Converter operation question

[awellis3]

My new-to-me 1995 Solaris T2653 and I spent 10 days getting to know each other. While hooked to shore power (on a 15A circuit, fairly long orange 12 gage extension cord at a friends river home), I noticed periodic, momentary dimming of the 12V lights. Also, I can hear the converter humming away.

Are these observations normal? If not, would being hooked to 30A service solve the issues?

Wright

[JohnB]

Originally Posted by awellis3

My new-to-me 1995 Solaris T2653 and I spent 10 days getting to know each other. While hooked to shore power (on a 15A circuit, fairly long orange 12 gage extension cord at a friends river home), I noticed periodic, momentary dimming of the 12V lights. Also, I can hear the converter humming away.

Are these observations normal? If not, would being hooked to 30A service solve the issues?

Wright

What do you have running in the camper? And what is on 120 VAC?

fridge, HW heater, microwave, battery charging?

The convertor, what make and model is it?

The light's dimming, when does this occur and do you notice any correlation to the lights dimming to what is going on in the camper?

Pending what you are running, a long cord on 15 amps may be an issue.

Hope this helps

John

[Gene]

There should not be any noticible dimming of the 12 volt lights.

I had something unusual happen with my converter the first time out that may or may not be similar. The lights would dim and I would hear a loud buzzing from the converter. It is a switching mode CS4500 45amp converter. It would stop, for a short time, if I thumped the front with my hand! When I got home and took off the front cover I noticed something laying against a heat sink for one of the power transistors. There is a "toroidal core" (round black metal doughnut) with a few turns of heavy copper wire. The doughnut was touching the heat sink and buzzing. Moving it away with a non conducting tool and a few drops of glue took care of it. No problems since. If you have the same type converter I will see if I can get some pictures.

Gene

[awellis3]

John, I have a Magnetek 6336 converter. It has a built-in charger.
The only things running on 120V were the fridge and two table fans.
The brief dimming happened when the only light on was the range hood, but it also happened when I had other lights on.
I meaured 120-119V at an outlet and only had issues when trying out the A/C and hot water heater(not at the same time). I chalked their malfunction up to insufficient amperage.
I had a converter burn out on my 2-yr.-old pop up so I'm gun shy.

Wright