Why won’t RV’s converter charge the battery unless reset button is pushed?

Dear Dave, 
My RV’s converter is not sending voltage to the battery. I put in a new battery, but it didn’t fix the problem. When I push the reset button on the circuit board, the battery starts charging. After a while it stops charging until I push the reset button again. I have noticed that the fan is not coming on. Do I need a new fan, or a new converter? The converter is a 2019 Progressive Dynamics. —Joe, 2021 Prime Time Crusader 26RD

Dear Joe,
Whenever I get a question regarding a Progressive Dynamics product, I contact my trusted tech source, Dennis, at Progressive Dynamics. I have always gotten a very detailed response quickly, but this time the request for guidance sat unanswered for a couple of weeks. Then, this morning, I received an email from Progressive Dynamics stating that Dennis had retired and Dave was taking over his emails.

Dennis has been a wealth of information and even joined us on a podcast or two. He was always my “GOAT” (greatest of all time) for all things 12-volt and charging profiles. He is an avid reader of RVtravel.com, so I am sure he is reading this. I hope you will all join me in congratulating him on retirement. I hope you have a huge bucket list of activities, Dennis.

Here is the email I got back from David in Tech Support:

Dennis is retired now and I will be getting his emails.

This sounds like the fuse or breaker is opening in the positive lead near the battery.

This applies to lead acid or lithium.

The fan may not come on if it is not charging long enough to heat up the converter.

Back to Ask Dave

I have a few questions. First, what model is your converter? Is it an all-in-one, like this one, or a stand-alone model?

The all-in-one model has the converter built in, for which you can see the vent to the right side. This unit does a simple two-stage charge profile of 13.6 volts until the battery bank registers 12.6 volts. It then drops to a maintenance charge of 13.2 volts.

What type of battery?

Next question is, what type of battery or batteries did you install? Most 5th wheel rigs do not come from the factory with batteries; rather, the dealer puts in the type they sell—usually cheap ones. Was the battery you put in flooded lead acid (FLA), absorbed glass mat (AGM), or lithium? And was it just one battery?

And, finally, where was the reset button you described? Was it located on the converter or a circuit breaker on the distribution panel? You state when the reset button is pushed, the battery starts to charge. How did you verify that and what was the voltage?

Typically a circuit board is located inside the case of the converter and is only accessible by removing the entire casing or cover.

 You might also enjoy these posts from Dave 

• Why does converter take 5-10 minutes to start charging? How to test it
• Follow-up on delayed converter charging and tripping GFCI issue
• My RV’s converter is not charging. How to check it? Should I switch to lithium?
• Replaced RV’s batteries but converter won’t charge them. Now what?

Dave Solberg is a leading expert in the RV industry and the author of the “RV Handbook.”

Read more from Dave here. 

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