12 volt power diminishing when lots of lights are on

[mainah-SUN]

35 amps is 35 amps battery or not it seems unlikely that you are drawing that much power now if the battery is bad it can draw more power trying to charge but if it's not connected you are going to get full 35 amps. Most standard DVM's will only be able to deal with 10 amps or less but voltage will tell you all you need to know the charger does not care about amps it deals with voltage and the amps follow. So if you are plugged in with no battery the voltage should be some thing close to 13 volts or more no matter what the load (at least to rated 35 amp output). It sure sounds like you have a converter issue.

 

[JohnGB]

If your converter is going dead with no battery in place and only a few lights, like 3 to 5, then this really seems to point to the converter.

If you have the standard 921 light bulbs, looks like this 921 - 18 Watt, 12.8 Volt, 1.4 Amp Miniature T-5 Bulb | Bulbs.com they are 1.4 amps each. 5 lights on at once is 7 amps. That converter should have no issues with 5 lights on.

If you want to try this to confirm, put the volt meter on 12 volt terminals about anywhere in the camper. Even the battery leads that are unhooked. Tell us what it reads? Is it 13.25 or 13.65?

And then 1 at a time, start turning on light bulbs and watch the voltage, 1 at a time. Tell us when the voltage starts to drop and how many bulbs are on.

One thing for sure, on an incandescent light bulb if it is start going dim, the voltage is going down. This should only happen when you start going over 35 amps. With nothing on in the camper except the LP detector that would take close to 25 light bulbs of the 921 vintage. I doubt you have that many in the entire camper.

Hope this helps

John
.

 

[lnchboxvox]

Thanks John. At this point I have ordered a WFCO WF-8955 (55 amps). I'm quite convinced that it is the converter but even if it is not I'll have a more powerful and quieter unit that has the three stage charger so I can just leave it plugged in without worrying about the battery. I found it on an Ebay store, Home Page, for $107.99 brand new. That is way less than I saw it anywhere else. I'll post the verdict after I install it.

 

[lnchboxvox]

I installed the new WFCO WF-8955. Fits right in the old hole. Flipped on all the lights I could find, with and without the battery hooked up. No dimming, no shutting down and best of all, no noise. Just a little hum of the fan when you put your ear very close. The old Centurion squealed like a stuck pig when under a load. The real test, of course, will be camping overnight but I don't foresee any problems. At a price of $107.99 at Home Page, it was over $60 cheaper than anyone else on the internet.

 

[JohnGB]

Paul

Good deal!! and great to see the light again....LOL

Glad it worked out well for you. Thanks for reporting back.

John