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Old 06-02-2015, 04:55 PM   #1
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Defective 12 v charger

My Sunline Trailer has a model 3230 UL Converter/ charger. The 12 v converter portion works fine but the charger only puts out 11.8 v. Does anyone know where I can get a wiring diagram? I would like to repair the charger or isolate it and install a separate charger. If I knew which wire is the out put from the charger I could disconnect it and put a new charger in.
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Old 06-02-2015, 06:31 PM   #2
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If it's what I think it is you would be far better off replacing it with a modern one. They were not very good chargers brand new I think the were only 10 amps at best and poorly regulated. It does have two different systems one to charge one to light the lights. What year is your camper?
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Old 06-02-2015, 06:57 PM   #3
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Mainah - according to his profile it is a 1985!
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Old 06-03-2015, 07:27 AM   #4
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Ok that is what I was thinking it's an old style charger/converter. It does have two circuits in one box. It has a regulated battery charger but not a very good at regulating. There is a change over rely that disconnects the battery from the lighting system when it is plugged in the converter then takes over and powers the lights etc. and the other circuit charges the battery. Once it is unplugged the relay switches back and reconnects the battery. The charger is pretty whimpy the converter probably is good for 30 amps DC the charger a lot less some thing in the 5-10 amp range. There are all kinds of electronic parts inside and it is repairable but the bottom line is once it is repaired you still have an old charger converter a modern one is a superior battery charger and can be left on some thing you should not do with an older system because of the poor voltage regulation and possible battery damage. The modern units are switching supplies about 1/4 the weight and close to 90+ % efficient and will charge a weak battery in short order. If it is some thing you would like to try and fix my guess would be the rectifier diodes. I could not find a diagram on line for that unit but they all worked pretty much the same so if you can find one at least it would give you an ideal of how it works. My camper had a unit like that one of the first thing I did to the camper was a new charger/converter all though it still worked. A company like Best Converter can steer you in the right direction as far as a replacement, new ones are less than $200
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Old 06-03-2015, 05:34 PM   #5
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I thought mine had problems because of test voltages but after taking a trip with the old unit everything worked as it should and the house battery stayed full. I think the variable charger output is what I was reading and thought charger was screwy. Charger output is supposed to vary according to demand, I think. Since the charger has done the job keeping the battery topped off I quit worrying about it. Same charger, same battery and all I had to do was make sure fuses were good and connections tight.
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Old 06-03-2015, 06:37 PM   #6
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A fully charged battery is 12.7 volts in order to charge a battery it must be higher than that 13.2 to 14.2 depending on it's state of discharge so voltages in the 11 volt range pretty well indicates a defunct battery charger.
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Old 06-03-2015, 08:34 PM   #7
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Bad 12 v charger

Thanks for the replays. Since the output of the converter is just over 12 v I plan on leaving that in place. I will attempt to isolate the out put of the charger going to the battery and replace it with a new battery charger. It would just be so much easier if I had a wiring diagram. That would be a lot less expensive than replacing the combined converter/charger.
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Old 06-04-2015, 07:56 PM   #8
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If that is some thing you want to do just buy a trickle charger and connect it directly to the battery that will work fine.
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Old 06-06-2015, 07:49 AM   #9
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Charger update

In an effort to find out where the output from the charger was I removed the converter/charger from the trailer. After removing the cover I hooked it up to 120 v a-c and connected the battery from the trailer. To my surprise I have 14 volts from the charger to the battery instead of the 11.8 volts I had when it was in the trailer. I can only conclude that I either have an intermittent problem with the charger or I have a problem with the wiring in the trailer. Hope to get time to check it out later today. At least I did find the lead that connects the charger to the battery. The connection is at the load transfer relay.
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Old 06-06-2015, 03:15 PM   #10
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What you might have found out is that the charger is charging when needed and resting, not charging, when not needed.
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Old 06-06-2015, 06:57 PM   #11
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Charger update

I put everything back together in the trailer. After connecting the same battery that was in there from the beginning I started taking readings. I have 12. 3 v on the battery. I plugged the converter/charger in and was happy to find that the voltage at the battery went up to 13.9 volts. I am not sure what happened to correct the problem unless there was a loose connection that was corrected by removing and reinstalling the converter/charger. I will keep a close eye on it and if I have a problem in the future I will disconnect the lead from the charger to the battery positive connection and install a separate permanent charger. Thanks to everyone that replied to help solve my problem.
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Old 06-09-2015, 06:00 PM   #12
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This link isn't to a wiring diagram but it is helpful explaining how the 3200 works...... Hope it will help someone.


https://d163axztg8am2h.cloudfront.ne...549dd4fa19.pdf
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Old 06-09-2015, 07:20 PM   #13
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Thanks for the thread. Charger is still working fine. Just expanded the battery holder frame to accept 2 group 27 batteries. Dry fall camping eats up the batteries when the furnace is running.
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Old 06-09-2015, 08:13 PM   #14
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More battery sounds good.


You might print the charger page to carry with you. I Googled most appliances and printed manufacturers pages to take with me.
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