replacing converter in 2006 28 towlite

[riki4570]

replacing converter in 2006 27 towlite

We are thinking of replacing the old elixer converter with a new one and my question is , is there enough wire behind unit to pull it out far enough to work on back wiring?

 

[retiredcamper47]

Should be enough wire to pull it away from wall. Only one way to find out. Just remove the screws from the front panel and gently pull it forward. Make sure it is not plugged into electrical and a battery cable is disconnected before you do this. Don’t want to risk shorting anything out.

Bob

 

[RichR]

Do you want to replace the whole power center or just the converter? Replacing the converter is a whole lot less work. If you want to just want to replace the converter go to:BestConverter - Converters, Inverters, Electrical Supplies, Electronics Chose a converter of equal amperage. The Boondocker is a popular replacement. DO NOT replace the power center with a WFCO, they are junk.

Whatever you do, take photographs of the wiring hookup before you start taking things apart.

 

[sam-HILO]

Replacing converter

Best converter is a great place to purchase from. Call and speak with the tech before you buy. Have your old model #..Dh had to use additional wire when he installed ours in our 1990 Classic HiLo. He got some wire at the Automotive store. Tech help is available if you encounter problems while installing.

 

[riki4570]

We bought the Boodocker 45 from Best converters and here is our story. After many discussions with guy at best we purchased unit. He said it was the best replacement for the Elixer as it would fit space. We very carefully pulled the Elixer out as far as we could, not very far but far enough to access the back. We labled every wire with where it was connected to and pulled out the old unit. The new one would fit fine in hole for the other one so on to wireing the new one, this is where it became a little tricky! First, the AC and DC sides in the new unit were opposite from the old unit, which led to some head scratching. First on the AC side, the;mounting for the circuit breakers would not work, wrong style, had to scavenge parts from old unit and mount in new one. On the DC side no provision for the common was provided so needed to scavenge one from old unit. Now to wiring it up. The AC side wires were to short to reach where they needed to be so had to ad more wire to all of the AC wires, troublesome but not bad. DC wires were long enough but crowded for space on the common. Took three days of tinkering part time till we thought it was ready to go, being the cautious sort. Tested unit as per instructions and it worked as promised. We now have a system that will charge battery's at 3 charge level(we checked). Ye Haw.

 

[retiredcamper47]

riki,

Congrats on your success. If everything was easy, everybody would be doing it.

Bob

 

[Oldcamper7124]

How to tell if the converter is working

I just got my HiLo 22t and I am not sure if the converter is working, without any fancy stuff or equipment how can I tell it its not working or is there a place to turn it on?

 

[JackandJanet]

Oldcamper - Hi and welcome to our group! Testing a converter is easy but you need a multimeter to see if it is charging the battery. They are available at home improvement stores if you don't have one and they don't have to be expensive.

A converter serves two purposes:

1. It passes 120Volt AC house power to the wall outlets and appliances that can use it, such as the refrigerator, hot water heater and microwave, etc.

2. It "converts" that AC power to battery charging DC power. The battery then supplies power to raise the top, light the lights, run the water pump, etc.​

So, to test, simply plug your trailer into a source of house power. You will probably need a 30-20 Amp plug adapter to connect to your home's outlets. At a campground, this is known as "shore power", and they use 30 Amp outlets so no adapter is needed.

With it plugged in, all you have to do is plug some home appliance or light into one of the outlets in the trailer. If it works, you are delivering 120 Volt power to the trailer. You could also use the multimeter to see if an outlet is "live" with 120 Volt power.

Take your multimeter to the battery in your trailer and see what the voltage is at the battery terminals. If the converter is charging the battery, the multimeter should show something between 13.5-14.5 Volts across the battery terminals. If it is showing 12.7 or less, you are NOT charging the battery and you may have one or more blown fuses in the converter. I've had to replace the ones in mine because they blew.

That's really all there is to it. Nothing to turn on.

If anything I've posted is unclear, don't hesitate to ask me to clarify. I've no knowledge of your electrical expertise.

- Jack

 

[Oldcamper7124]

Thanks

Thanks for the info, I know this will sound like I don't know much and when it comes to electricity I don't. If I was to test the battery if its getting charged what setting on the multi-meter do I use. I tried that but it started to smoke so I know I was on the wrong setting what should it be set on?

 

[Treeclimber]

Your multi meter should have a 12 volt setting. Jack gave a great step by step and if you want, you could disconnect the negative cable from the batt and read from the cable to the batt post with "shore" power connected. That will also show the charge rate. Your getting there.
Tree

 

[JackandJanet]

Oldcamper - my multimeters (the ones that are not "autoranging") have DC settings of 2 Volts, 20 Volts and up. In my case, I would set the multimeter to the 20 Volt setting, because you will be measuring voltage that is in the 14 Volt range.

Make sure your meter is on DC Volts, and then, use a setting that is ABOVE 12 V.

Most meters are fuse protected if too much current passes through them. I wonder if you blew that fuse?

Tree's idea on testing with the negative battery cable disconnected is good too. But you would place the meter's positive probe (usually red) on the battery's positive post and the meter's negative probe (usually black) on the trailer's disconnected negative cable. This way, you are measuring the voltage output of the converter directly.

- Jack