Iota convertor issues???? Long post...

[Chippo]

Having electrical issues with a 2002 Jayco trailer with an oem Iota DLS45 convertor installed. Trailer was converted to 2 Trojan 6v batteries bout 5 yrs ago. Batteries are in good condition and show 12.3v stand alone and show 13.3 when 110v is supplied to trailer. I bring trailer home 2 days b4 goin on trips and plug trailer into shore power to get refer goin and so on. Today I plug into shore power and pop breaker in garage, which happens at times, due to overloading garage circuit. I plugged trailer into Honda 2000 geny and go inside trailer and do not have 110v inside. Go out to geny, turn off power savings and go back into trailer and now have 110v inside. Shortly thereafter 110v goes out in trailer and geny does not show any overloading and continues to run fine, never had any issues with geny. Ran geny for 2 hrs and plugged trailer into shore power and have 110v power inside trailer at this point. Is this an issue for a convertor that might be failing? All fuses/breakers in trailer are good. What might be giving us issues with incoming 110v in trailer, convertor or something else?
Thanks in advance....

[Chippo]

I appreciate all the feedback regarding my issue. I bought a hydrometer and 1 bank measures 1.25 and the other banks are in the 1.30's. Batteries tested 13.6v on the bench after being in the trailer all nite hooked up to the convertor. Hopefully this is not bad for a set of 4 yr old T105's?? Hard wired volt meter in trailer never goes past 13.4v, I'm thinkin there is some drain on them, while hooked up and or convertor does not go any higher??? I spoke to Iota tech support this morning and ordered a IQ4 smart controller that will need to be hard wired to their older oem convertor. This will be very easy with the drawing they supplied. If the IQ4 does not get me in the 14.4-14.8 range, I guess I'll be lookin to purchase a newer convertor for my rig. Again, I would like to thank everyone for their assistance with my assistance!

[Sandia_Man]

With the data you supplied there is no way to tell for sure what is going on. All we know for certain is you have a 15 year old rig with the original 45 amp Iota converter and 5 year old 6 volt Trojan golf cart batteries.

Your stated battery voltages do not indicate healthy batteries but that doesn't mean they are bad until they have been load tested or at least charged by a reliable smart charging device which your current Iota configuration is not.

You have to have a constant parameter from which you can begin to diagnose your issues, from your description your garage outlet or generator are not providing consistent 120Vac power to your rig for unknown reasons.

A 15 year old converter could certainly be suspect, replacing it would keep your batteries properly charged. Failing converters can cause many issues, an internal short could cause breaker to trip. A bad cell within the battery can cause converter to over work itself.

Try applying 120Vac power to your rig with converter unplugged to see if it will stay consistent. Plug converter back in and see if results change. Under normal operating conditions your converter should not affect 120Vac to your rig, even with discharged batteries.

Contrary to above info, the Iota with IQ4 indeed bulk charges at 14.8 volts and has done so well before any of it's competitors. If converter is OK you could add IQ4, but I would opt for a newer version Iota with IQ4 technology imbedded into the circuitry.

I double checked and improved wiring as needed on our older rig before we purchased our last pair of 6 volt golf cart batteries from Samsclub. Trojans are great batteries but will fail prematurely like any other brand if not properly charged.

[pianotuna]

Hi,

A little bit of information about the converter:

Maximum AC Current @ 108VAC 11 Amps

Max Inrush Current, Single Cycle 40 Amps

There is no information about what happens to demand when the IQ4 is added--but it does have to go up.

The Honda 2k unit should be able to handle the Iota with ease, without the IQ4. I suspect the fridge was set to electric which would pull another 3 amps. The Honda sends 124 volts, under no or low load.

My guess is that the batteries are on their way to battery heaven.

[westend]

Snowman9000 wrote:
Roy, Best Converter sells a 14.8v PD.

Yes they do.
Another alternative if planning on solar charging, is to keep your present converter and set the solar controller at a higher voltage.

[Snowman9000]

Roy, Best Converter sells a 14.8v PD.

[RoyB]

Definitely check the fluids of the two Trojan batteries... Just being charged with only 13V is not good for batteries that like to see the 14.8VDC when being charged...

The IOTA is good charger but needs to have the IQ controller to get the smart mode charging voltages when you charge your batteries. It will only go to 14.4VDC however and not the 14.8 recommended for the Trojan Batteries. Having 14.4VDC will be alot better than only having the 13.6VDC...

Also the batteries will boil out the fluids if it is left to a single mode 13.6VDC charging setup over time... Getting the smart mode different voltages going really helps in the situation...

Need to look over your home source of power you are using and try to find a receptacle that is powered by a circuit breaker with nothing on it but your trailer hookup... I lucked out in my garage of having a dedicated 120VAC 20AMP Circuit that was installed just for an air compressor setup which is not used anymore. It gives me a good steady 120VAC under control of a dedicated 20AMP Circuit breaker.

I am probably going to be presented with a similar 14.4VDC verses 14.8VDC situation here as I am in the planning stage of building up two groups of 6VDC batteries in series for my next battery bank. My Converter/charger is a PD9260C 60AMPS which runs the smart modes great but only goes as high as 14.4VDC... Really hadn't planned on changing it out and was thinking that my 14.4VDC 60AMP charging source would get the job done but just take alittle longer.... I too may have to go with the newer chargers on the market now that run the 14.8VDC voltages for the Trojan Batteries...

In your case with just a 13.6VDC single mode charging source the Industry say it will take 78 hours of constant charging to get the standard flooded cell deep cycle battery to a full 100 percent charge state.

This is what PROGRESSIVE Dynamics states in their operating manual on how long it takes to charge a battery using the DC VOLTAGEs listed below:

"Progressive Dynamics ran this test on the amount of time it took a PD9155 (55-amp) converter/charger set to three different output voltages to recharge a 125 AH (Amp Hour) battery after it was fully discharged to 10.5-volts.

14.4-VOLTS (Boost Mode) – Returned the battery to 90% of full charge in approximately 3-hours. The battery reached full charge in approximately 11 hours.

13.6-VOLTS (Normal Mode) – Required 40-hours to return the battery to 90% of full charge and 78-hours to reach full charge.

13.2-VOLTS (Storage Mode) – Required 60-hours to return the battery to 90% of full charge and 100-hours to reach full charge."

This is based on having 17-20AMPS DC current available for each battery in your battery bank... NOTE That Progressive Dynamics doesn't even list using DC Charge Voltages around the 12.0VC range as this would take alot more than 100 hours to achieve a 90% or 100% charge state.

Like said above in a couple of posts you are starving those Trojan Batteries to death and they may perhaps have already failed on you performance wise... This charts shows the setting State of Charge batteries...



Just using the multimeter to read the battery setting voltages is just a good feeling measurement. The best way is to use the Hydrometer Test for each cell to know for sure...

Roy Ken

[westend]

Before you replace the single voltage Iota, make a decision if you want to charge batteries at Trojan's recommended 14.8V or make a battery change.

Until you dip the individual battery cells with a hydrometer, you will have no accurate measure of the battery's health. Two years on a starvation charge diet has probably limited the capacity of the batteries. The hydrometer will tell you if so.

[ScottG]

time2roll wrote:
That home outlet could be shared and not always have 15 amps available.

That's not exactly how it works. If something else were drawing say 10 amps and the converter tried to draw another 10, it would trip the 15A breaker. It would not just limit the current.
So the OP can be assured that unless his charger is tripping the homes breaker, there's enough current for it.

Cheers,
Scott

[Chippo]

Batteries are 12.3 to 12.6 at most times...I will double check the voltage.

I will check to see if there is a phone jack on the convertor. I never see more than 13.5v with 110v incoming. Most of the time it is 13.3v

Thanks for the quick replies!

[time2roll]

That home outlet could be shared and not always have 15 amps available.

Do you have the IQ controller? You should be seeing voltage steadily rise to 14.2+ volts when you plug in. If you do not have the IQ controller... look for the phone jack if you can add one. This is fairly critical to vastly improve converter performance. Charging at 13.3 is chronically undercharging the GC2s.



http://www.iotaengineering.com/iq.htm

[2oldman]

Whether it makes sense or not, the battery is the first thing I'd check. 12.3 resting voltage is NOT a good battery. If it has no effect on your problem you still need a good battery.

5 years is about time.