easy to isolate the batteries and have them on a maintenance charger when the trailer's in storage. I have small maintenance chargers on both my wife's '95 Miata and my '66 Nova wagon - it's great to know that the batteries will always be at full charge when we want to use either car, and the chargers do seem to extend battery life significantly.