Newbie question on Converter/Charger

[mpasq]

Hello All:
We recently purchased our first Travel Trailer (a 2003 Wilderness Yukon 829T) and used it for the first outing of the season over Memorial Day weekend in Harper's Ferry WV. We had electric service at the KOA for the unit and a new 12V deep cycle battery. Initially the battery monitor on the camper showed 3 lights out of 4 for status. Friday night and Saturday we ran a few lights and the Fridge, not much else. Saturday pm the battery monitor was only showing 1 LED at bedtime, by morning it was about dead and our lights were very dim. Now (finally) the question:
Should our converter have supplied 12V (for just lights) even if the battery was going dead?
The converter/charger was on (the charge wizard was blinking) but did not seem to charge the battery. Shouldn't the battery status get to 4 LED's eventually assuming very little load on the battery?
Do these two issues point to a bad converter? The TT is essentially new (a 2003 model from a dealer that went under so it was never titled or ever used before now), perhaps the lack of use has affected the converter/charger?

Thanks in advance for any advice/ideas.

Mike, Mary, Emmeline Pasquerette
Sharpsburg (Antietam) MD

 

[C Nash]

Newbie question on Converter/Charger

You need a volt meter to ck the charging but, check the water level in the batteries. Are you sure you had 110 at the plug? Did you operate anything that requires 110 volt? The lights should work even if the batteries are bad when hooked to 110 IMO. Might flicker a little.

 

[mpasq]

Newbie question on Converter/Charger

Battery is new and water levels were topped off, was fully charged on a recharger I use for auto batteries. 110V was working, or at least the microwave operated fine.

 

[C Nash]

Newbie question on Converter/Charger

Sounds like bad converter. the same thing happened to mine. Get the name off the converter and look the company up on the internet. They will probably handle it under warrenty. Could also be the charge wizzard. The company will probably send you a refurbished converter with a new charge wizzard. Good luck

 

[Kirk]

Newbie question on Converter/Charger

Did you check to be sure that all 120V-ac circuit breakers were closed? If not, open and reclose each one just to be sure as one of them will supply the power to the converter. Do you have the manual for the converter & Charge Wizard? If so it should tell you what the different lights mean. It clearly sounds as though the converter was not operating. Your converter should supply the needed 12V-dc and also recharge the battery with no action from you other than connecting shore power. Since the microwave did work it is save to say that the 120V power was available. Your converter also probably has a power plug that should be plugged into an outlet that is located very near to it. Check to make sure that it is connected to power. Since your RV just went into service, I would think that it would still have the normal 1 year warranty, and all watttanties from the appliance manufacturers. Check with the dealer you purchased it from on that. You may also want to contact the manufacturer of the converter, or visit their website.

On a related subject, when you purchased the trailer, did it come with all paperwork? If so, make sure that you send in all of the warranty registration cards for the appliances, if you have not done so. This is especially true since your trailer was manufactured so long before it was put into service. Good Luck!