DC lights dim while on AC source

[Dean A Van Peursem]

Had a strange thing occur in our 2006 3400RL yesterday in that the DC lights in the kitchen and elsewhere were only about half as bright as usual. Am hooked up to a 50 Amp AC service. First thought the battery was discharged and not being charged properly. Scratched my head for awhile, especially after some lights were brighter than others. Finally, checked the AC (not DC) fuse panel. One of the AC circuit breakers was tripped. Turned it back on and the problem went away. But unfortunately... I'm no longer sure which circuit breaker it was. I think, not sure at all, .... it was the breaker next to the Water Heater breaker and is labeled "AC". I have no idea what that breaker is for other than possibly the AC feed to the AC to DC Inverter to charge the batteries. If that is true I guess the battery was getting low and that is why the DC lights were dim. Anyone else had this occur or is my analysis incorrect? Also don't know why some were more dim than the others.

[H. John Kohl]

From your description the breaker that was tripped is the one that controls the outlet for your converter which does charge the battery.
Good luck.

[richfaa]

Agree with H.John that it was most likely the converter breaker.. Ours will trip every once in a while for no apparent reason. I leave the breaker panel cover off so I can see the breakers when "standing there"

[Ozz]

Dean, a possible reason for some of the lights being dimmer than others is the amp draw of the light, also the location on the circuit; further away with smaller carrier wire, or closer to the battery with a larger carrier wire.
Just turn all loads on, then, one by one turn the breakers off, note what goes off, and mark them as to the circuits they supply. It will be good for future problems, and power management.

[Exnavydiver]

Our converter breaker kicks off whenever we shift to shore power. Always has probably always will. After we get setup I always check 12 volt lights and if they are a bit dim I check the breaker. In most cases the breaker has kicked out and just needs to be reset. It shouldn't but it does and I just deal with it... Dave

[Dean A Van Peursem]

We have owned our late 2006 3400RL for 2 1/2 years and this is the first time we have had that circuit breaker trip. This 3400 RL just seems to want to throw curves at us continually. At least the fix didn't cause more out of pocket expense on this one. I guess it was feeling ignored while we wait for 5 replacement tires for the junk Mission tires we originally had. And yes the Fantastic Vent repair parts arrived yesterday and the Apollo oven turntable replacement motor is coming soon. When all that gets installed maybe we will be whole again for a few minutes. What will be next? :-)