Help Something Is Not Right!!! - Montana Owners Club

RKassl · 05-29-2008, 04:41 PM

We have been camping here for about a week now and everything is OK. Today some electricians were working in the CG and I found that the power to the Monty had been interrupted. I reset the TV and everything seemed OK. I flicked on the 12 volt lights and they seemed dim. I checked the battery condition on the panel where you can check your tanks and fresh water, I show about half the battery level as normal. I wonder if their electrical work affected the converter? I think my battery is not being charged. Is their a fuse on the converter that could have tripped open? If I cannot get the converter to work can I retract the slides and landing gear with the Monty plugged into the truck? What else can I do to get underway?

Any help will be appreciated!

Well thought I would thank everyone for their help. The old IOTA that was OE with the Monty failed. Using one of the suggestions from the board I told them I wanted a Intellipower 9280 as a replacement. All fixed now. Just waiting for the remote pendant to plug into the converter. Second thing was I used the extended warranty that we purchased when the Monty was new. This one visit paid for 3/4 of the price of the insurance policy. The dealer commented on how easy the insurance company was to work with.

Happy Camping!

RKassl · 05-29-2008, 04:57 PM

I found two 30 amp fuses on the front of the converter. Do they just pull out or is there something else I need to do to remove and check them?

snfexpress · 05-29-2008, 05:06 PM

First, look at the 110v AC panel and see if the breaker for the converter has tripped. This is most likely the reason for the converter not putting out 12v.

RKassl · 05-29-2008, 05:14 PM

I checked the 110 circuit breaker for the converter and it didn't look like it tripped so I reset it anyway. How can you test to see if the converter is charging the battery?

HamRad · 05-29-2008, 05:54 PM

Bob,

Try putting a volt meter on the cables leading to the battery(ies). If you get somewhere around 14.4 or so then it is charging. If much less then no charge is going on.

Dennis

sreigle · 05-29-2008, 06:13 PM

Bob, you mentioned the battery checks about 1/2 when you use the panel on the wall to check it. In my experience that panel will show the battery as full when the converter is charging as it should. That's not a foolproof method but if it still shows less than full then I'd say it's not charging.

On using your truck, some brands, like Ford, will provide juice to power the slides and landing gear but only with the truck engine running (to protect from discharging the truck batteries). I am not sure about Dodge. Your Chevy will also provide juice but only if there's a fuse in the appropriate slot. My understanding is the GM's come without a fuse in that slot. There may be a spare fuse in the box you can use. Something to check on before you need it.

Ozz · 05-30-2008, 02:29 AM

Check both fuses on the converter, they could have reversed polarity when working on the system.
I think they pull out, but may have a latch of some sort.

**Carl n Susan** · 05-30-2008, 02:59 PM

The fuses are held in place by pressure from a screw. Loosen the screw first and the fuses pop out easily. This is for an IOTA 55. Any other converter may be different.

If the gauge shows 1/2 full, then the converter isn't producing 12V (in my experience). But meter the output side and verify. Then verify there is 110V power at the point where it plugs in. Lastly pull the fuses and ensure they are good (or replace them).

If the fuses are good and there is 110V power but no 12v output - it is time for a new converter. I had one crap out this winter in Quartzite.

RKassl · 05-31-2008, 03:20 AM

Thanks to everyone for their help and suggestions. I talked to a RV tech in the area and he said that with all the troubleshooting we did it is almost definitely the converter. I checked all circuit breakers, replaced the two fuses on the converter with new one, and verified that the converter was indeed getting 120 volts. I picked up a small 6 amp charger to charge the battery so we could use the furnace, we had frost warnings for two nights here. Talked to the extended warranty folks and this is a covered repair.

One last question, if I have a choice for the replacement converter would you stay with the original Iota 55 of push for something else?

Thanks

mtheo · 05-31-2008, 04:00 AM

I agree with the others, if your batteries read half, your converter isn't converting.
My converter is pluged into a receptical in the basement. maybe you can access yours and check the plug for one more quick item to check. Could use a tester or just plug anything into the outlet. Help to rule out one other thing. No use spending money buying a new one, just to find out the the cuircuit is dead or the plug went bad.
good luck

stiles watson · 05-31-2008, 04:30 AM

When my converter cratered at Branson, the dealer put in a better converter than I had before to replace it. It was an Intellipower 9280 manufactured by Progressive Dynamics, Inc. It has three stages and senses the need of the battery. It will charge @ 14.4 volts (boost mode), then step down to 13.6 Volts (normal mode). When fully charged, it will step down to 13.2 volts (storage mode).

There is a small monitor that can be attached. It has a lead wire and a sticky back. We have mounted it on the wall, about an inch off the floor near our inside steps. LED flashing at different speeds tell us what mode it is in. You can also manually select the desired mode by pushing a button on the monitor.

My example is that I manually select boost mode when we first set up. It doesn't take long for it to step down to storage mode. This seems to be a much better converter than the OEM.

thor · 05-31-2008, 06:45 PM

hi to test if your converter is working try these.unplug the hydro to your unit.take 12 volt tester and check the amps that your battery reads should be around 12.4amps.then plug your hydro in test the amps your battery has with the hydro pluged in should be around 13.6 amp or higher. this tells you your converter is working.i had the same problem and the fuses in the back of the converter were blown i could not get my slides to or landing gear to work because all 12 volt has to go through the converter even 120 has to be converted. if the fusses are bad nothing will work.and your batteries will go dead

RKassl · 06-01-2008, 02:58 PM

Hold on with that statement. Are you saying that if the converter is bad the sliders/landing gear does not work? How can that be if I am hooked up to the truck with no 120V to the converter my sliders and gears work just fine??

I put a 6amp charger to the battery, the battery level eventually indicated a fully charged battery. Packed up and went home. Dropped the Monty and after the shore power was hooked up I intentionally ran 12 volt fans and light and watched the battery meter go down because the converter was not recharging the 12 volt battery.

I thought I understood my issue, but you have me more confused.

Bill and Lisa · 06-10-2008, 07:52 AM

Bob,
You are okay. The confusion is not yours. In our Montanas the out put of the converter goes to the DC bus. The battery also connects to the DC Bus. When AC is available and the converter working properly it will produce 12v power at around 13.6V which is higher than the Battery Voltage will ever get. This results in the battery being "Charged" by the converter. If the converter is not on line (not plugged into an AC source) the battery powers the DC Bus. I am not sure where in the circuit the Bargman Plug connects to the system but it will also provide power to the DC Bus even if the battery and AC converter output power are not available.

Typical OEM converter is two stage 14.2V for rapid charging of a low battery and a "maintanence" rate of 13.6V. At 13.6V your battery will always be charging at a couple of Amps. If you are somewhere plugged in for a long time or the rig sits in your yard for a couple of weeks plugged in this constant charging will begin to evaporate the electrolyte (also called "Boiling" the battery) and can ruin your battery.

A three stage charger is much better for your battery since it drops down to a trickle charge rate of 13.2V which with line loses etc, will rarely if ever boil your battery but will maintain it fully charged. IOTA does sell a "Smart Charger" module for about $25 that plugs into the top of the charger and has indicator light as mentioned in another post that converts your 2 stage converter to a 3 stage converter. Well worth the money.

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