1999 Concourse 21" florescent light - VOLTAGE

[NUUKEEE]

Hey there Chinook Nation ...

Yes I'm a Chinook newbee but I have tinkered and troubleshot mechanical & electrical stuff for over 50 years.
That said, I have a need to what is normal with the Magnatek charger when shore power is connected.
Has anybody measured the input voltage to OEM coach light fixtures when shore power is connected? I just did (as I was troubleshooting my recently "FRIED" OEM 21" florescent ballast and much to my surprise, the input voltage at the switch was 17.3 volts DC. WOWZER.
The florescent tubes worked fine for many moon but I installed proper 4000K LED tubes last night and left them on for an hour ... thats when the bad smelly thing happened. THE BALLAST FRIED. Aaaaaauuugh.
But the good news is, when I flip off the circuit breaker or my shore power is removed, voltage drops to 12.6 VDC.
The big question is:
Is 17+ VDC input voltage (while on shore power) normal for this rig? Or am I needing to dive into the charger ??

[BobW9]

17.3V not even at the charger, but down the wire to the switch is crazy. 17+ volts is way too high for a 12V system. If you look online for the manual for your specific model of the Magnetek charger, I'm betting you'll find it to go to 14.4V DC during its highest 'boost' phase. Certainly, for normal 12V batteries even an equalizer setting shouldn't go above 14.8 or 15V, tops, and that only for a short time.

Sounds like your charger is fried. If it has a temperature sensor at the battery, and poor wiring so the battery is only seeing 14V, I suppose it might jack up the voltage - except even then it sounds like a faulty charger. And my 2000 Concourse didn't come with a fancy charger with temp sensor, just the standard 45A Magnetek.

By the way, I think that 17+ volts will burn off the fluid in your batteries and kill them pretty quick. Unless the batteries aren't seeing that 17 because of wiring issues.

Measure at the batteries, and right at the charger, and see what you get. Just in case that 17 is being caused by something around that fixture, though I don't see how.

Is this during the day or evening? What do you measure when not on shore power? Just to make sure it isn't an issue with the solar charger.

[chin_k]

As BobW9 said, measure the voltage at the charger with the negative disconnected from the DC panel. If the voltage is not right, toss the charger. There are much better charger nowadays with Progressive Dynamics and others. Some can even work with lithium if you decided to upgrade. The old charger is not good for your batteries if you plug to shore power for a long period of time anyway. Don't feel bad if you confirm the charger to be the issue, and need an excuse to modernize.

[NUUKEEE]

Hey Chinook Nation.
Interesting blog that speaks to this topic. It was referred to me by a CHINOOKFORUM non-member / smartie pants. Looks to address my issue and my be a real heads-up for many on the forum.

http://clayrushing.com/2017/01/21/chino ... -upgrades/

Pile on with your inputs. .

Cheers ...