Dear Dave,
Five nights ago a breaker tripped. When we would flip it back on, my converter charger would spark! So, we changed the breaker, thinking it was bad. Tonight, the breaker we replaced trips again and kills power to the whole house. Remove the wires to that breaker and I have power back to the camper. The only thing is two outlets in my bedroom aren’t working and all my lights are pretty dim. I was thinking it was the converter, but everything else is working. Do I need new batteries? Would that cause the breakers to trip? Or did I get moisture in my outlets? And why in the heck is my converter sparking???? —Amy, 2003 Alfa Ideal 5th wheel
Dear Amy,
First and foremost, if the converter is sparking, go no further and get a certified RV electrical technician to check it out. Sparks are an indication of a short or other electrical issue that can cause damage or worse—electrocution!
Converter
Just a little overview of what you have according to the photo and what I found on specs for your Alpha 5th wheel. The photo is of a Parallax converter label. The converter takes 120-volt power from the distribution center and charges the house batteries. It is listed at 75 amps, which is a very powerful converter/charger. From the spec’s I can find, your electrical system is a 50-amp service.
With a 50-amp shoreline cord, you have two power lines coming from the plug going to the distribution center, one to each side of the power bar commonly called the buss bar. Typically, one roof air conditioner is wired to one side, the other to the second, so both are not on one 30-amp side. There should be two 30-amp main circuits in the middle of the circuit board panel.
120-volt appliances have their own circuit breakers
The 120-volt appliances such as the air conditioners, refrigerator, outlets, and other components have their own circuit breakers that are either 10 amp, 15 amp, or 20 amp. The converter is also powered through a dedicated circuit breaker which supplies 120-volt power to your 75-amp parallax converter, which in turn provides a 12-volt charge.
When you are talking to your certified RV electrical technician, it would be helpful to identify which breaker you changed, and which one is tripping. If the converter breaker is tripping, it will not shut off the entire coach. However, you indicated removing two wires to the breaker brings power back on with dim lights but two dead outlets.
Even if all the breakers are turned off, the lights, roof vents, water pump and other 12-volt components should still work. That is, if your battery disconnect is not engaged and your batteries are not completely dead. My guess is there is an issue with the outlets and there may be another issue with the charger.
Use multimeter to test batteries
Make sure the rig is not plugged in and use a multimeter to test your batteries. Fully charged, they should read 12.6 volts. If they are below 10.5 volts, most things will not work, although the lights might turn on very dim. Since you have dim lights, I would assume the batteries are low and your converter is not charging them when plugged into shoreline power.
If you are already plugged in, as you indicated, use the multimeter to see what voltage is at your house batteries. If it is plugged in, the converter should be providing at least 13.2 volts or up to 13.6 volts charging; if not, your converter is not working. Make sure the circuit breaker for the converter is on and the battery disconnect is not engaged.
Contact certified electrical technician
Again, it is extremely dangerous to start probing around an electrically energized unit that is creating a spark. Identify where the spark is occurring and contact a certified electrical technician. It might be a combination of issues that need to be addressed. A spark indicates either a short, loose wire, or high voltage. All of these need to be checked by a certified electrical technician. However, there are a few tests that are considered non-destructive, which means without power.
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How can I tell if my converter is charging?
Dear Dave,
I noticed that my house batteries do not seem to be charging when I am plugged into power in a campground or at home. I replaced them this spring and am wondering if the inverter/charger has gone bad, or could it be something else? How can I tell if my converter is charging? —Gregg, 2016 Winnebago Sightseer
Dave Solberg is a leading expert in the RV industry and the author of the “RV Handbook.”
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If in doubt..change it out. I highly recommend changing any WFCO, Parallax or Magnatek to a progressive dynamics Wildkat converter. They build a slip in unit that is fairly easy to swap out and takes better care of your batteries. I changed out 4 of them so far and all are working like a champ. Take not this swap does not include new breakers…just the converter section.
Thank you, Dave, for expanding my understanding of RVs! Safe travels! 🙂