Recently I undertook the project of replacing the
battery and
propane tank supports on our 2002
Bigfoot 21RB since they were rusty. It was going to take me a few days tinkering around to get it all done and I wanted to keep the RV plugged in so I could have the dehumidifier running inside. For that reason I taped up the positive
battery lead real well so it couldn't start 4th of July early. I finished up the refurbishing of the battery/tank mounts and as I was hooking the
battery back up, just for giggles I figured I would check to make sure the converter was doing its' thing so I checked the voltage before hooking it up and it was 12.6 volts. I hooked up the battery leads and checked again and it still read 12.6v???? I went around and checked the disconnect switch and it was lit up. I was puzzled because it had been charging and I had done nothing that could have let the smoke out of the converter like welding and such. I checked the wiring closely from the battery back to the disconnect relay and all was well. I checked the converter with a meter and it was showing an output of 13.6v. I went back to the battery and still 12.6v. I got suspicious of the disconnect switch even though it is lit up. I had my wife unplug the RV and plug it back in while I watched and listened inside. When she plugged it in, the indicator
light came on but the relay did not click. I went back and checked the battery voltage.....12.6. Went back and manually pushed the engage side of the disconnect switch and I heard the relay click. Went back and checked the battery...13.4v. So, everything is okay except it is my understanding that when the power cord is plugged in it activates the relay so the batteries get charged without having to manually push the button.(which is not so bad if I remember). This converter is a Progressive Dynamics PD4600 series with built in Charge Wizard. It is a converter replacement kit for the original Parallax/Magnetek 6300 series. What I'm wondering is if what I am seeing is the norm or is there is a wire missing or secret fuse somewhere to replace to make the relay click on when plugging in the power cord. Thanks for any
light you can shed on this for me.