12 volt system help

Cglarbor · 08-12-2020, 07:02 AM

I just purchased an 8RDR (believe it’s early 80’s). And I have a few problems to attend to.

1. 12 volt system is fried. I can see burnt wires in the compartment under the voltage converter. One wire (red, 12v +) runs up behind the fridge. I need to take that out to track the wire. Any advice?

2. I have 3 wires coming out at the left front of the camper. Are these for the running lights? Can’t find another hookup. How does everyone run these? I’m thinking of running off the trailer plug but any wisdom on this would be appreciated.

Will post pictures later...picking up this afternoon.
TIA

Angelo

mainah · 08-12-2020, 08:08 AM

If you only have 3 wires you got a lot of work ahead to make it right that's just enough to make the exterior lights work. Some of the older converters got hot enough to burn wires and even the floor.

**JohnB** · 08-17-2020, 07:20 PM

Hi Angelo,

Pictures in these cases go a long way at showing us what you have so we can help better.

On the fridge, look for a make and model number. We can better look that up to know what you have to better help on how to remove it. The fridges are normally screwed in. Many times, there are screws in the back of the unit behind the outside vent cover on the bottom where the gas line connects and then screws on the inside where the fridge face mounts to the cabinet. Some times you have to remove the trim on the top and bottom to see the inside screws. Again, this is generic fridge mounting not knowing what yours looks like or the make/model. A prior owner may have changed the original.

Hope this helps

John

Cglarbor · 08-23-2020, 06:48 PM

Ok...so I sorted some of the wiring out. Coming out of the camper I have Green (12V+ Clearance Lights), White (12V-) and Black (12V+ to converter). The wires that were fried were to the fridge. I figured out how to re-connect all of this but have 1 wire I have no idea where it should go.

My Converter is a Carson CP-15 FKNR.

Here is a view of the front panel

On the back of the panel on the 12V side I have a wire that was connected to the terminal circled in red but the other end is not attached to anything.

The documentation available online for this unit makes no mention of the terminal. Any Help appreciated.

**JohnB** · 08-23-2020, 09:10 PM

Hi,

Your pics have a wrong address and will not link correctly so they will not view. I tried to get them to post, but the address you are linking in is not a jepg file which is a picture.

If you want to link them in, can you get a web address that ends in" .jpg" ? Then use the same icon you did to create the img command before and after the address.

I tried to find Carson CP-15 FKNR power converter, cannot find that exact number, but found this on the manufactures web site. https://carson-mfg.com/converters-support/

See if you can get the pics to view, so we can see what you are against to help better.

This may help on posting pics, and if you can't get it to to work , tell us what you are trying to do that won't post and we can help you get it to post right. Pics really help in troubleshooting these kinds of things.
https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f...html#post86041

Or of you want to create an photo album here on our site, this link talks to how. Then you can link them from your album to the post
https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f...html#post87945

Hope this helps

John

Cglarbor · 08-24-2020, 05:16 AM

Fixed Pictures

**JohnB** · 08-24-2020, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cglarbor

Ok...so I sorted some of the wiring out. Coming out of the camper I have Green (12V+ Clearance Lights), White (12V-) and Black (12V+ to converter). The wires that were fried were to the fridge. I figured out how to re-connect all of this but have 1 wire I have no idea where it should go.

On the back of the panel on the 12V side I have a wire that was connected to the terminal circled in red but the other end is not attached to anything.

The documentation available online for this unit makes no mention of the terminal. Any Help appreciated.

I fixed your post so the pics show up where they are supposed too to help the cause.

Now to the wire in question. The red circle shows a lock washer and nut to the metal frame. And just below that red circle is a black wire also bolted to the frame. A wire bolted to a metal frame like that, "seems" to point to a ground wire. Not sure why they used black color as the manuals on line, they are using black as a hot wire. It is not common to bolt open metal with anything other then a case ground. What does not fit is the black color, but that doe not mean it is not a ground.

The wire on the other side of the red circled if we understand you correct, is just out hanging in the wind not hooked to anything? It is hard to tell from that pic what that mystery wire is. We cannot see exactly what that other black wire below the red circle goes to that "might" be a case ground. Something is just not adding up with what we can see.

Can you post some more pics of where the wires are going to? The whole converter. More pics are better then less. We may be able to see something that adds up better.

Since the Carson, the company is still open, it might be a long shot if they have a manual on your converter. The page I linked did not have your model. It also says they no longer offer support. It may be they discontinued the converters long ago, but maybe one older person is still there that has some knowledge of them.

Hope this helps

John

Cglarbor · 08-25-2020, 05:10 AM

The wire in the other side of the circled nut is a diode connected to the transformer. The other diode is connected to the selection switch (110-off-12). There was a black wire attached to the nut that just ran into the cabinet and was taped off.

Not where the camper is but will photo later.

Thinking that for around $100 I might just buy a new converter. Comes with a charging circuit and modern fuse block built in. Take out the cost of those 2 items and it ends up being like $50.

mainah · 08-25-2020, 06:31 AM

Yes it is most likely is + That appears to be the heat sink for the rectifiers it is insulated from the converter case. That entire plate should be + 12 volt so if there is another black wire not connected to anything it may well be the feed to the battery.