# Power converter blew! HERE WE GO AGAIN!!!!



## antigua

What the heck? I plugged in my camper 2 weeks ago and everthing was working just fine. filled up the fridge with food, set up the trailer. Getting it all ready for the upcoming long weekend. We drove up to the trailer yesterday to bring up some bedding and other stuff.....No power! We have power at the post where you plug into shore line. I do have it plugged into a surge protector. Which it was still on. Didn't trip. There's power at the converter and all the plugs. No power to the microwave, fridge, lights or fan in the bathroom. :scratchhead: All the fuses are fine. I have no Idea what is wrong with it. I just had it replaced last June. This will be the 3rd one in the 3 years we had it. Needless to say, all the food had to be tossed and my wife is M.A.D.!!! :whipyobut: The good thing is that it's still covered under warranty. I just have to pay the labour. I have an Elixier elx-45 pwer converter. Anyone else have the same one and have any problems with it?


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## antigua

:whipyobut: Here's the icing on the cake! It's not covered! $785 to fix it. :bang: :shocked: I don't know what I'm going to do.


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## bobrussell

owch! just had mine replaced, $275, but it was covered.:comfort_:


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## l2l

There HAS to be something wrong with the converter and or something in your trailer that is causing this problem?

Has the delaer given NO EXPLANATION as to why this keeps happening?

Sorry to hear about your troubles


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## happiestcamper

Perchance is it always plugged into the same post when this happens? You mention you have a surge protector - but there are surge protectors, and then there are SURGE PROTECTORS. Maybe a brown out that your surge protector isn't catching? If not that, then there has to be some wiring problem somewhere.


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## antigua

I've had the surge protector trip at the slightest spike. Good thing I guess. The first time I blew it it was sort of my fault but there's no reason why it should have blew this time around unless what you say l2l there may be something wrong with the trailer. But I ran the same converter all summer long last season without problem. Jon you right too, Maybe my surge protector isn't good enough. I've been doing some research on the make of the converter and found that they're not all that great. In fact they are phasing them out. They're not making them anymore. That all being said, there are many reasons why it could have happened. I'm exhausted over all the research that I have done. Here's my theory, It's a manufactures defect! Otherwise I would have a problem a lot sooner. Theory#2 and this is where you come in, I need advise. If I hook up the battery for the 12v and a battery trickle charger hooked up to that battery thru the 110v to keep it charged all the time and to get the fridge started and keep it going.....Would that work? Maybe I can just bypass the converter altogether in the sense that I don't need to convert the 110v. Just a thought.


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## antigua

Well we're back! It worked like a charm! I attached the battery charger to the battery while the battery supplied us with 12v power. Lights and fridge. The down side is that the microwave (witch we rarely used) is pouched! Oh well. Worked great for Liam's bottles but now he's a big boy, no more bottles. We're trading her in for something that works. Have a deal on the table. just ironing out a few details....WISH ME LUCK!!!!


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## happiestcamper

antigua said:


> The down side is that the microwave (witch we rarely used) is pouched!


There's your problem - next time take a witch with you :rotflmao1:

Glad to hear you made it okay.


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## l2l

Sorry I missed your post as I too was away this past weekend, was gonna tell ya that the Charger would work, been there and bought the T-Shirt, hahahahaha

Glad all is ok for now anyways


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## csinns

One thought that comes to mind is that maybe your microwave is drawing too much power for the size of the converter,,, puts a heavy load on it and thereby wears it out faster... we have a 2500 watt power inverter ( 24 V - 110 ) on our boat and if we are using the microwave it has to be the only 110 item in use or it just trips the breakers.

on the previous boat we burned out 2 inverters before we realized it was from too heavy demand.
I don't know if this is part of your trouble ,,,


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## antigua

Never had a problem before. I did find out a couple of things. The guy next door had a battery charger attached to his golf cart. It exploded one day. his meter is right next to mine. I talked to a service guy how works for Evergreen RV. He told me the surge protector will protect you from high voltage and spikes but won't protect you from low voltage drain. He continued to tell me that he's seen just as many blown converters and appliances caused by sudden low voltage ans he's seen from spikes. The moment the charger exploded, there may have been a sudden power drain, causing my converter to blow and the microwave. That would explain why my surge protector didn't trip. Huh!


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## antigua

The campground owner had an electrician have a look at my trailer. He's agreed to replace my converter and my microwave! AWESOME!!!!!


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## csinns

Wow ! great stuff  sounds like an honest campground owner


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## antigua

Actually, he's a great guy. I think he tries to avoid confrontation as much as possable. I expected more of a friendly fight about what happened. I was prepared to bite the bullet and eat the near $1000 to get it all fixed but after all the info I researched and backed it up with proof..... I don't think he had much of a choice. None the less, I thanked him very much with a solid handshake and a smile and let him know how much I appreciated him stepping up to the plate like that. Not everyone would do that. His wife on the other hand!...... Let’s just leave it there!


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## frankgibbons

I'm using the Camco 55301 30AMP power defender. When I plugged it in the first time, it took about 2 minutes to run its analysis of shore power pole, then it clunked and it was ready to go. The only downside is the defender is a bit long for this shore power pole at this particular campground.


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