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Old 07-27-2013, 12:45 PM   #1
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In need of electrical help on 1986 T1859 Satellite

We are having electrical problems. The power converter w/charger (B-W model #3230 UL) seemed to quit working while we were camping (we use a generator). The battery (new in April of this year) had to be charged with a free standing charger (plugged into the genny) in order for us to have lights. We have brought the Trailer home now and the converter/charger seemed to be working again for a couple of weeks. Then boom...our battery lost it's charge and didn't charge back up ( we have it plugged into our house power here at home) I was working in the trailer and decided to take a break for about an hour, everything was working fine, I had been running AC and fridge (on elec) and a light now and then also the water pump once and a while. I shut off the AC and lights and went inside for about an hour or maybe two (oh yes there was a rain storm, no lightning, just a lot of rain) and when I went back out the battery was dead. No lights would come on but my outlets still worked and my AC and fridge still work.
We charged the battery back up with a free standing battery charger again because the converter didn't even attempt to charge it. We have checked all fuses and breakers and all seems to be right.
Any help out there for info on how to trace our short or what ever is the problem would be appreciated. Not sure where to start.
Here are some pics of our converter box. I also have other pics in my album of my trailer.
100_0368.jpg

100_0370.jpg

100_0379.jpg

100_0377.jpg
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Old 07-27-2013, 12:59 PM   #2
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correction on the tt model: Satellite T1850
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Old 07-27-2013, 03:45 PM   #3
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They are pretty pathetic chargers maybe 3 amps tops so if you used it for lighting etc. with out being plugged in it probably did not get enough time to charge the battery. The converter will make enough power to do the lights etc but it takes it a long time to recharge a weak battery.
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Old 07-27-2013, 07:22 PM   #4
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The lable on the door indicated 30 amps so it should put some charge into the battery.

It could be that the converter is not working at all and the external charger is all that is keeping the battery up. You need a cheap voltmeter to see what is happening. One easy test, with the shore power disconnected measure the battery voltage then, while watching the voltmeter, plug in the shore power. The voltage at the battery should rise. If it doesn't rise then either the converter is bad OR the converter is not getting AC voltage. If there is a circuit breaker dedicated to the converter it may be off or defective.

Let us know what you find and we can work from there.
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Old 07-28-2013, 05:35 AM   #5
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Yeah the old ones made plenty of power of appliances but not much on the charging side. There were two circuits inside one charged the battery the other made power for the lights etc. Yes it is very possible the charge circuit does not work and the appliance side does. They are pretty poorly regulated so you should see a pretty good voltage jump at the battery when you plug it in with a volt meter. It will take a long time to charge a weak battery and should not be left on long term because of the less then stellar voltage regulation they had a tendency to boil the water out of the battery if left on for weeks at a time.
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Old 07-30-2013, 12:56 PM   #6
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Thank you for the help. We did the meter test that was suggested above and there was no change what so ever so I guess that the converter is shot....it is only 27 yrs old too, lol, what a shame.
We have checked all the circuit brks that we know of (could there be one inside the converter box itself?). The only brks we know we have are in the back of the trailer under the refrigerator and we have chkd them all and they are good.
My question now is what to buy to replace it, since they no longer make the B-W 3230. I have checked with PPL and they actually have an INTELI-POWER 9200 SERIES CONVERTER/CHARGER - 45 AMPS. PPL person said you can always go up in amps just not go lower. I also see other 30 and 45 amp ones there also, just don't know how to choose. Any suggestions?
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Old 07-30-2013, 06:30 PM   #7
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Sorry to hear it sounds like the converter. There may be a fuse inside the converter.

PPL is a good reliable company to do business with and that looks like a good converter with 4 modes. There are others here with more experience with other models that may be able to give some good advice. One key factor is "does it fit in the box".
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Old 07-31-2013, 06:14 AM   #8
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45 amps is plenty the beauty of the modern charges they can charge the battery at rated amps so you get a good charging rate not just a few amps. The 3 stage converter would be a plus also so you can leave the charger on full time if you wish I leave mine on all winter. Check out bestconverter.com they are very good about answering your questions and suggesting the best converter for your camper. No matter what you end up with there will be some rewiring involved so if it's not some thing you comfortable with you'll need to find a "friend" to help you.
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