What blew my converter?

[oldtrojan66]

My 2016 Montana sat empty from Mar till Jun. Only the fridge was running. Went to open up for a friend staying overnight and two breakers were tripped on the main panel. The microwave and the converter. First I reset the converter breaker and when I turned it on there was a huge pop with smoke from the area of the converter. After removing the unit from the wall, there was a burst capacitor in the converter unit. Before I replace this converter I want to find out what caused it to blow. I don't know how to do that. My home electrician is afraid of RVs and won't touch it. Also, the microwave breaker reset normally although I have not checked its actual operation. The fridge is a domestic GE 120vac that runs off an inverter under the floor. The fridge will not start. Just blinks interior lights and clicks from below.
Hoping y'all have some good direction..David

 

[jsb5717]

Are you plugged in 120v/ 20a, 30a, or 50a service? Do you have an EMS or at least a surge protector? Sounds like your rig possibly took a power hit while in storage and damaged a couple things. Is the fridge the only thing that runs off of the inverter? Are other items working correctly while connected to the inverter? With the converter out of service the batteries are likely low which would impact the inverter's ability to power the fridge. I think I would pull the batteries and have them load tested as well.

I would make sure that the incoming power is clean and just replace the converter after making sure the batteries are OK or replaced.

 

[DutchmenSport]

Reading your post, I had the same thoughts as "JBS" above. And I had the same question? Your problem sounds like a power "hit" and it got your electronics in the camper. And second, do you have an EMS (some refer to it as a surge protector) for you incoming electric power? (But note, there is a huge difference between an RV surge protector and an RV Energy Management System).

 

[oldtrojan66]

Are you plugged in 120v/ 20a, 30a, or 50a service? Do you have an EMS or at least a surge protector? Sounds like your rig possibly took a power hit while in storage and damaged a couple things. Is the fridge the only thing that runs off of the inverter? Are other items working correctly while connected to the inverter? With the converter out of service the batteries are likely low which would impact the inverter's ability to power the fridge. I think I would pull the batteries and have them load tested as well.

I would make sure that the incoming power is clean and just replace the converter after making sure the batteries are OK or replaced.

The rig is stored at my home. I have a 30a circuit. No surge protector. Fridge only runs off inverter. I will try another 120vac item plugged into the inverter. There are lots of choices for the replacement converter. Can I "assume" if the Amp rating is close (ie 50or60A) and physical dimensions are correct, it will work? I still don't know where to physically check voltage of other circuits since I cannot access the back of the breaker box. I'm thinking, if I disconnect the wire to the breaker for microwave, for example, I could detect a dead short in that circuit? I hate to put a new converter in ($275) without checking something.
Thanks for responses...

 

[Carl n Susan]

That looks like a Progressive Dynamics converter. They have replacements as you probably have seen. Maybe a call to them would help explain what could have caused the problem?

 

[ChuckS]

First thing I woolen be checking is that 30 amp 120VAC plug you are plugged into at the house and verify it’s actually delivering 120 and not 240

If the home electrician is afraid of RV 120 VAC find another electrician

Use a multimeter set to VAC scale and test your home outlet and verify as shown in the picture diagram

Since the microwave and converter breakers popped your issue is with

the service to the RV
50 to 30 amp adapter if using one
Power center BUS bar wiring

 

[oldtrojan66]

Well, folks, here is the best sense I can make of this. It's an expensive lesson, but the Mrs n I always said, "We'll do this camping thing until the money or our health runs out".
So maybe this expensive mistake will hasten both qualifications. Somehow I believed a second outlet I installed to power a small home welder was wired as 120 vac, 30 amp. I now know it was 240 vac, 30 amp. I have ordered nearly $800 in a converter and an inverter.
And I still have to buy a new fridge! $2500 or so, maybe. I do have another 30 amp circuit that tests 120 vac. I believe I changed outlets and did not remember (that's the "health" part). I had not used the rig since switching to the offending outlet. Had I not simply reset the breaker, I might have been okay. But I reset and turned it on which in fact blew up a bunch of stuff. No fool like an old fool. Thanks for all your responses

 

[jsb5717]

Sounds like a $275 EMS would have been a good investment...probably still is. We were at a park a month or so ago that was spiking voltage to 135v and above. My EMS kept cutting power to the coach. Annoying for sure, but no harm was done. Well worth the investment.

Thanks for sharing. I know it's a huge disappointment and a hard lesson. Good to know that it can be avoidable. Don't get a Surge Protector, get a true Electrical Management System.

 

[brycesteiner]

Well, folks, here is the best sense I can make of this. It's an expensive lesson, but the Mrs n I always said, "We'll do this camping thing until the money or our health runs out".
So maybe this expensive mistake will hasten both qualifications. Somehow I believed a second outlet I installed to power a small home welder was wired as 120 vac, 30 amp. I now know it was 240 vac, 30 amp. I have ordered nearly $800 in a converter and an inverter.
And I still have to buy a new fridge! $2500 or so, maybe. I do have another 30 amp circuit that tests 120 vac. I believe I changed outlets and did not remember (that's the "health" part). I had not used the rig since switching to the offending outlet. Had I not simply reset the breaker, I might have been okay. But I reset and turned it on which in fact blew up a bunch of stuff. No fool like an old fool. Thanks for all your responses

Similar to me - I put in a 200 amp box at our property so we could camp. I reused the box from my sons home construction and the plug in there was wired wrong- it had 2 hots making it 250v. I plugged in the 30 amp converter that changed the 50 amp to 30 amp and then plugged it in. I should have taken off the 30 amp and went direct from 50 to 50. That is 250v.
Cost me $250 from camping world and they had it in stock. Took about 10 minutes to replace but a big headache. I then took the board and the capacitor that blew and put in a new one that I found on amazon. I also added in a removable fuse. I have an earlier post with pictures. I bet it's similar.

 

[Mark77]

Somehow I believed a second outlet I installed to power a small home welder was wired as 120 vac, 30 amp. I now know it was 240 vac, 30 amp. I have ordered nearly $800 in a converter and an inverter.

Just curious how you got the RV plugged into a 240 VAC outlet for a welder? Outlet configuration is different.

I had a situation last winter where I had to use a 50A to 30A converter. Long story why... but I bought it at an RV store in Yuma and it worked just fine. I did use my VOM to check to make sure I was getting expected readings before I plugged the RV into it.

If your 50A to 30A converter was a manufactured adapter, you should have been fine. It it was home built by someone who didn't know what they were doing you could end up with 240 V split across the line and the neutral in the RV which of course would fry everything that was turned on.